Resolutions

Do you make New Year's Resolutions? About 10 years ago my New Year's Resolution was to never make another one. I was successful until last year. Last year's resolution was to accept any free food offered to me. I didn't mean to accept every cookie or candy I was offered. I was thinking more about the abundance of fruit and vegetables that have been offered me in the past. I usually didn't make time to go get it. This year I only turned down one thing and that was green beans from a neighbor. I was buried in garden work of my own and didn't get the time to go pick them.

I did find myself with more peaches and apples than I really knew what to do with. I made more jams, jellies and pie filling than we can possibly eat in a year, but I'll send some home with the kids when they go. We have enough vegetables from our freezer to last all year. And it has really helped with our grocery bill.

I can't decide what resolution to make this year. I do have a few in mind, but I don't make more than one a year. I would like to hear some of your ideas. If they aren't too personal. And I will even share mine a little later.

I hope you have a happy New Year!

May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face;the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.
traditional gaelic blessing

Day After

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! I am sorry that I haven't been on-line lately. I have been enjoying the time with my granddaughters and children!

The time they have here is flying by much too quickly, but since they are all sleeping I thought I'd take a few minutes to post before we go out and hit the day after sales!

I am beginning to hear murmurings coming from their rooms so I know I don't have long. I wanted to send every one Christmas greetings!

I hope you all enjoyed your family time!

Mae

Taking A Break

I have been feeling a little overwhelmed lately. There are lots of changes going on at my job. I have a new position; I am trying to train the girl who took my position and learn my new one. I had already taken on more responsibility and now with the addition of training someone, work has been very busy. My hours also changed, so I am having to adjust to that.

Christmas is coming faster than I would like. The kids will be here on the 20th and I still don't have the house quite ready, all of the baking or shopping done. So right now I am taking a break. That is why I am posting. This is a break. I will get my thoughts together and tell myself that if everything isn't done I'll be okay with that and so will my family.

I will not think of all the things I have to do this weekend. Ha!

Weekend Plans
Finish outside lights
Get the house ready
Grocery shopping
Gift shopping
A birthday party for my niece on Sunday
Church on Sunday
Baking (if time permits)
Buy elf candy (see below)

When my kids were little, I would put a bag of chocolates (kisses, balls, etc.) in the freezer. About 2 weeks before Christmas I would, at different times each day, ring a jingle bell. The kids would come running for elf candy. The secret is to really hide the candy in the freezer and just before you ring the bell, lay some on the counter. The frozen candy is cold like it would be if it came from the North Pole. (Elf Candy)

I am going to re-start the tradition with my grand kids this year. I am also anxious to see if my adult kids will come running for the elf candy. I think they will.

Mae

Chocloate Covered Cherries

This is my recipe for Chocolate Covered Cherries. I have been told that they are the best Chocolate Covered Cherries in the world. I hope you will try them.

50 Maraschino Cherries with stems (stems are very important)
1 12 oz package semi sweet chocolate chips
1 T shortening
2 cups confectionery sugar
3 T Butter
3 T light corn syrup
14 t salt.

Drain the cherries on paper towels until most of the juice is removed.

Mix the butter and corn syrup until smooth. Add confectionery sugar and salt. This will form a dough. Powder your hands with confectionery sugar. Pinch off about a teaspoon of the dough. Roll in palms until you have a marble sized ball. Press 1 cherry in the ball and work the dough up the sides of the cherry until it is completely covered. Roll in palms again until smooth. Place on cookie sheet covered in wax paper. Repeat until all cherries are covered in the dough. Place in refrigerator for 2 hours (can be left longer). Keep your hands dry and powdered with the sugar.

In top of double boiler melt chocolate chips and shortening. Use stems to dip the cherries in the chocolate. Make sure you seal up the stem area with the chocolate. After dipping each cherry return to the cookie sheet. Place the cherries back in the refirgerator until set.

I then drizzel melted white chocolate over the tops just to make them pretty. After they are set store in air tight container in fridge. (I think the older they get the better they are)

You can double or triple the recipe for the dough. But I always only do one batch of the chocloate at a time.

I will try to post pictures soon. I have been so busy I really haven't had time to post, I am sorry and I will try to do better.

