A Joyful Keeper

We’ve been here for three weeks now and until today, our gas stove & oven was not connected. I’ve been very inventive with my crockpot, electric frypan and microwave! This afternoon the gas man turned up and connected the stove for me. We don’t have mains gas here, so he needed to put a special fitting on the stove to the two gas bottles outside.

He was quite a friendly man, probably in his early 60’s, and we had a nice chat while he worked. He also has acreage and enjoys a large veggie garden and chooks. After he finished connecting the gas bottles I said,

“I’ll just go inside and see if it works.”

“No, no!” he said, “I’ll do that! I’ll check it all properly.”

So we went in and he checked all the jets to make sure they worked, and the grill as well. He showed me how to light the grill and the oven. Then he said we just had to wait a few minutes to check the temperature of the oven. I was quite surprised because I thought all he was going to do was connect the bottles and leave us to work out the rest. But here was some good old fashioned service.

He set the oven to 180C and while we waited we chatted some more. We discussed ovens and how the old ones (like the one I have now) are often better than the news ones they make now-a-days. He said a lot had changed in kitchens since he first started in the gas fitting business. He used to go into homes at this time of the day (4.30pm) and he would want to stay for dinner because it all smelled so good. Now people just heat things up in the microwave. He also said that some of these same kitchens had 70 year old women who were so good at knowing their ovens that they didn’t even need a thermostat! They just looked at the flame or put their hand in the oven and knew it was the right temperature! How times have changed!

Although the oven was set for 180C, its real temperature turned out to be only 140C! So he fiddled and futzed with it until he got it to the right temp. He said that this oven would never have cooked anything properly, but not many people knew or could be bothered with changing the settings! I am so pleased that he took the time to set it for me, because if it was left the way it was, I would have thought the oven was useless and would have gone to buy another one. I am thankful we don’t need to buy a new one, and the gas man assured me that it was a very good oven, even though it was quite old.

After he left I tried it out and made pizza for dinner. I already had it planned and was going to cook it in the microwave convection oven, but instead I could use my “new” oven! It turned out yummy!

Then I popped some muffins in for dh’s brecky the next few days and I am sooooooo pleased with the results! Now to get my kitchen cupboards a bit more organized……!

The birds woke me up at 5.00 this morning. Instead of going back to sleep I decided to get up and enjoy the quiet in the house. I sat at my kitchen table and caught up on a few of my favorite blogs while I glanced regularly out the kitchen window to see the sun rise. Then I had a lovely chat with a friend from South Africa, on google talk….

When I do manage to get up early, I really enjoy it. I love to spend time reading the Bible and praying while everything is quiet. As my veggie garden grows, I know I will be out there in the early mornings before the heat of the sun, to do some weeding and picking. I used to do this on our other plots of land all the time. It is the best time to harvest veggies. And when we have chooks… well, I remember the first things I got from our last little homestead back in 2003:

Some lettuce, parsley, chives, strawberries and our first egg! I was so excited that I took a photo! Now I can’t wait till I can do this again here, at our new home….

After the early morning start, we had a very productive day. Imagine, I had an extra couple of hours in my day! Robyn had kindly agreed to have the children while I did some Christmas shopping. Elizabeth helped her decorate the cupcakes she made. Don’t they look great?! (And doesn’t Elizabeth look worn out?! LOL!)

I was able to get all the kids’ pressies at one shop - very painless! I had money to spend on them from their grandparents, which is what I did today. I already had a few presents for them, from us, that I picked up on specials throughout the year. It is a blessing since we don’t have a lot of extra money right now, just having bought this house. It is also wonderful to have my main Christmas shopping done so early in the month.

Tiany is hosting a Holiday Open House this week and I will be participating in that later in the week. I’ve also got a surprise planned for everyone this holiday season, so keep coming back here to see what it is! I won’t keep you in suspense for too long….

Off to bed now…. it’s been a long day! But such a lovely one. I wonder if I can get up as early tomorrow….!

Hosted by Biblical Womanhood

Savings in the kitchen can add up to a lot. As I have been looking at the sales catalogues, what has struck me most is they are full of… Yes, the catalogues are full of “specials”. But what are they specials of? Let’s see, things like: packets of lamb stew mix - just add it to your meat, veggies and stock and you have a wonderful casserole. It’s packaged nicely with a beautiful picture…. but all it is are some flavorings in a bag. Frozen lasagne - don’t make it yourself, it’s too much work. Just pop it in the oven and dinner will be ready in no time. Pieces of chicken, covered in breadcrumbs, oven ready. Garlic bread, oven ready….

