Some of Everything

 Why is everyone upside down???

 Totally adorable.
Auntie came to the rescue.

 A once-in-a-lifetime-moment. Serious planning going on in his sleepy little mind lol.

 Uncle time!

 Ooooo, yes, very nice. Um, please keep them outdoors lol.

 Silly face Daddy captured

 "Gimmie that thing, I want to try!"

Standing up.

 "What's in here? Almost got it open..."

 Lunch when the power is out for road construction. Stir fry, yum!

 Sleepy explorer

 MMM! Spaghetti-os!

~Kitchen Tips~

*!WARNING!* This post is not coming from someone with a perfectly running kitchen! Just a normal, crazy, some-times-dishes-get-left-in-the-sink-and-mud-on-the-floor type of kitchen. :)

This is just a short list of some tips I have collected and use in my kitchen. Some are from experience, but most are from what I learned from my mother and others. Nothing special, and probably you've heard them before. Some I had learned from childhood, and after revisiting them, and implementing them, it has made my life a little easier. Which is what I hope to do in sharing them with you. So here goes:

1. Dirty white fridge handles? Over a month ago I decided to do something about my fridge handles. They are slightly textured, which means all manner of dirt and who knows what gets ground into the handle and makes it really hard to clean. So, I got on Pinterest. I saw where someone had made cute cloth covers that buttoned around the handles. Then they take them off and throw them in the laundry. Well, after my last Pinterest project, (which is coming up in a later post) I was just not in the mood; at all to try it. That was a no-go. Instead, I decided to try contact paper. It worked! It is still holding strong, looks good and does the job. It is now much easier to clean, and because it looks like marble, it hides dirt. I got the contact paper at Dollar Tee, the same stuff I used for my laundry room project.
   
2. Free your fridge of clutter. I have found this tip to be a stress relief for me. I no longer have stuff falling off the fridge every time I open the door, and have things get ruined. I have a menu board mounted on the side using Command mounting strips, and some magnets. Other than the occasional note, reminder, or invitation, I do not keep anything on the fridge. *Important note* - I think it is very crucial not to make children feel like they and/or their artwork, achievements, etc. are a burden, clutter, or junk, etc. I'm simply saying things don't have to permanently live on the fridge. When my siblings come over and color/paint pictures, I put them on the fridge and leave them up for 1 week. Then I take them down and put them in a basket labeled "memories to scrapbook" and my plan is to get a 3"inch binder to put all their work in and leave out for people to look at (on a coffee table, end table, etc.). We also have made a rule that nothing goes on top of the fridge or freezer. At first, this was a hard habit to break, but now we never put anything up there. We would lose papers behind the appliances, forget about things, and such.

3.Downsize your dishes/utensils. I only have two drawers in my kitchen, and I'm the type of weirdo that doesn't like everything lurking on the counters. So I took inventory of what I had and what I truly needed to have in order to be able to make a variety of meals. I emptied the drawers and only put back what I had to have. I kept only one set of measuring cups, and one set of measuring spoons. Now when I open the drawers, I can see everything without having to shuffle through and dig. Also, I recently gave away extra mixing bowls. I kept an extra large one, large, medium and small. It makes it easier to get what I need, and to put them away. I still have some downsizing to do, but I have a good start on it. This has been worth the time for me. I find it helpful to ask myself the question :"have I used this in the last couple months?" If not, and it's not for canning or something like that, out it goes.

4. Move less used appliances elsewhere. I still need to do this in one of my cabinets, but boy does it work! When you have to fight a mountain of things everyday to cook, it gets irritating (at least for me) and is no fun. If you take things you don't use every day, or every week, and move it to the basement or some other designated place, it frees up the prime real estate in your kitchen for what you use on a daily basis and reduces stress. I'm talking things like food processors, blenders, buffet serving dishes and such. But it may look different for you. 

5. Clean out the fridge and pantry the day or morning before you grocery shop. I don't always remember to do this, but makes it easier when I do. Not only will shelves be easier to wipe down with fewer food stuffs on them, but it is a good chance to get a fresh look at what you have and take inventory so you don't buy duplicates.

6.Organize your recipes. Last year I think it was, I went through my recipes and seldom used books and put all my favorites in one large binder. I got the idea from  http://www.alejandra.tv/blog/2012/09/video-how-to-organize-recipes/  It cut back on the recipe books I have ( I only kept three very sentimental and useful ones) and made it way easier to find a certain recipe when I wanted it. Here is the link to to the post I did: http://blessingsatfelicityfarm.blogspot.com/2013/12/recipe-binder.html

7. Save time scrubbing the stove top by using a spoon rest. This might seem like a "duh" tip, and probably is, but for the longest time I didn't think it was really that beneficial. Until I finally bought one. Now clean up is a little easier because food drippings don't sit on the hot surface and bake on. There is, of course, still the occasional splatters that just happen no matter what. :)

8.Do dishes after each meal. This is especially important for dishwasher-less people like myself. Dirty dishes all around the kitchen and in the sink cause visual/mental clutter, not to mention hinder one from getting to the much needed coffee pot! lol. I don't always do it, in fact, not too many days out of the week do I faithfully do this. However, it makes the night time clean up much easier.