Mae

After Thanksgiving

Well, now that Thanksgiving is over, it's time to get ready for Christmas! I have lots of baking to do between now and Christmas. I also, have to wash all the bed linens in the guests rooms. They are clean, but no one has slept in those beds for a while and I want to freshen them up a bit.

We did have a wonderful Thanksgiving! I still have to take care of the turkey carcass (make broth for the rest of the year) and I think I'll make some turkey-rice soup out of the leftover bird. On Friday I cleaned a lot, shopped a little, and helped my DH with the new Chicken Coop. I'll have to post pictures of it later. He has come up with a cool design for this one. Today I shopped a lot, My BIL & SIL came up for the day so my BIL could help DH install our outside wood stove. I think it is going to work very well.

I went to a consignment shop today and bought Dixie (my oldest granddaughter) 3 jumpers, 1 pair of pants, a sweater and a shirt, and a onesie and pair of pants for Lily. I only paid $10.34 for all of that! Dixie lives in FL and really doesn't need winter clothes, but she is coming her for Christmas and will need them while she is here. I was hoping to find her a winter coat but haven't managed to find one yet. I really hate to pay full price for one since she will only wear it for 2 weeks.

April (my daughter) and Lily went shopping with my SIL and I today. It was good to spend so much timer with them. She is doing so well after the c-section and has already lost all of her weight and then some!

Here is a list of some of the things I will be making for the Christmas season:

Chocolate Covered Cherries
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Sugar Cookies
Caramel Pretzel Treats
Icebox Cookies
Chocolate Covered Popcorn
Chocolate Marshmallow Slices
Fudge
Pecan Pies
Sausage Balls (make & freeze)
Meat Balls (make & freeze)

That's all I can think of for now.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!
Mae

Happy Thanksgiving

I wanted to stop by to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. I am going to list a few of the many blessings that I have had recently to be thankful for.

My wonderful Husband
Our 30th anniversary yesterday
My 2 children that give me so many reasons to be proud of them
My daughter in law who is doing such a wonderful job raising my granddaughter
My son in law who is a good husband and a kind, loving father
My 2 beautiful granddaughters
My job
My husband's job
Our warm home
Plenty of food in storage
My 3 brothers, 3 sisters, 16 nieces & nephews, and all of their children
My husbands family
Knowing that I will spend eternity in my Father's house

I hope you have a blessed Thanksgiving.

Mae

Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people. 1 Chronicles 16:8

Back in the Groove

I am sorry that it has been so long since I have posted. It's not that there hasn't been any thing to write about, I've just been busy. I think I am finally back in the groove.


I am really getting excited about the Holidays this year. My DS, DIL & GD are coming up from Florida for 2 weeks! I haven't seen them since the annual Georgia trip in July. I am sure that my 3 year old granddaughter, Dixie, has grown a lot since then. I can't wait to spoil her a little. My plan is to put a small Christmas tree in the room she will be sleeping in and leaving her a little gift for when she wakes up every morning before Christmas. That will only be 4 gifts and I am talking small, coloring book & crayons, stickers, a huge lollipop, and I haven't figured out the fourth one yet. I want her to be really excited by Christmas morning. I must remind myself to also teach her about the true meaning of Christmas. We usually read the Christmas story from the book of Luke on Christmas morning, but I want to find other ways of telling her about Jesus' birthday.

I have been stocking up on food to get us through the 2 weeks they are here and all the holiday baking. I have planned menus for almost every day. A lot of the food we will eat was grown in my garden over the summer.

Christmas shopping is about 1/3 done. I am trying to order a lot from the internet. I figure if I order from the internet and can not find a free shipping code, I am still saving money. If I go to stores, I always buy things that are really good deals, but not things I need or even intended to buy. So even if I pay $5 or so on shipping I have saved money. I am going out Wednesday before Thanksgiving to try to buy the few things I can not order. I will also be making a few gifts this year and would like to make more every year from now own.

We did lose one of our baby goats this week. We have a nanny named "Mama" that had 2 little ones and the little boy only lived a couple of days. It's always sad to lose one.