Most of the specials in the catalogues are convenience foods. The staples like flour and sugar are hardly ever on special. I am not saying we shouldn’t buy any convenience foods. I will sometimes buy a pre-made lasagne (I can count the number I have bought on one hand….) - it is cheaper than take away. I will sometimes buy frozen breaded chicken… But, it is so much cheaper to make these things yourself. Yes, it takes time. But it saves money and is usually healthier.

Why do you think the catalogues are full of processed specials? Because that is where they make their money. I can buy a packet of white sauce mix for a dollar on special, and sometimes I have. That’s not bad, is it? But I can make it myself for less than 10c. If the shops make money on the end product, then I can save money on making things myself.

Yesterday I practiced what I am preaching and Elizabeth and I had a day of baking and making mixes. Elizabeth made her favorite sugar cookies and three batches of hot chocolate mix!

Just for fun, I used my new coffee stencils that a friend and I bought on a shopping trip a while back:

Hot chocolate in a cup with two hearts on top!

I made four batches of white sauce mix. I then measured and bagged the amount I would need for one serving. I don’t like using all those plastic bags, so I tried to see if I could freeze the mix as ice cubes. I’m not sure it will work since the mixture is crumbly, not liquid. I’ll have to see how it goes. Any suggestions? In any case, now I have a freezer drawer full of white sauce mix.

I am doing some of these things now while I have a large kitchen and in preparation for when we move house. I can make a quick Tuna Casserole with the white sauce mix from the freezer. Once we move it will be nice to just sit down in the evening with a hot chocolate, the mix already made and in the pantry.

It saves time to make a double or triple batch of these things while you have all the ingredients out. All the dishes can be done at the one time, you can have a long break from having to do it again, and when you are all done, you feel like you really achieved a lot - not to mention having saved some money in the process!

 

 

 

As things have been so busy the past weeks, I have been thinking about what it is that takes up so much of my time. During this season in my life, I live by three priorities: God first, then my husband and then my children. I have based this on the verses from Titus 2 where the older women are to teach the younger women to love their husbands and children. After this I can reach out into the community. As my children grow older and become more independent, I know I can reach out more, but at this stage of life they take up a huge part of my life, especially since we homeschool.

I have found myself so tired and behind on things in the home these past few weeks, and I have been wondering why this is so. One reason is that it is that time of month, and I need to slow down a bit to take that into account. I have looked at all my activities and weighed them up against my three priorities. One thing I am continuing to cut back on is my time on the computer. It is sooooo easy to visit blogs and join egroups that take up a lot of time. It’s a good thing, if done in moderation. Over the past months I have gone to no mail with some egroups because they were just taking up too much time. This week I again felt God gently prodding me to slow down with my internet use, and spend that time in my home. I know that when we get the farm I will be much busier again. Maybe this is all in preparation….

I have been spending time sewing as well. These past weeks I have sewn some simple bags, two pillow cases to match a bed cover I made for Elizabeth, and I have started on a summer dress for her. In the business of it all I wondered - should I be doing this sewing? Does it fit in with my priorities? Why don’t I just go and buy these things, instead of spending my time on them? I read this post this morning over at Down to Earth:

Living Small

It confirmed to me why I do these things. Why I bake my bread, cakes, cookies. Why I cook from scratch. Why I sew for the children. Why I don’t just go and buy these things from the shop. It all takes time, time that is precious for me. But I am showing my children that we don’t just have to go and buy things - we can do it ourselves. We can use what we have, what God has given us. I have a cupboard full of fabric. I have patterns. I have the knowledge to sew things myself, things that are better quality, fit better, and last longer than what I can buy in the shop. Doing these homemaking things fits into the priority of loving my children. I am teaching them a different way of life.

So I don’t get enough time to blog… so I don’t get enough “me time” (whatever that is!) - I am loving and training my children.

Elizabeth is already learning. Yesterday she made a beautiful dress for her Barbie doll. She has a box full of fabric scraps. She decided they were too wrinkled, so first she ironed them. Then she used them, some ribbon and some velcro to make a dress. She is watching me and learning from me. She has pocket money and could easily use it to buy clothes for her dolls from the shop. But she is enjoying the thrill of making them herself.

