It's Official...

Well, there are 3 things that are official.  First off, I totally love quilting, even if I'm not a professional and EVERYTHING isn't perfect about them.  I enjoy choosing the colors and fabrics.  I enjoy cutting the pieces and sewing them all together again.  I love choosing the backing and putting it all together.
Second, I totally dislike quilting on my sewing machine.  YES, it can be done, but if I had my choice, I'd have a short arm quilting machine in my home and I'd quilt away.  I'd probably not have 12 quilt tops that need to be quilted.  I'd most likely zip out quilts before you could count to 100.
Last but most definitely not least...I absolutely HATE, and yes I said HATE, making the binding.  I don't mind cutting it, but I do HATE ironing it.  I could buy the binding, but that would be a waste to me when so many have blessed me with fabric beyond my capacity to house it.  However, I would most definitely like to have one of these Bias Tape Maker.  How much binding I could whip up in minutes?????  Only God knows!!!! ;-)

A girl can dream can't she???

De-cluttering...A Long Way to Go

Sorry you can't see the details of the covers...

As I look around my home, I'm getting more and more depressed.  I've got stuff beyond imagination and it's time for it to go.  I can't tell you where half this stuff came from, but then there are the things that I inherited from my grandmother, father, and mother.  Those things will stay and the rest I am slowly but surely culling.  I woke up Sunday, had my quiet time and immediately after, began de-cluttering our computer area and kitchen.  Here is a picture of the baker's rack that once housed the computer and loads of books.  I now have it back in the kitchen with all of my small appliances on it.  I am slowly making covers for each appliance to keep the dust off.  For whatever reason, this house stays dusty and I figured covers would help keep the dusty away.

My next area will be my sewing stuff.  I've cleaned and de-cluttered so much of it already, but I still have tons of fabric.  I don't wish to part with the fabric because I am using it, but I'm thinking I may store that which I am not using immediately in totes and put them in the shed for right now.  It would only be two totes, but it would allow me to get rid of an entire shelf.
And I've culled books, but they still multiplied some how.  I love books, but this is beyond ridiculous.  I've got many that I will be donating to the Bastrop, TX fire victims.  That will take care of that problem.  I've sorted through all our board games so that is done as well.

Any rate, I'm in a mood for reducing junk!!!!

The Newest Additions...

Cast Iron Dutch Oven

Amish Style Apron

To my kitchen!!!!!  I have been needing new pots for a long time and as I researched what type I wanted, I settled on cast iron.  I will SLOWLY replace one pot at a time with cast iron.  I was able to get this 5 qt dutch oven and will most likely get another one, a couple of 3 qt pots, a 1.5 qt sauce pot, a roaster, and a corn cob mold.  Of course, this will be over a period of time, but they will all eventually be replaced.  I also went to a local Amish store and purchased all of my herbs for the fall season...way less expensive, and as I was standing at the register, the young woman standing there had on the most beautiful apron.  It was the exact type I had been searching for for about a year and a half or two.  I could not believe my eyes.  I asked her if she made it and she said yes, I made the others hanging in the back as well.  Now HOW did I miss eyeing those?  I couldn't tell you, maybe I was so engrossed in finding all the spices I had on my list.  At any rate, I rushed to the back and looked at those available and found one that I loved!!!!  Of course there were many others I liked equally as well, but that would have been way out of my budget.
I hope to draft a pattern from this one and make several more for various holidays.  However, THIS is the pattern and style I like beyond all the others I've seen.
I'll be choosing to wear this one over the other two I have.  I wonder if I should gift those to someone because I seriously doubt I'll wear them again.
Anyone in or near an Amish community that can snag a pattern for this style?  You slip your arms and head in and this particular one has ties at the waist in the back.  I simply adore it.

Yep, it's the simple things that make this girl happy!!!

New Hens...

We were blessed with 13 hens over the weekend and they seem to have settled in nicely.  The move doesn't seem to have been to traumatizing for them, as a few still gave us a few eggs, eight to be exact.  Two of the hens were really broody so I'm leaving those eggs to see if they will set.  If not, after a couple of days I'll collect those eggs.  The majority of my new girls are Buff Orpingtons, a great breed in my opinion.  There was also two Rhode Island Reds, and two hens that lay easter eggs (they have a blue tint to the shell).  I already had a Barred Rock rooster, two Buff roosters, a Rhode Island Red hen and a Buff hen.  The two Buff roosters are now with the new hens and I've left the Barred Rock rooster with the other two hens....they followed him around anyway so no need to alter that in any way.

Most of the new girls

I just discovered today the
 roosters colors are darker

Here you can see both roosters
Hopefully they will figure things out!!!