DH will be working on the new chicken coops for the 60 babies we have. They are quickly out growing the wading pool we have them in. They eat a lot of starter feed. It will be nice when they start paying for some of their keep. We will be selling their eggs at the Farmers market this year.

Our older chickens are keeping us supplied with plenty of eggs right now. 13 chickens are giving us about 4 dozen eggs a week. We are selling as many as we can find buyers for. We will probably take some to the in-laws Thanksgiving.

Well, I think I am caught up for now. Maybe it won't take so long for me to post next time.

Mae

A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. Proverbs 25:11

Busy Week

It has been a really busy week. Lily was born on the 6th and we were at the hospital for 4 days visiting her. She is such a sweet baby. I know that I am the grandma and I am partial, but she is a really good baby. I tried really hard to spoil her, but she is wonderful.

I spent Sunday - Thursday at my DD's house helping her out; C-sections are hard on a body. I really hated to leave tonight. But they are really good parents. It's just time for them to figure out that they are good parents.

When I got home tonight, we had 3 new baby goats. And we had 60 baby chicks delived on Friday morning. We are just having babies all around us.

Needles to say I am tired. 3:00 am feedings were a vague memory to me, but my lack of sleep has brought those memories back. Now I know why we have our children first, instead of our grandchildren. It's because we are too old to hack 3:00 am (more like 1:30 & 5:30 am) feedings.

I was really glad to be able to help the new parents for the week. DD & I both cried when I left. It was an honor that she let me help her.

I should sleep really good in my own bed tonight.

Mae

Here She Is!

My beautiful grand daughter!

Long day. Will post later.

Happenings

Well, we have a new president. I can't say that I am over joyed about it. But I am okay with it. God is who sets up rulers and He is who takes them down. Because of this I am not worried. I kept thinking that I would be more worried than I am. I just kept telling myself that God is still on his throne, and I am still one of his own. He'll take care of me, no matter what. Today am at peace with the situation.

Please pray for my daughter tomorrow. She is having a c-section at 10:00 a.m. It seems our little Lily is growing and growing and growing. She was at 9 pounds on Friday. The doctors feel it is best to deliver her soon. I am excited, but it is kind of worrisome to think about your own baby have surgery. I know it is just a c-section and people have them everyday. But she is my baby and I want her to be alright. I guess you can only understand if your daughter has a baby.

Any way tomorrow I'll have a new granddaughter! How exciting!

Mae

Voting

I hope that each of you will go vote tomorrow. I have heard several people state that they aren’t going to vote. There have been several reasons listed; they don’t like either candidate; they won’t vote for a woman; they don’t trust anyone that’s running, and anything else they can come up with.

I feel it is our God given duty to vote. He commands us to be a good steward. How can we be a good steward of our country if we choose not to vote? Our country and the freedom that we have here is a gift from God. Our forefathers fought and gave their lives for that freedom; our military is still doing that. It is our responsibility to vote for what we feel is right.

This is a serious time for our country, a time to put our prejudices aside, but not our morals, and vote for what is good for the country.

If you don’t feel convicted to vote for something, then vote against something. To say you aren’t going to vote is not a solution. I don’t feel any great desire to vote for either candidate, but I do have a strong conviction to vote against socialism. The book of Proverbs says, “if you don’t work, you don’t eat.” I don’t know where in the bible you can justify “spreading the wealth”. I know that we are supposed to take care of our widows and orphans. I think that is what the church and family is supposed to do. Not the government.

I can’t vote for a party that thinks abortion is not murder. I can’t vote for a party that believes higher taxes will take care of everything, I can’t vote for a party that thinks they can run my life better than I can.

So you see if you think about it enough, you can come up with all kinds of reasons to vote against something, but I can’t think of one acceptable reason not to vote at all!

See you at the polls!
Mae

Clear Jel & "Make A Mix"

Over the summer I ordered Clear Jel to can pie filling. I accidentally ordered the instant kind. Since you cannot make returns I am trying to find ways to use it. I searched the internet and found recipes for cream of chicken and cream of mushroom soups. I assembled the dry ingredients together in little packets. This week I used my first packet to make cream of mushroom soup for a dish that I make. It was pretty good. I haven’t figured out a cost for the substitute but I am sure it is a lot cheaper than the store bought and easier to keep on hand. I still haven’t tried the cream of chicken, but I think it will be better and easier than the mushroom.

