Merry 3rd day of Christmas!
I was going to take a picture, but well the sun went down before I had the time to take a picture.
Today, we bought a new to us 15 passenger van! A wonderful family that goes to the church we used to attend before moving further west was willing to part with "Betsy". She is younger than the van that another wonderful family at the church we went to in Colorado gifted to us. Which by the way she lasted quite a while, but she is now at the point of we fix one thing and then two other things start acting up. So, we had to look for another vehicle. Anyway, Betsy is great. She is worn and torn, but her engine is really good, and she rides much smoother. We are all happy and feel so blessed that someone was willing to part with a vehicle they no longer needed.
I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas, and continue to enjoy the Christmas season.
May God bless you all!
Saturday, December 27, 2014
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
Frugal or Bust!
That is my goal for 2015! We do okay, but I know we can do much better. So, I am going to go crazy and be a penny pincher/frugal zealot!
One way to start is by picking up a book called The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn(sounds like decision). My husbands Granny bought this for me one Christmas many years ago, and we used it. Somewhere along the way and many children later I feel that we have slipped back into our bad habits. So I am rereading this book. You can purchase this book, but see if your library has it first if you want to really be frugal.
Second, I am rereading the book Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. We just love this guy. He is straight forward and has a ton of great advice.
Third and one of my favorite resources is to go to a wonderful website called Frugal Families They have fourms that are very friendly and helpful. They are a nice group of ladies. I just love them to pieces.
One thing I have to say is that we did go back to disposable diapers. Our water bill drastically dropped. I know we have a regular top loading washer and that is probably why, but I wasn't happy with our front loader at washing cloth diapers when we had one. I ended up doing diapers all day long, and I mean all day long. Then I started soaking them in the bathtub for an hour then washing and it was fine, but it still took up a lot of time. I need that time to do other things like teach the kids their daily lessons. So, something had to give, and it was the cloth diapers.
Some other little quick tidbits would be to unplug everything that still sucks energy even when it is off. Example, the television, the coffee maker that has a clock on it, the microwave with the clock, etc. Start cooking from scratch after you get the hang of it is doesn't take much longer than opening up the box mix that you used to use. It is cold right now check your doors and windows to make sure that you are not losing any heat, fix it if you have leaks and watch your electric/gas bill go down as well. Make and stick to a budget. That has been a real life saver many times for us. We haven't been good about the sticking part lately, but we sat down and made one the other day. Now we just need to make each other stick to it. Have the whole family be involved. Make it a game! See how low you can get the electric bill this month by turning off lights in rooms that are not being used, or opening blinds on a sunny day! Be creative and let the kids run wild.
I will be sharing our frugal journey with you all and hope that you will find at least one idea you can use!
May God bless you all and have a Merry Christmas!!!! Our Lords birthday is tomorrow!!!!!!!!
One way to start is by picking up a book called The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn(sounds like decision). My husbands Granny bought this for me one Christmas many years ago, and we used it. Somewhere along the way and many children later I feel that we have slipped back into our bad habits. So I am rereading this book. You can purchase this book, but see if your library has it first if you want to really be frugal.
Second, I am rereading the book Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. We just love this guy. He is straight forward and has a ton of great advice.
Third and one of my favorite resources is to go to a wonderful website called Frugal Families They have fourms that are very friendly and helpful. They are a nice group of ladies. I just love them to pieces.
One thing I have to say is that we did go back to disposable diapers. Our water bill drastically dropped. I know we have a regular top loading washer and that is probably why, but I wasn't happy with our front loader at washing cloth diapers when we had one. I ended up doing diapers all day long, and I mean all day long. Then I started soaking them in the bathtub for an hour then washing and it was fine, but it still took up a lot of time. I need that time to do other things like teach the kids their daily lessons. So, something had to give, and it was the cloth diapers.
Some other little quick tidbits would be to unplug everything that still sucks energy even when it is off. Example, the television, the coffee maker that has a clock on it, the microwave with the clock, etc. Start cooking from scratch after you get the hang of it is doesn't take much longer than opening up the box mix that you used to use. It is cold right now check your doors and windows to make sure that you are not losing any heat, fix it if you have leaks and watch your electric/gas bill go down as well. Make and stick to a budget. That has been a real life saver many times for us. We haven't been good about the sticking part lately, but we sat down and made one the other day. Now we just need to make each other stick to it. Have the whole family be involved. Make it a game! See how low you can get the electric bill this month by turning off lights in rooms that are not being used, or opening blinds on a sunny day! Be creative and let the kids run wild.
I will be sharing our frugal journey with you all and hope that you will find at least one idea you can use!
May God bless you all and have a Merry Christmas!!!! Our Lords birthday is tomorrow!!!!!!!!
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Recess
Just wanted to post some pictures of some of the kid outside during recess.
The first one is of Joseph before his nap.
The first one is of Joseph before his nap.
Freezing Pears
Well, we are unable to make the pear wine at this time. We still need a couple of things, and we decided to just freeze the pears we collected over the weekend.
The other pears that we had saved were fed to Mary Rosetta, the Jersey calf, and the chickens.
So, I will be taking some pictures of the process which will hopefully begin in about 45 minutes. We are still eating breakfast and need to get the kitchen cleaned up before we begin!
I will be back in a little bit with pictures!
May God bless you all.
