Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Crafting On

The act of creating, in one form or another, preserves my sanity amongst the chaos of life. This explains why I always have more than one project going at a time as well as why my housework tends to fall behind. I enjoy seeing what others are working on and keeping calm with, too. What are you creating? What is keeping you going? Snap a picture or two, post it on your blog, on Instagram #craftingon and/or Flickr and then share it with the rest of us by leaving your link below.

crafting on
So I know I said that I would be done with K's sweater within a week but I am only 5 rows away from being done. That is nearly the same. Or so I'd like to think. Also this beautiful wooden watch just arrived - another birthday gift to tuck away for my girl. I think thirteen is the perfect age to get a real watch.

What are you working on? Happy creating!

Share/Bookmark

Sunday, August 26, 2018

Snippets

almost done! bounty from neighbors' gardens

Our school year begins Monday and I am still doing last minute preparations so this blog post is just little snippets of our lives the past couple of weeks. I have to thrown in here just how excited I am for this school year. I have been a rather reluctant homeschooler up til now (I am not saying I am head over heels still, but I am getting there). There is something about this year that has me so enthusiastic about schooling. Maybe because it is Little L's first real year, or how much I planned out, or maybe even the crazy strict homeschooling laws here that will keep me in line (somewhat joking there). I don't know, but I am going to embrace it! We'll start our day off with a special back to school surprise breakfast treat - waffles with whipped cream. 😋

L's treasures still cleaning them

Little L has been having fun digging for treasures on the banks of our creek. There is one special place her calls his mine where most of the treasures are found, especially after the flooding. He has quite a stash of old glass bottles from that mine but the ones you see above I just can not get clean. The top photo shows how they were when he dug them up and the bottom one is after I scrubbed them with baking soda, vinegar and thieves soap. I got them mostly clean but as you can see in the one bottle there is something stuck inside. Kevin thinks it might be old hardened stove polish (that is what the bottle once held). Any thoughts on how to get it out?

kraut

Made my first ever sauerkraut thanks to a great group of ladies I joined at our local library. It was very Home Fires-esque. I look forward to the next meeting. I was the youngest one there which was a bit funny but eh, that's okay. This is from the group's flyer:  "FULL CIRCLE FUTURE HARVEST is a group of like minded people that meet throughout the year to discuss what WE CAN DO to improve our lives as well as those around us. The programs are presented by the group and community members, including Master Gardeners and healthcare professionals. The group promotes the importance of having healthy soil and growing non-genetically modified seeds to produce nutritious fruits and vegetables, as well as explores the use of functional medicine. Applying these practices to our lives help us attain and maintain a higher quality of life."

helicopter helicopter

Little L's latest creation out of Kevin's old construx - a helicopter. It has already been taken apart and made into a corn combine. He is obsessed with those right now. In September he gets to go visits one of Purple Grandma's friends and ride in one as he harvest the corn. That will be quite the big day for him.

some of our flock Egger (rooster?) Egger rooster

There is a big possibility one of our chickens might be a rooster. This is Egger, one of Little L's chickens. We are a bit nervous about the outcome of this if Egger really is a rooster. Thankfully we live out in the country where we are zoned for roosters so either way we won't have to find him a new home. Phew!!
Share/Bookmark

Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Crafting On

The act of creating, in one form or another, preserves my sanity amongst the chaos of life. This explains why I always have more than one project going at a time as well as why my housework tends to fall behind. I enjoy seeing what others are working on and keeping calm with, too. What are you creating? What is keeping you going? Snap a picture or two, post it on your blog, on Instagram #craftingon and/or Flickr and then share it with the rest of us by leaving your link below.

crafting on
Sorry guys. I have been a bit under the weather these past few days (oh the joy of summer colds) so I haven't been around much. However the silver lining to be sick is getting a lot of knitting done. I am nearly finished with the 2nd sleeve on K's birthday sweater and will be sewing the whole thing up in no time.
What are you working on? Happy creating!
Share/Bookmark

Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Crafting On

The act of creating, in one form or another, preserves my sanity amongst the chaos of life. This explains why I always have more than one project going at a time as well as why my housework tends to fall behind. I enjoy seeing what others are working on and keeping calm with, too. What are you creating? What is keeping you going? Snap a picture or two, post it on your blog, on Instagram #craftingon and/or Flickr and then share it with the rest of us by leaving your link below.