My priorities…. God, Hubbie, Children and then everything else….. sometimes it is hard to see that what I am doing is worthwhile, but deep down I know it is.

How often have I said that a few more days and I will be “caught up” on everything around me. I work and work until I am exhausted, and then I have a day, one day, when I am “caught up”…… before the whole house falls apart before me once again.

Last week I was thinking these thoughts to myself. I am nearly caught up on the washing. I’m nearly caught up on the cleaning. I am nearly caught up on tidying…. and then I stopped. What is this idea of being “caught up” anyway? Where did it come from? Why do I always have the pressure of being “caught up”? And as I pondered these thoughts, I realized that it is a myth. We will NEVER be caught up! Why? Because life goes on.

I can get caught up with the washing, but we continue to wear clothes everyday that eventually will need washing. I may have caught up with all the dishes in the kitchen, but only a few hours later we will use them again. The pressure of being “caught up” with things creates a feeling that once we have finished our chores, we should just be able to relax for a looooong time. Instead, time keeps rolling on and the same chores need to be done again and again.

I think that once we realize that it is not about catching up, but about maintaining and being consistent, a lot of the pressure leaves. Why do we think we must have one day of cleaning frenzy and then we are entitled to have the rest of the week off? Maybe this works for some of us, but reality is that God didn’t mean for us to sit around doing nothing all day. He meant for us to work, “to be busy at home” (Titus 2:5).

My mother has joined the gym. In times past I have also joined the gym. Our bodies no longer get the workout it needs from daily work around the house. My mum called me the other day, exhausted… not from the gym, but she had done some gardening. Her comment was: “This is harder than going to the gym!” I thought about this. In times gone by women worked inside and outside the home without all our modern appliances. They cleaned the floors down on their hands and knees. They made bread without a machine. These women didn’t need to go to the gym, because they did daily hard work.

I wonder if they ever thought they needed to be “caught up”? Somehow I think they knew that they had daily tasks that would repeat day after day. As I read about the homemakers of long ago, I read that they had their days when they did certain major chores like washing, and cleaning on specific days, and everyday chores of making bread and washing dishes were just done naturally. I am not saying they enjoyed this or never complained. But they just did the next thing that needed to be done. Where they ever “caught up”? I wonder….

I think once I get it into my head that being “caught up” is a fairy tale, then I will feel less pressure. I will just go about doing my daily work. I know also that as I declutter my home, my daily work will get less complicated. I am not aiming to have nothing to do. I am aiming for having a welcoming home at all times for people who walk in my door. I am aiming for a reasonably clean and tidy home, so that I can enjoy the people who come to my home, or even just enjoy my family without madly running around the house trying to “catch up” on things.

No, I will never be “caught up”. But somehow it doesn’t bother me as much now……

Must not blog, must declutter. Must declutter, must not blog…..

I’m working on the school/sewing room big time. I have about 5 shopping bags of school books we don’t need. I have one box of books I am storing just in case… I am getting there, slowly.

Just the past week I have been feeling like I am drowning in stuff. I move it around from pile to pile, shelf to shelf, table to table….

Sorry, gotta go, can’t blog, I’m decluttering!

PS I’m REALLY enjoying my Bible reading!

I’ve started putting up some of my forms as pdf’s on this site! I have been wanting to do this for so long now. Go and check it out over HERE - they are all FREE!!!! You can also use the Freebies link on the side bar.

Feel free to pass the link on to others. I want to bless as many people as I can with these forms. There aren’t many up yet, but I am hoping to keep adding to them bit by bit. So, spread the word and drop back in now and then.

On another note, my blog is fixed. Frugal Friday has gone back to where it should be. I don’t know what went wrong, but I fiddled with the post that came after it, and it went back to normal…. who knows… just glad it is back to normal!

Well, it’s dinner time, and look what’s just come out of the oven:

Yummy Cheese and Herb Pull Apart!!! If anyone is interested, I’ll post a recipe and tutorial sometime…..

As I mentioned weeeeeeeeeeeeeks ago, I am working on my household book! No, I don’t think I am being too much of a perfectionist, I’ve just been busy with too many other things and it is taking longer than I wanted!!!! Still, it is slowly taking form and I’ve been quite pleased with my progress, other than a few niggling thoughts in the background.

