Wishing For Pine Needles

{this moment}

Joining Soulemama today in.....

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. ~Amanda Soule

  

Yarn Along ~ September 28

Linking up with Ginny today for her weekly yarn along....

...and am thrilled to say that I finally finished this bunting!  It was quite a challenge for a newer knitter like myself, although I am pleased that I gained new skills through the project.  My next plan for this is to wash is and shape it before its new, little owner enters the world!

I also am mostly finished with this sweet little hat that I found in this book.  The yarn is 100% baby alpaca wool and a gift I received years ago.  It's very soft indeed, but for some reason the ribbing keeps flipping up the wrong way.  I'm hoping that attaching the strap will help keep it flat against the baby's head.  (Love this book, by the way.....some very sweet baby patterns and many that are attainable even for a beginner!)

As for reading, I began this very interesting book based on a recommendation from Rachel called Better Off.  It's about a couple who essentially "goes off the grid" for a year to see what like with little to no technology is like.  Not sure I'd want to take on an experiment like this myself, but am very interested on how it turned out for them!

Happy Wednesday to You!

Fall Farm Love

Loving Fall here!  How about you?

(Linking up with The Prairie Homestead on 10/3/11...check this cool blog out!)

Flour Sack Monday: Weekend Meal Planning - Morning Cooking!

Weekend meal planning is the hardest for me.  Full Saturdays, spent either working or playing, usually mean dinner hours that come so quickly that I have barely given them a second thought.  And this often means scrambling to find leftovers, order pizza, or even serve the occasional bowl of cereal or Nutella sandwich.  Ahem.

One way I have battled my trend of "reactive" weekend dinners on the fly is to prepare them right after breakfast before any other part of our day begins.

If dinner is made in the morning, I feel a true sense of weekend freedom.  We can leave for an entire Saturday outing knowing we will come home to a warm, home-cooked meal that is all ready!  This little act of preparedness pushes time constraints out the window all while eliminating the temptation to order out and spend unnecessary money just because "there's nothing to eat."

This is also true for Saturdays spent at home cleaning, working on a project or just hanging out in the yard.  Knowing I won't have to stop what I'm doing to make dinner is well worth a little extra morning kitchen time.

Likewise, making dinner before church on Sunday gives us a hot mid-day meal when we return home and opens up the day to rest, work on hobbies, attend the evening service and enjoy uninterrupted time spent together.

Soups, chili, bread machines and crock-pot recipes work fabulous for this, by the way!

(In summary, it's much more fun to be off doing this.....

....knowing we have this to come home to!)

What kind of weekend meal planning tips do you have?

Happy Monday to You!

{this moment}

Joining Soulemama today in.....

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. ~Amanda Soule

Flour Sack Monday: Unique and Affordable Storage

Most of us, kids or no kids, probably have a constant need to organize.  Belongings pile up no matter how hard we try to de-clutter by donating, giving away, shredding, or even throwing away (*gasp*) things that are no longer useful to us.  

Because of this seemingly constant need I have to regroup and sort through our things, I am often on the look-out for new and creative ways to store them.  Space is becoming more and more of a commodity around here and nothing helps to create a neat and even peaceful environment like a little purposeful organization.

On a recent and quite lovely day out with a friend, I picked up this cute little side table for $8.99 at a thrift store. 

Yes, $8.99!  Now granted, it needs a little refinishing work done on top, but nothing that I can't live with until I get around to it.

This little gem of a table has become a new addition to our family room as an end table, but more importantly as home to stacks (and stacks) of library books.

It's perfect, I tell you!

What are some clever and inexpensive ways you like to organize your home?

 

{this moment}

Joining Soulemama today in.....

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. ~Amanda Soule

When Life Gives You Sour Peaches.....

I can't tell you all how annoyed I was this morning when packing lunches for my girls.  First of all, I need groceries.  I've got my list ready to go, but am really trying to stretch what we have in the house until Friday-which-also-happens-to-be-payday.  Yes, it's been one of those kinds of weeks.

But, I still had a gorgeous bowl of peaches along with enough other offerings for reasonably appealing lunches.  Or so I thought.

I cut into one and sampled a slice.  They were sour.  And dry.  And mealy. 

I spent the day thinking I would take each and every one of them back to the store and demand my money back thank you very much, when my oldest daughter skips through the door after school, glances at the peaches that were still in the same spot on the counter, and says sweetly, "Mama, why don't you just make a peach pie?" 

(She was obviously not nearly as mad at those peaches!)

But she was right.  I needed to make a pie. 

With an hour left to make dinner and the pie before evening church I set to work, being reminded all the while that sometimes life hands us things we don't always ask for.  Or feel that we deserve or understand a bit or what have you.

But we learn lessons.  (Even if they're taught to us by 9-year-olds....ahem.)  We must think and respond optimistically, both for ourselves and for those around us.  We must stop all the fussing about and get on with things!

After all, there are pies to be made.

"Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning, For in You do I trust; Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, For I lift up my soul to You."  (Psalm 143:8)

 

 

 

 

Yarn Along ~ September 14

(Joining Ginny again!)

It's been a slowing-down kind of week for me here...with just a few to go before our little bundle arrives.  I've taken to knitting in bed, just before falling asleep.  The problem is that I fall asleep a little more quickly than I should if I ever want to make any real progress!

I did, however, find a fabulous book at the library that has helped me tremendously is my knitting endeavors.  This book somehow un-complicates the knitting process for me and helps me to back up and think about each stitch and pattern logically.   I know many of you have been knitting for a very long time, but for those of you who could use some more explanation...I highly recommend this book!

(You may notice that this book is sitting atop of my very nearly finished baby bunting!  I was so hoping to show you this week....but I'll have to settle for next....:)

Happy Wednesday to You!

 

Flour Sack Monday: Making Do

Today I'd like to talk about ice.  Yep, frozen water that has become a necessary commodity in our sodas, smoothies, and coffees.  And I absolutely love it!  To me, there is little as refreshing as a tall glass of water filled with ice all the way up to the tippy top. 

In fact, I remember being mortified several years ago after a summer spent in Europe where all of my Diet Cokes were served sans ice.  I missed ice more that summer than any other American thing!

Fast forward to years later in my own home with my own automatic ice machine.  That lovely little invention that many of us have right in our very own freezers.  Like most other technology that makes simply exisiting super convenient, we took our trusty little ice machine for granted.

Until it broke.

After some research and a trip to a parts store, Dan found that replacing it would be several hundred dollars.  And painful as it was, we decided not to plunge that money into something that we could make ourselves for absolutely free.  The old-fashioned way.

(I must admit, we sometimes splurge on a big bag from the grocery store for a few dollars, especially for a mama who is very big and pregnant and who. wants. a. glass. of. ice. water. right. now. thank. you. very. much.)

So here, in the department of ice, we are making do.  Those lovely little chips of frozen water are just a bit more labor intensive for us.  And we live.  After all, it is just ice.

What are some things you "make do" with?