Here is the recipe:

Cream Soup
1/3 cup Clear Jel (Instant)
1/3 cup dry powdered milk
1 tsp. salt and1/8 tsp. Pepper
1/4 tsp. Garlic powder
6 mushrooms or beef or chicken base (I used the mushrooms that I dried a couple of weeks ago)

Put all ingredients into blender.

Blend then add 2 1/2 cup milk and blend again, add mushrooms or base to taste, blend 10 sec.This is good for casseroles which will be heated. It saves the cost and salt of canned soup, or the bother of white sauce.

I assembled the dry ingredients together, made an envelope from aluminum foil, and poured it in. Then when I was ready to use it I added the milk and blended it. I think it makes more than one can of the condensed soup and the flavor was the same.




I have been putting together a lot of mixes lately. I have made Taco Seasoning, Onion Soup mix, and Seasoned Salt. I have a cookbook called “Make A Mix” and it is great. I highly recommend it. It gives you recipes for things like taco seasoning, sloppy joe seasoning and baking mix. I have really liked everything I have made from this book. It is probably the most used cookbook I have bought in a long time. Some of the benefits of this book are: you don’t have to use preservatives, msg. and those kinds of things. Most of the mixes are things that you have on hand. If you go to the cupboard and don’t have a mix you just whip one up. And they save you a lot of money. I know a packet of taco seasoning is less than $1.00 usually, but I made 2 packets for less than $.50.

Have a great weekend!

Mae

The Lord's Prayer

The Christian radio station I listen to, on my way to & from work, is asking that every one who listens to pray the Lord's Prayer at 12:00 noon each day, until the election, next Tuesday.

I am going to try to remember to pray it each day and I hope you will too.

In case you have forgotten it, I have pasted it below.

Our Father, who art in heaven,hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
Matthew 6:9-13

This is a promise that God made to us: If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.2 Chronicles 7:14

This model prayer reminds me that He is in control and no matter the outcome of the election He will still be soverign and I have no need to worry.

Mae

Meal Time

There is a commercial out now from a major fast food chain that is trying to convince people that you can’t make a fried chicken dinner for less than $10.00. That just gets my goat! More and more I hear people say that they can eat out cheaper than they can cook at home. And when they cook at home they have all these leftovers that they don’t like to eat. Or they are just so busy that they don’t cook at home anymore.

I guess I live in a totally different world. I can buy a whole chicken for around $4.00 (not on sale), the amount of flour, spices, and oil I use to fry it in may amount to $1.00, and I can make 2 full pots of side dishes and rolls for less than $3.00. That puts me at $8.00 and from that I get 8 pieces of chicken, not 7. And the leftovers will be served as lunches for DH & I to take to work.

As far as being too busy, it takes very little time to plan a menu for the whole week and that is half the battle. A planned menu makes things so much easier. You know what is for dinner every night. It takes me about 25 to 30 minutes per week to plan a menu. Then every night after dinner I do what I can for the next nights dinner (take the meat out of the freezer, peel potatoes, whatever I can) to make it go faster. A lot of our meals are done in the crock pot and you can usually go ahead and put everything in the crock pot, set it in the fridge, when you get up in the morning put it on the base and turn it on. A lot of the other meals I prepare can be done in an hour. We both work away from home and are gone 10.5 hours a day so things have to be fast. Most restaurants would take at least an hour.

I make extra some nights just so we have leftovers for lunch the next day. I use to eat out almost every day at lunch and I can tell you that eating leftovers for lunch has saved me almost $30.00 a week. Even if I go out and buy the expensive sandwich meats from the deli and spend $7.99 a pound (which I would never do) I can make at least 6 sandwiches from that. That’s a lot cheaper than a $5.00 foot long.

Then there is the issue of the family time that all of these people are missing out on. This is a special time when your children are still at home when they can tell you about their day, and you can have a conversation with them, that will pass too quickly. Before you know it, they will be out on their own and you will miss the time that you could have had with them, but were too busy.

