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~A Goodwill Find & Makeover~

 

So, Brian & I went on a dinner date.  And we stopped into a nearby Goodwill.  I usually don’t have a lot of luck finding great bargains, but this just happened to be my lucky day!  As we were wandering around the housewares section, we stumbled upon this little gem:

 

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An all-metal spool organizer!

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Any guesses what I paid?

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No?  Okay. I guess I’ll just have to tell you.

 

Tax and all, a whopping $1.09!!

However, I didn’t care for the hideous greenish-blue color, so I grabbed a can of spray paint and…..

 

Ta da!!

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My new thread spool organizer! Unfortunately, the can of spray paint that I had didn’t have enough in it to finish my project, so I had to pickup another can. But, no worries. The remainder of the can will wait patiently for my next project!

And here it is with some lovely, colorful thread….

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sitting next to my sewing machine awaiting my next sewing project.

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The Best Laid Plans & All That

 

I distinctly remember saying that I wanted to try to post a blog post 3 days a week.  

 

Yeah. 

 

Okay. 

 

It seems like every time I sit down to write, something comes up.  But,  I’m not giving up.  No sir.  Not me! 

 

I’ve got a couple of posts that I’m going to be working on today, so look for those in the next few days! 

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Birthday Celebration & Legos™

I know it’s been a few days since I last posted, but I was very busy getting things ready to celebrate Michael’s 11th birthday!  It’s hard to believe that it’s been 11 years since my last baby was born.  I’m so very thankful that God chose to bless us with him.  This year, his birthday had a Lego ™ theme.  I made his cake to look like a Lego ™ building & used some of his Lego ™ figurines & blocks as decorations. 

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Birthday boy blowing out his candles:

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His actual birthday was on Monday, & we had a big surprise in store for him!  I didn’t get a pic of his face when he first saw where we were taking it, but he was very surprised, & he had a great time!  Can you guess where we took him?

 

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Yep.  You guessed it!  The Lego ™ Store!  It was so amazing to see all of the different types of sets that they had, and they had activity centers for kids to build & create right there in the store. 

 

 

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I even got proof that teenagers CAN be kept occupied AND entertained!

 

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And then there was the WALL OF LEGOS™!!!!

 

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Whoever thought of this one was a genius!

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And we all LOVED R2-D2!

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Of course, Katie would try to pick a fight IN the store, but I think she had an unfair advantage. What do you think?

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He was given money for his birthday by pretty much everyone, so he got to go shopping.  He bought a Lego™ Ningago set & a cup full of Legos™, and he still has money leftover.  He did very well.  After that, we took him out to eat at the restaurant of his choice, and he chose one of our favorite pizza buffet places, Stevi B’s! It was a long day, but we all had so much fun!  Now, Katie wants to go back for her birthday!  Wonder if she’ll change her 14-year-old mind between now & then? 

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~In everything, do it all to the glory of God~

This is a message that God has been laying on my heart in recent weeks.  I love having an orderly home, but it’s always constant battle for me.  Most days, I struggle to just keep the basics done.  It’s not that it’s hard, but we have allowed so much clutter in our home that it makes it almost impossible to keep it picked up all of the time.  I have been reading a bit here & there in a book “The Power of a Praying Wife” by Stormie O’Martian. One of the things she said at the beginning of the book was that the home is the wife’s responsibility & that even housework should be done to the glory of God.  WOW!  To see it in print & to read those words really spoke to me.  I don’t mind housework.  I love doing for my husband & children, but doing housework to glorify God?  Well, that put a whole new spin on things.  I can say that it has really opened my eyes as I go about my daily chores.  I ask myself as I go about each task, “Am I doing ________ to glorify God?“  There are times that I catch myself being irritable, a grouchy momma/wife, and I have to stop & ask for forgiveness from my family & from my heavenly Father.   I’m finding that daily housework has a new meaning & I’m finding that I don’t mind is so much now.  I see it as a way to please my heavenly Father, which, in turn, brings peace to our home & gives my sweet husband a peaceful home to come home to.  Will there be days when I don’t see housework as a way to please God?  I’m sure there will be.  Will there be days when things go undone?  Absolutely.  But, the good news is I can pick up right where I am & begin again. 

 

She also brings up another point that God has been working on in my heart for the last several months, and that I’ve been slowly working on changing.  That’s my appearance.  I haven’t “let myself go” in the last few years, but I haven’t done much to improve myself either.  Well, one of those things has been in how I dress.  Since putting on weight 6 years ago after having ankle surgery & been being on crutches for a total of six months (total before & after surgery), I haven’t wanted to wear a dress or anything really feminine since.  Jeans, boots, & solid colored ladies cut shirts have been my wardrobe.  Well, I’m slowly working on changing that.  For Christmas, my sweet husband bought me several nice long skirts (that I had picked out back in October but put away for Christmas).  Most are denim skirts that can be worn as casual or dressy casual, but I also have a few suede skirts that are dressier.  My husband tells me I’m beautiful no matter how I’m dressed or even if I’m dirty from a hard days work on the farm.  How many women have a husband who sees her as beautiful even on her worst days? I’m really blessed beyond words.  But, this goes beyond him.  This is coming from my heavenly Father.  He wants me to dress more feminine & continue to dress modestly.  That doesn’t mean skirts all of the time, at least not right now, but it does mean that I need to pay closer attention to what I’m wearing & dress as to please Him.  If I’m pleasing my heavenly Father, then I know that I’m pleasing my sweet husband.  I’m not going to debate that pros/cons rights/wrongs of wearing skirts, but I will say with very strong conviction that women (and girls of all ages) should dress modestly.  This means that you wear shorts/skirts at least to the knee, shirts that are not low cut/form-fitting & that have sleeves, jeans/pants that are not tight/form-fitting, etc.  Our bodies should be kept as temples to our heavenly Father, they are for the eyes of our husbands ONLY, not for the men of the world to look upon & lust after.  Every day, men battle with lustful thoughts.  As women, especially Christian women, we should be doing our best to keep our fellow brothers-in-Christ from stumbling & dress modestly.  No, we cannot control their thoughts/actions, but we can do our part to not add fuel to the fire. 