I couldn’t really put a name to these niggling thoughts, until I read these few posts from Morning Ramble:

Running a Household

and

Nana didn’t have a list

For so many years I have spent a lot of time making lists and doing up spreadsheets on the computer. In between, I bumbled along, sometimes doing well and just doing things as they needed doing, or at other times drowning in the amount of things to be done around me. There were times when everything just seemed to flow, and other times when every week seemed like a battle. This is life!

As I was reading Patty’s blog entries I thought to myself - “Yes, this is where I want to be in my own life!” It is a far cry from where I am now, but it is what I want to work towards. When I look at the differences in my life and Patty’s, one thing that strikes me is the simplicity in which she lives. She writes, “Our life was and still is simple.” Even when she had children around her feet, she just did the next thing that needed doing. A simple solution to a complex situation.

Of course in practice it doesn’t seem so simple to me! That is because as I look around me I still have sooooo much STUFF! I have been trying to follow Flylady’s program on and off for many years. I have decluttered. I have decluttered some more. I have decluttered even more…. and still I have too much STUFF!!!! I spend hours every year moving it around. I spend hours every week organizing it. I spend hours getting rid of it!! LOL!

We’re renting a big house, because we have so much stuff. It is costing us money. It requires maintenance… the house and the stuff. In one house we were renting last year we had 4 bathrooms! Ugh! The cleaning!!!! I don’t want to spend my whole day cleaning….!

My life can also be cluttered with other things that take up time - the internet, friends, shopping, activities, etc. At the moment we aren’t involved in any outside activities as we have just been taking time to get used to being back in Australia again, but come next term… we will be starting with some things like swimming and kids clubs.

Back to my household book. I have read many books that tell us that as corporate women who run an organization need planners, etc, so we homemakers do because we are running our own little organization. While I agree with the essence of this statement, I feel that we can become obsessed with it. At times when I had my Flylady routines going well around the house, I didn’t get as much time in with homeschooling. When I had a great week with homeschooling, my routines went out the window. Something just wasn’t working. Flylady works for some, but not for all. I think every homemaking system has its merits, but there isn’t one that just fits me, unless I make it myself. I think we all have to do this for ourselves. Take what works and use it.

So, back to my household book and whether I need it or not. I think for this season in my life I do. I would hope that one day I will be able to be more like Patty and just do things as I see them come up. I already do this with some things, to a certain extent. My routines are in my head, just natural. Other things I need to write down so that I don’t forget them.

Over the next few days I will share my household book with you. I will have some pages for you to download and use if you have your own household book. I will also continue to declutter my house and simplify my life…..!

Today was one of those days…. you know, one of the ones that you look around and you wonder to yourself - how on earth am I supposed to do all of this? “All of this” meaning, be a keeper of the home (and a joyful one at that!), homeschool and fit in some time for sewing!

Needless to say, no sewing got done today. A reasonable amount of schoolwork was done, and a small amount of housework. Dinner was cooked as per plan in Monday Meanderings, enough for tomorrow night as well. So I guess I did achieve something today…..

But, you know how it is. I still didn’t feel like I got enough done! For now I need to remember what my grandmother used to say:

“Tomorrow is another day…”

 

Hosted by Biblical Womanhood

I got two pairs of old jeans given to me by a friend. I had thought of making them into jeans skirts, but I decided that a mat for the kitchen was more urgent… so, I started cutting….It went from this:

To this:

To this:

What I did, was basically cut as many 6″ squares from the old jeans as I could. I was able to cut higher on the front of the jeans than on the backs because of the pockets. (AFTER I threw the scraps away I found a good idea for using jeans pockets…. bother!) Then I got some fabric that I had bought a while ago for a little over a dollar per meter and which I have a LOT of, and cut 6″ squares of that as well. I cut 5″ square of batting (again, cut your batting into squares or rectangles as you go, then you have a pile when you need them), and got a nice little pile:

I then sandwiched the layers together and quilted the blocks with a simple line of stitches from corner to corner. One day I will do a tutorial on this so it is a bit clearer. It is a great beginners project. I sewed all the squares together leaving the raw edges out, snipped the raw edges and put it through the wash. You can see how nicely the raw edges have frayed in the picture of it hanging out on the line.

Now it is in its rightful spot under the sink, catching spills and keeping our feet warm! All from a few scraps of jeans and fabric…