Crafting On

Kevin gave me a Fire Tablet for my birthday. Before you get any crazy ideas - no, I am still not going to get a smart phone. I am sticking with my dinosaur flip phone for as long as they exist. I can't get over just how great it is for knitting. I know I sound ridiculous but hear me out! We don't have a printer so whenever I purchase new knitting patterns online I have to either go to the library to print them out (which pretty much never happens) or copy every little excruciating detail by hand. My hand is cramping up just thinking about it, and without fail I always manage to copy some pattern of the pattern incorrectly and end up having to rip back my work and check the pattern on my computer. No fun! But now I have my patterns with my everywhere I go. I love it! Okay, yes the tablet has other awesome features but that is the one I am most excited about. It is the simple things, right?

On to my knitting - I am now on to sleeve number 2 of K's birthday knit. I am seventy-five percent done! *happy dance* I think this will look so pretty one her when it is all done. The green matches her eyes. 😻

What are you working on? Happy creating!
Share/Bookmark

Sunday, August 12, 2018

Real Food on a Budget

drying herbs in our kitchen window real food on a budget mint our strawberries are still going strong real food on a budget

Most of you already know of my love for real, organic food. I have been carrying on and on about it in this space for years now. I am also pretty sure you know of the importance of budgeting in my family - more people means more love but also more money spent on food. Let's face it - eating healthy, real food and saving money don't exactly go together, unless you think about the money you'll save in the future on doctor's bills. However I am talking about the present. The time when we only have X amount of money to spend on groceries that need to last us Y amount of days.

I confess as hard as I try to budget (and believe me I put a lot into it - hours each week), there are weeks where we'll eat like kings for a few days only to find out we are short on money towards the end of the week and end up having to eat ramen noodles to get by. We are essentially undoing all the good of the real food we previously ate with the processed junk. Ridiculous, right?! I just find myself confused and thinking something's gotta give.

With that in mind, you can imagine my excitement when I saw that one of my favorite authors is coming out with a book all about eating real food on a budget. 😍 Lisa Leake's new book 100 Days of Real Food on a Budget is available for pre-order now and will be released on Tuesday August 14th. I had the pleasure of getting an advance copy in the mail just the other day (I may or may not have jumped up and down and squealed like a schoolgirl when it arrived). I have been reading through it every chance I get. The recipes all look incredibly scrumptious and I look forward to trying them as soon as possible - the Southwest Salad is calling my name. For my fellow vegan and vegetarian friends this cookbook has quite a few recipes to meet our needs and most can easily be adapted (ie. use homemade sprouted almond milk in place of the cow's milk). It contains recipes for other dietary restrictions as well. Equally exciting though is the entire first chapter. Lisa shares her budgeting tricks, ways to lower your grocery bill, and meal plans that even include average costs as well as a meal plan template. She also has a supermarket coast comparison chart that really opened my eyes. Granted prices vary depending on where you are living but it still gives you a good idea of where to shop for particular items. Every family that wants to eat healthy but feels like they never could due to expense needs a copy of this book. It really can be done!

Here is a sample recipe from 100 Days of Real Food on a Budget. Click on it to see a bigger version.

Oatmeal Cookie Energy Bites recipe


For once I look forward to sitting down and planning our meal plan and budget for the upcoming week. I feel like perhaps now I can finally conquer the beast that is eating healthy while staying within our means.

I am giving away a copy of Lisa Leake's first book (a big game changer and personal favorite of my family) 100 Days of Real Food on my Instagram account. Be sure to check it out!
Share/Bookmark

Tuesday, August 7, 2018

Crafting On

The act of creating, in one form or another, preserves my sanity amongst the chaos of life. This explains why I always have more than one project guoing at a time as well as why my housework tends to fall behind. I enjoy seeing what others are working on and keeping calm with, too. What are you creating? What is keeping you going? Snap a picture or two, post it on your blog, on Instagram #craftingon and/or Flickr and then share it with the rest of us by leaving your link below.

crafting on

I am finally on to the sleeves of K's birthday knit. Hurrah!! I rather like that the green yarn somewhat matches the owl's eyes in Baby F's new book (which he loves, by the way. Then again he loves anything with foxes and birds).

What are you working on? Happy creating!

Share/Bookmark
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...