So, we decided to just add sugar and nutmeg to our pears then place them in the freezer for 3 hrs and then put inside freezer bags. We will be using the frozen pears for pear cobbler or crisps. I found this quick recipe here on you tube.
We have 2 pans, and we would have had more, but the kids decided they needed to sample the pears before putting them into the freezer. In one picture you can see Teresa doing her school work and eating a pear.
In the other pics you can see Trinity putting sugar and nutmeg onto the pears and there is one with Wesley Thomas giving his thumbs up approval on Trinity's job!
Oh, and the boys found a frozen frog on Tuesday morning. We had to take a picture of that!
Have a blessed day!
The other pears that we had saved were fed to Mary Rosetta, the Jersey calf, and the chickens.
So, I will be taking some pictures of the process which will hopefully begin in about 45 minutes. We are still eating breakfast and need to get the kitchen cleaned up before we begin!
I will be back in a little bit with pictures!
May God bless you all.
So, we decided to just add sugar and nutmeg to our pears then place them in the freezer for 3 hrs and then put inside freezer bags. We will be using the frozen pears for pear cobbler or crisps. I found this quick recipe here on you tube.
We have 2 pans, and we would have had more, but the kids decided they needed to sample the pears before putting them into the freezer. In one picture you can see Teresa doing her school work and eating a pear.
In the other pics you can see Trinity putting sugar and nutmeg onto the pears and there is one with Wesley Thomas giving his thumbs up approval on Trinity's job!
Oh, and the boys found a frozen frog on Tuesday morning. We had to take a picture of that!
Have a blessed day!
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Today He is Two
I thought I posted this, but I didn't! This is several weeks late!!
Today our little DP is now two years old. I do not know where the time has gone.
I am thankful that the Lord added him to our family. He is such a sweet little boy. When one of his sisters is hurt he tries to comfort them and asks what happened.
Today our little DP is now two years old. I do not know where the time has gone.
I am thankful that the Lord added him to our family. He is such a sweet little boy. When one of his sisters is hurt he tries to comfort them and asks what happened.
We love you DP! May God bless you always!
Pear Butter
This is a bit late. I am sorry. I will try to do better.
So, two weekends ago B and I made some pear butter! It is so good. We used the recipe in the Ball canning book.
We used the pears from B's Aunts pear tree. We just picked up some more pears yesterday so perhaps I will can some more in the next few days. I think we would almost have a year supply if we can this next batch.
B really wants to try to make some pear wine. If we do make wine we will use the recipe from Misty Prepper https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_I1sTZviWw. I have to say I just love her videos! She has a video that shows her using fresh peaches as well.
Hope you all have a wonderful evening! May God bless you!
So, two weekends ago B and I made some pear butter! It is so good. We used the recipe in the Ball canning book.
We used the pears from B's Aunts pear tree. We just picked up some more pears yesterday so perhaps I will can some more in the next few days. I think we would almost have a year supply if we can this next batch.
B really wants to try to make some pear wine. If we do make wine we will use the recipe from Misty Prepper https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_I1sTZviWw. I have to say I just love her videos! She has a video that shows her using fresh peaches as well.
Hope you all have a wonderful evening! May God bless you!
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Update
Why do I have a difficult time keeping up with a blog? Perhaps it is because I am a mother of 12 children with 11 still at home?
I am here today to update! Then I probably will be gone for a year or so. Just kidding. I am going to try to be more proactive in keeping up with this blog.
This morning I actually woke up a smidgen before 5am. For this mama, this is huge! With B's work hours not really being normal for many years this is an old habit that will be hard to break. I have to say though, that I feel good waking up this early. I usually wake up exhausted.
So, I woke up early, and I even made my husband his lunch. That is almost a miracle., He is a quiet man, so I wasn't surprised that he hardly spoke. Although, I feel that part of it was due to the fact that he may have been in a state of shock. I mean his wife was up before 5AM, and I even made his lunch. There is a chance that he may have been worried that the world was coming to an end. To be fair as well as honest he did brew the coffee himself, but I did pour him a cup to go! Unfortunately, he also had to iron his own clothes. I had diapers to start and a baby to feed. Baby steps as www.flylady.net says. So, I walked him out,the door, gave him a kiss, and sent him out into the world.
I feel blessed to have a husband that works hard so I can stay home with the children.
May God bless you all.
I am here today to update! Then I probably will be gone for a year or so. Just kidding. I am going to try to be more proactive in keeping up with this blog.
This morning I actually woke up a smidgen before 5am. For this mama, this is huge! With B's work hours not really being normal for many years this is an old habit that will be hard to break. I have to say though, that I feel good waking up this early. I usually wake up exhausted.
So, I woke up early, and I even made my husband his lunch. That is almost a miracle., He is a quiet man, so I wasn't surprised that he hardly spoke. Although, I feel that part of it was due to the fact that he may have been in a state of shock. I mean his wife was up before 5AM, and I even made his lunch. There is a chance that he may have been worried that the world was coming to an end. To be fair as well as honest he did brew the coffee himself, but I did pour him a cup to go! Unfortunately, he also had to iron his own clothes. I had diapers to start and a baby to feed. Baby steps as www.flylady.net says. So, I walked him out,the door, gave him a kiss, and sent him out into the world.
I feel blessed to have a husband that works hard so I can stay home with the children.
May God bless you all.
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