  

The alpha rooster with his
small harem.
 

Anonymous...and Lifestyle Changes

God simply amazes me more and more and It has to do with the simple fact that He is good!!!  Since I have made up in my mind that I'll do my best not to worry, just pray and trust God to do exactly what He says He will do, He has been blessing my socks off left and right.  Last week I checked the mail and to my amazement, there was a money order in the mail from someone in Florida.  I have no clue who sent it, I have no idea at all.  I did make sure it was a legitimate postal money order and after verifying that, we headed to purchase groceries, much needed toiletries, and paid a bill!!!  I had no clue how we were going to take care of any of that prior to that, but God had already worked it out!  So to who ever anonymous is.....I thank you with a sincere heart and Praise the Lord for your willingness to bless us in such an awesome way.

A sweet friend and I were talking and we both agree, if the body of Christ would step up to the plate, I don't believe we would have any Christians struggling in this nation.  Single moms would be able to fulfill their calling to stay home and raise up godly seeds.  And then, think of the testimony that would be to non believers...no brother or sister in Christ going to the government for housing, food, or medical expenses...
Now that would be awesome and amazing in and of itself and YES a mighty testimony to the world!!!

You know I do a lot of reading and many times I happen upon someone's blog and have no idea how I found that blog, but am ever grateful that I did.  Well, last night was no different.  I have purposed in my heart to make some changes for myself.  Some of it has to do with the economy and the fact that I am still unemployed.  Yet some of it has to do with the fact that I just want to live a healthier simpler life if at all possible.
So I've gone back to drinking green smoothies every morning and it has helped to cut my cravings and I find at lunch time I'm really not hungry and don't start getting hungry until around 5ish...well, dinner is at 6 so I usually drink a tall 44 oz of water and eat dinner at 6.  Since I'm on a serious budget, my smoothies are basic.  water to cover the blades in my blender, 2 handfuls of spinach or lettuce (green or red leaf), 1 cup frozen fruit, 1 cup plain yogurt.  Quick and simple yummy breakfast, followed by a large cup of ice water.  I've increased my water intake throughout the day as well.  In the last 3 months, I've switched from disposable pads to cloth pads and just in the last 2 weeks I switched from toilet paper to cloth wipes (I buy a small pack of toilet paper now for certain needs in the restroom, but that 4 pack should last me for a time).  I just made my first batch of deodorant and let me tell you it's been 2 days and I love it already.  I've been wanting to make the switch, but I've been a bit chicken!  I also tried another thing suggested from this blog and washed my hair with ivory soap...oh yea, I've switched from the fancy soaps back to ivory.  I've used dove for as long as I can remember, but found in the last 2 months or so it was beginning to cause me to itch like no one's business!  I digress.  So the reason I washed my hair with ivory soap, is that between my 2 daughters and I, the shampoo is gone in a month.  They simply use too much.  I did an experiment and bought everyone their own bottle of shampoo, the same size and my sons lasted the longest of course, then mine, but the girls were out of shampoo in 3 weeks.  So, I tried washing my hair with the ivory soap and it cleaned it very well and then made it feel like a dry mess, but I applied conditioner in it and it is just fine and very manageable.  I have used the apple cider vinegar as a conditioner before and loved the way it worked, so after we have used the remaining 3 bottles of conditioner in my home, I will be buying apple cider vinegar from that point on.  I had already been making my laundry soap so no changes there.  I have one thing I just have not been able to give up and that's the bleach.  I don't even use it on our clothes anymore, just to clean with, but I'm noticing it is causing me to have more headaches and it's burning my eyes and nose and that's just with a little bit being used.  So I'm sure that will be next.  I'm in search of a liquid dish soap replacement for hand washing dishes.  I've gone to using coconut oil in my bath water as a moisturizer....love the way it feels on my skin and I don't even have to use lotion when I get out and it only takes a little....1 TBSP!!!!  I also use coconut oil on my face.  I've weeded out hair grease and simply use a mixture of coconut oil and olive oil on my hair.  And with those few changes just for my hair, it is growing by leaps and bounds!!!

Please share any ideas you have or come up with that I can give a try.  I'm all about saving money and living healthier!!!

He Cares for Small Things Too...