9.Wash all the dishes before going to bed. Really. I know, sounds like so much fun. This is probably what I would label the single, most important thing on this list for me and dare I say, everyone? The pay off is amazing. What better way to start your day than with a clean, uncluttered sink/counters? Who wants to fight Mt. Dishmore just to get baby bottles in the middle of the night, or a cup of coffee in the morning? I'm not sure any of us would raise our hands. This should be the number one kitchen "commandment". There are days when I don't do this, but let me tell you, I pay for it the next day. But then there are also days once in a while though, when things have been out of this world crazy, and it's just not thinkable to stay up 'till 11:00p.m to wash your dishes. And that is ok. The world won't end because of it. But normally, there is no reason for me not to do this every evening. Then in the morning while coffee is brewing, because they are all clean and have drip-dried, I put all the dishes away.

I hope you all have a great day. Take care and God bless!

Laundry Room "Tour"

I actually did a little 'makeover' to my laundry area, but because I only have one before picture, I decided it is better described as a tour.
  Our washer and dryer are in our basement. Not in an actual room. And I'll be honest, it is just plain old dark, musty, dusty and dirty down there. It isn't finished and therefore it is quite ugly.
Also, we do not have shelves down there yet. So all of our junk stuff(decorations, camping and fishing stuff, etc.) Is piled under the stairs; and not neatly, I might add.

     I guess I never did much down there because I subconsciously told myself "when we get some shelves...". So over the course of two years, it became the ONE (well, ok, maybe the number one lol) place in the whole house where I would 'die' if someone ever went down there. One day, in the not so distant past, the phone rang. Mom and Dad had lost power and the boys were headed to camp the next day. They needed a few things washed before they left... yup, that's right.
   I mean, seriously, I wish I remembered to take a picture before I rolled up my sleeves and dug in. Before she came, I did a quick ''de-gross-a-fy" sweep. I had to use a barn shovel down there because the piles were too heavy and big for a dust pan! (wood chips and bark along with dirt and who knows what).

 So She came with my sisters, and later my sister-in-love came with my oldest-younger sister and my niece and we all had a good time visiting and doing laundry.
 Later I thought to myself "why does this area of the house have to be ugly, dirty and gross?" It still isn't great, and the basement remains (so far) unfinished and for the most part ugly and dusty, and still musty too. But it is an improvement. Now I actually enjoy walking downstairs and seeing the spiffed up laundry area. And I have started going through the junk under the stairs, sorting and hanging up what I can without shelves. So here goes...

This is the before picture of the little cupboard next to the washer. I was partway through cleaning it out before I remembered to take the photo. The top was covered in stuff and old, ripped up contact paper from before we bought the house. (Stuff was ours, contact paper wasn't).

 And this is after...
The hose goes out to the barn, there really is no other place for it to hook up to.

Inside is where I tucked the yellow clothesline for indoors. When our old dryer died it was still snowing outside, so Darling made one for me to put across the living room. It hooks to the wall with snaps, so I can unsnap it and put it away when I don't need it. Also some extra detergent, a smoke alarm, lunch baskets Darling used to take to work, and a large, bulky pan. And some leftover wall paper and a bag of window kits.

 We got a large basket of clothespins at a yard sale for $2.00, I keep them in the big jar I used to use for flour. I bought another one to hold my dry soap for homemade detergent. The humidity would make the powder clump in the boxes it came in. Plus, it makes it easier. That is coming up in another post. The little jar is for soap bars.

 I covered the vinegar bottle in contact paper, because I thought it looked prettier.

 I spray painted an old coffee can with some paint I had kicking around, then wrote on it with a sharpie and stuck little gems all over it. I also covered the shelf with contact paper.

 Three drawer organizer my Mother gave me last year. I keep extra cleaning rags and extra towels in here. I can only fit four in our tiny bathroom, which is enough for us, but want to hang on to extras just in case.

 In the top drawer I have travel size detergent packets (I don't know where they came from lol) and some rags I cut up for cleaning off the washer and dryer. The basket on the right houses my lingerie bags.

 Here is an over all look at the laundry area. That green sheet behind the shelf hides old window holes from before the addition and heat ducts from the old wood furnace.

Nothing too special, but I'm happy with it. Now I'm a little more chipper about having to go down there to do laundry, sort of lol. I have found that when my surroundings look appealing to me, I am more apt to keep it nice, clean it, etc.

Products used:

• Contact paper-Dollar Tree
• Large and small glass jar-Walmart
• Little white baskets-Walmart
• Flowers-kitchen counter lol. Originally from Dollar Tree

Hope it inspired you! Have a good day!

Still Kickin' 'round

 What happens to the baby's cookies that he could eat later? Hmmm...

 Banana muffins with chocolate chips, yum!

 A goat who thinks she is a dog...

 The three stooges. Buckling triplets born June 12th.

 Laying around

 What'cha doin'?