 

I’m sure I’m going to have days where I’m really feeling in touch with God & days where I’m really struggling, but I will continue to take things a day at a time (sometimes a moment at a time) & try to do all things for the glory of God. 

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I’m back after a long, unplanned hiatus

I apologize for the long hiatus I ended up taking from my blog.  It started out with our homeschool schedule becoming extremely hectic for a while and then, about the time we made some cutbacks, my father-in-law had a hemorrhagic stroke.  He spent the next 21 days in ICU & we spent the next 21 days at the hospital.  After 21 days of quite literally being on a roller coaster ride, he went home to be with our Lord.  That was on December 5th.  December 6th was my husband’s birthday, the 18th would have been my father-in-law’s 2nd wedding anniversary, & then we threw in Christmas & the flu for Katie & I.  It took me about 2 weeks to fully recover from the flu.  Then we started back to into our homeschooling routine.  It’s not been an easy time, especially since we lost my mother-in-law 3 years & 1 week before my father-in-law. 

 

So, that about sums up where I’ve been & brings us to where we are now.  I’m not sure how much I’ll be posting, but I’m hoping to be post at least 3 times a week.  I’m leaving it in God’s hands.  

 

This year, I’ll be focusing on simplifying – our home, our “stuff”, our schedules, etc. – while also learning more & doing more preserving & becoming more self-sufficient.   I can say that, so far this year, we’ve sorted through all of our clothes & donated about 4 bags of clothes to our local thrift store– most from the kids, especially our son who has taken a pretty big growth spurt in the last few months.  We’ve also donated another 2-3 bags of miscellaneous odds & ends that we just didn’t “love”  anymore.  Hopefully, the items will find a new home with people who “love” them & will use them.  We’ve also done a complete pantry overhaul & I donated a dishes that we haven’t used in a very long time.  It’s so nice to see the clutter leaving & being able to see, love, & use the items that we do have.  Less really IS more!

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Preserving Mushrooms

While shopping at Aldis, they not only had onions on sale, but they had mushrooms on sale for $0.69, so I bought 12! What am I going to do with these mushrooms, especially since I already have a bunch of dehydrated ones?  I’m going to can these so that they can easily be added to homemade pizzas, etc.  Mushrooms have to be pressure canned.  They CANNOT be water bath canned.  I followed the instructions in the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving.

 

First, trim stem ends & any discolored areas.  Soak in cold water for 10 minutes.  Drain & rinse well. Aren’t they pretty?!

 

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I sliced my mushrooms with an egg slicer, then placed them in a lemon juice solution to keep them from browning.  Next I placed the mushrooms in a stock pot with enough water to cover & bring to a boil over medium-high heat; boiling for 5 minutes. 

 

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I drained the mushrooms, discarding the liquid, and the packed them into half-pint jars (half-pint or pint jars ONLY).  Next, I ladled fresh boiling water over the mushrooms, leaving 1-inch headspace.  Then, I pressure canned them for 45 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure.  (The pounds of pressure & time are the same for half-pints and pints). 

 

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And a close-up look:

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I think they turned out beautifully!  This is the first time that I’ve canned mushrooms, but I can guarantee that it won’t be the last.  I first read about it over at A Working Pantry, so I knew that when I came across another good sale on mushrooms, I was going to give it a try.  (Thank you, Patsy!) They were so easy to do. 

 

My oldest daughter thought they were store-bought canned mushrooms!  LOL  I guess that means I did a good job, then!  Just one less thing that I have to buy that’s precanned/processed. 

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Waste Not……

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After buying 54 pounds of onions, I had 18 onion bags lying there just waiting to be throw away turned into something useful.  So, I did what I’ve been doing for years.  I turned them into pot scrubbers!  These work wonderfully for scrubbing dishes, stovetops, etc., and they don’t cost a thing since you’ve already paid for them when you bought the onions. 

Here’s how you turn them into scrubbies:

First, cut both the metal ends off:

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Next, you want to gather it together and fold in half:

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Cut in half:
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Store as you see fit.  Here are all of mine that I have right now. 
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I store them in a small plastic cup under my sink that I can quickly grab a new one when I need it.  Unless you are cleaning something really greasy, each one will last quite a while.  When done, discard replace with a fresh one. As you can see, I have a few different colors.  I’ve saved any plastic bags from lemons, fruits, onions, etc. that I can cut up and reuse.  Some of the larger bags, I am able to get 4 to 8 scrubbies out of. When they are longer, I will fold in half, cut, fold in half again, cut again, etc.  But don’t cut them too small or you won’t be able to use them very well. 

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Laura Williams' Musings