My children and I have been reading through the Bible together, along with our church family.  We are now reading through the book of Daniel.  As we are reading, I am learning great truths and drawing ever closer to My Father.  It is an amazing feeling of peace and calm.  However, as we are reading, songs I remember from a young girl kept popping into my head.
When I was a little girl, we went to church for the big holidays.  We did attend regularly for a while, but my mom was a nurse and as a single parent with the ever changing hours, our attendance began to taper off.  When my brother left home, he was in search of God.  Some horrible things had happened in his life and he was having a hard time trusting God and yet he knew his answers were wrapped up in God.  So he began a journey that led him into a couple of cults, but he had the protection of God and fled from those.  He then found himself among a group of Christians that was able to help him find some answers.  There was still a lot of hypocrisy within this group and he did eventually leave it too, but before he did, he bought me a gift.  This gift was MY first MAJOR introduction to God.  I listened to that cassette tape daily until it would no longer play and whenever I read certain stories within the Bible, I begin to hum these songs that helped me learn of the truths of God long before I ever opened a Bible and read it for myself.
I have been looking for this book and cassette for many years; at least since I was about 14 years old.  I have searched high and low looking, but to no avail.  All I had in my head and heart were tunes.  I could remember a few words, but I could not remember titles at all.
Today was one of those days after our reading that one of the songs popped into my head and I began to hum along.  Then I began to search through google trying desperately hard to locate this gift..... Just as I was about to give up, and I did say Lord I'm never going to find this am I?  Then I prayed, Lord please let me find this, it may be very small, but this means so much to me.  At that moment, the very first song on the list came to mind, along with words.  WOULDN'T YOU KNOW IT, THOSE WORDS WERE ACTUALLY THE TITLE TO THE ENTIRE MUSICAL!!!!!!!!!!  I began to search frantically for it and after only 3 minutes of additional searching, I found it!!!!  All I could do was shout praises and thanks to God and tears streaming down my face.  My kids thought I was crazy and that something must be really wrong with me, but they will never understand the treasure within this children's musical.  I loved God then with a child's heart of purity.  This was the best moment of my childhood and I had lost all touch with it.  Now, I was in touch with it once again.  I hope to purchase it very soon and share it with my nephews and nieces and give them an awesome introduction to this Great God we serve.  TIME TUNNEL when you scroll down, it's the second book on the list and you can listen to clips of each song!!!!

Is the Lord's power limited?

Yesterday I awoke to have my quiet time with the Lord, only to have my mind wandering about a thousand different things.  For the life in me I could not concentrate on the Word of the Lord and I was getting frustrated.  For whatever reason, I didn't think to pray and ask God to clear my mind and help me to focus on Him.  So I gave up for the day and said my prayers.
This morning I awoke and it seemed that my mind was clear and I began my reading.  Yet again, half way through it my mind began to wander and I could not focus on my time with the Lord or His Word.  Only this time I refused to give up and began to pray that God would step in and I rebuked the enemy from causing distraction.  I began reading again and as I read I thought the Lord is just NOT speaking to me through His Word today.  I'll just enjoy it as a time of reading His Word and gaining an understanding of what things were like for Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness.
Then I got to Numbers 11.  YES....READ IT FOR YOURSELF.
The Israelites are complaining about not having meat to eat.  They don't have to DO anything for the manna they are receiving, but they are complaining because they have lost their appetite for the things they once enjoyed while in Egypt.  In other words, they enjoyed so many various things that they now have no access to and they can't remember what those other things tasted like and they are having a major craving issue.
For me as I read it, I thought this is me.  I remember living in a fairly nice home.  It was roomy and everything wasn't stacked in corners.  We had space to move around and as I'm looking at my present home in just the last few days, I thought to myself and aloud, Lord will we ever have a decent home again?  Will things always be this bad?  I didn't dwell on it, but I did bring it up and I did think on it several times over the last 3 days for sure and then I brushed it off with the remark of...I've got to get a job and do something or yes, we will be in this predicament till Jesus returns.
OK, back to my reading.  The Israelites have complained to Moses and then in verse 21-22 Moses says to the Lord basically...these 600,000 people keep asking me for meat for a month.  Should I kill flocks and herds to feed them?  Will the animals we have be sufficient to feed ALL of them or will the sea empty its vast number of fish to us for them to eat?  In other words, he was feeling totally inadequate for the task and saw no human way he could provide for ALL those people and they were getting on his nerves asking him for meat!!!
But as I continued reading, something JUMPED out and off the page at me and I began to weep.  The LORD said to Moses and me IS THE LORD'S POWER LIMITED?
Have you done like me and limited the Lord's power?  Have you, like I, said the Lord is all powerful and yet when faced with some issue you begin to think of a hundred different ways YOU can solve it instead of resting in His power?  Have you consulted Him last AFTER you have exhausted all of your human logic for answers?
He is ALL powerful!  There is NOTHING too hard for God!  And His power is LIMITLESS!!
May you and I camp out right there and rest in the fact that God is not limited to human thinking or logic and HE WILL take care of us!!!!!  May God richly bless you today as you seek His face and His will for you this day!