 Big Lunar moth

 When it's too hot to cook inside...

 Potatoes, burger, onion wrapped in foil and cooked over the fire. Sprinkle with cheese and eat with ketchup, mmm good!

 80* in the house a few weeks ago (we don't have A/C) Big Boy is sprawled out under the ceiling fan :)

 Teething on some old fashioned clothes pins

 You just watched me clean that windshield, didn't you? *sigh*

 When you have free range hens, you never know where you will find a nest of eggs. Any and all nooks, crannys, and newspaper crates are fair game...

 "Get my good side" lol.

*UPCOMING POSTS*

*FRUGAL LIVING SERIES
*LAUNDRY ROOM MAKEOVER -unfortunately, I don't think I have any ''before'' pics! I never remember to take any!
*KITCHEN TIPS
*MEAL PLANNING REVIEW -Trying out a new meal planning system and after using it for a while, I'll let you know what I think. :)

You know it's been a while...

You know it's been a stretch since you've gotten all of the laundry washed, dried, and put away when you realize you do not have enough hangers for all your clothes anymore. :P

So Exhausted!

HOW, exactly, can he sleep like this?!
  Yes, after I put the camera down I took pity on him and removed the toy lol.

Walkmans

Came across this and thought it too cute not to share.
  I remember having a Walkman, and I really enjoyed it. I had cassettes with Disney songs, Michael W. Smith, and others. I remember thinking how odd it was seeing a portable CD player for the first time. I haven't seen anyone use one of those in years, but at one time "everyone" wanted one. Then during my freshman year of high school, my French class was in the computer lab doing research for a big project. I will never forget the girl sitting next to me asked "What's a cassette?" I almost fell on the floor!
   Watching this, all I could think of was "this is pathetic" Lol. Enjoy!

If you don't have time to watch it all, you have to skip to 6:08 you don't want to miss it!! Oh my word!

Love Life?

"Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of."

~Benjamin Franklin  

~Six Months!!!~

Big Boy is six months old! (on the 9th)

Here are some recent highlights...
*The baby foods he enjoys currently are:
-bananas (his favorite)
-peaches
-peas
-pears
-squash
-sweet potato
-apples
-rice cereal
-oatmeal
-egg yolk

*Things he can do...
-roll from belly to back
-almost roll from back to belly, he gets stuck on his arm lol
-grab and hold things, toys or bowls of Mamma's and Daddy's food
-sit supported
-bounce in his Johnny Jumper
-push himself backwards in his walker
-getting a lot better at balancing while sitting up with minimal support
-had his first sink bath
-has started to actually have fits when something doesn't go his way
-spin around in his crib, on the floor, etc.

*Things he likes to do...
-cuddle with Daddy
-''fly'' with Daddy
-sit on Daddy's shoulders
-watch Star Trek with Daddy
-laugh at Daddy
~is there a pattern here? lol~
-anything, and everything with his Daddy!
-play in his walker
-play with his crib toy
-jump in his Johnny Jumper
-pat the dog, with help
-snuggle his stuffed, white tiger
-read stories
-bath time
-'swimming'
-and being wherever the action is

He still sleeps through the night, although he has pretty much given up his late morning naps. When he wakes up 4:00-5:00ish I change him and feed him a bottle in our bed. He will usually fall back asleep until around 7:00, which is nice because I get to have a WHOLE cup of coffee, usually, lol and start laundry and breakfast. I also have my quiet time with the Lord before he gets up most mornings.

 First trip in the laundry basket! Just like I used to take his Aunt Zebra outside six years ago!

 Helping Mamma hang diapers on the line

 "Now what did I do with that clothespin!?"

 The most beautiful dirty feet I have ever seen.

Pinterest

Courtesy of Pinterest

Don't you hate it when you look on Pinterest for ideas to decorate what you already have, just to close it out thinking I wish I had that??
 Ugh, and yet again, another mini struggle with contentment lol. It is so easy, at least for me anyway, to look at someone else's pantry, kitchen, bathroom, etc. and secretly wish I had what they do.
But as much fun as it can be to decorate our homes, create beautiful landscapes, to have picture/Pinterest perfect havens, we need to remember that this is not our home. That we are here for but a season, a sort 100 years (give or take a few) to do GOD'S work, not ours. In trying to create the perfect picture, we can easily forget the Big Picture. Life is not about antique decor, perfectly pruned lilac bushes, coordinating bedding, and homes that do not looked lived in. Life is about Christ, and that He died for us, so that we may live for Him.
My kitchen may never be "Pinterest worthy", and my life is certainly not picture perfect. It has mistakes, sin, could haves and should haves along the way. And bound to have more before my life is over. Do I try to fail? Certainly not. But we as humans are born sinners. I am thankful that I have a forgiving and merciful Father who loves me very much.

And I'm sure that if God had a Pinterest board, it wouldn't be filled with "kitchen decor ideas" or "things I want for my house", but one titled "My Favorite Works In Progress" with each and every one of us on it.

"A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words"...Really??

It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. But to me, the following is just one, little, four letter word:

And that word is...GOAT.