Don’t let consumerism convince you that it’s cheaper to eat at a fast food restaurant than at home. You also don’t usually get sick from eating food that you prepare. And you know how cleanly it was prepared and what quality of ingredients you used. These things are always questionable to me.

I encourage you to eat at home.

Mae

Making a Home

Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. Proverbs 31: 28 & 29

Have you ever really listened to the word homemaker? One of the definitions of home is “the place in which one's domestic affections are centered.” You are in charge of making the place where your spouse’s & children’s affections are centered.

I know that most people do not think the title “Homemaker” is very glamorous, but when I read this definition, it is a wonderful title. What greater privilege could be bestowed on women?

We should strive to make our home a warm, kind, loving sanctuary for our children and spouse. It really doesn’t take a lot of money to make your house a home. Love goes a long way. A simple meal prepared out of love is much better than a prime rib dinner at a fancy restaurant with people who could care less about you.

I have always heard that the woman sets the tone of the home, and I know it’s true. This is where the saying, “If mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy!” comes from. I remember times when my children would be sad or irritable, and if I just changed my attitude, theirs would change.

I knew a minister that had every reason to be unhappy. His wife died after suffering through cancer, they had several pregnancies and lost all of the babies, he had been injured in a war and floated on a life raft for several days before he was found. He shared with me that every day when he awoke he said to himself and to God “I am going to be happy today.” And he was always happy and a real joy to be around. I always try to remember his wise words and do the same thing. I believe that being happy is a decision that we make, and we should make that decision every morning. What better way to raise our children, than in a happy home. Circumstances will lead us to be angry, sad, or unhappy, if we let them; but only if we let them. We all fall into traps with our emotions, and I don’t think you can ever totally overcome that; but I am going to get into the habit of waking up every morning with the thought that I am going to be happy.

May Proverbs 31: 28 & 29 come true for you and happy homemaking!

Mae

Weekend Happenings

Saturday we went into town and stopped at the 2nd hand store. I bought a new magazine rack. Well it’s actually an old basket, and I just love it. It makes me smile every time I walk past it. It only cost $8.00. Here is a picture of it:







We also bought a dresser for the upstairs bedroom. It was only $50.00. Now I just have to get it filled with clothes and get that room organized before the kids come at Christmas. I didn’t take pictures of it yet.

This is a breakfast casserole I made for breakfasts during the week this week. The recipe is on the back of Simply Potatoes Southwest Julienne potatoes. It is really yummy.







I am trying to get better at planning our meals for the week. Sometimes it’s really hard to plan 3 meals a day. So I am trying to spend some time on the weekends cooking things we’ll eat for lunches and breakfast during the week. This weekend I made chocolate chip cookies and put at least half of them in baggies (2 per bag) for our lunches. I made the breakfast casserole for breakfast; it should last at least a couple of days. I also had leftover sausage gravy that I had frozen a few weeks ago. I made tuna salad for lunches and I will make a pasta salad this week. Some leftovers from dinner will also be thrown in a few days for lunch.

My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue,

but in deed and in truth.

1 John 3:8

Seasons

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; Ecc. 3:1 & 2

It is time to start plucking up that which is planted. I have been putting it off because we are getting some green beans and tomatoes occasionally. We also have a lot of lima beans still on the plants that I was hoping would get ripe soon. But the rain is supposed to start today, and with that cooler weather. I am afraid if I don’t get the green tomatoes picked, wrapped in newspaper and stored it will get too wet to get to them. I think I will just mow down the peas the leaves have a lot of nitrogen in them that is good for the soil and since the goats don’t seem to be too thrilled to eat them they might as well compost.

The leaves are really changing here and I am ready for fall weather. We have ordered 100 gallons of fuel oil at $3.149 a gallon and a tank of gas at $2 something a gallon. We are going to install our outside wood burner soon so the oil will be a backup for that. We have a gas burner that looks like a fireplace so we will only burn that when we are in the living room. I hope that the fuel we have ordered will last us a couple of years.

It is also almost time for our new granddaughter Lily to be born. We can’t wait to see her little face, and to touch her soft skin and to kiss those rosy cheeks! What a special Christmas we will have with both of our grand babies here!

I hope you enjoy your seasons.

On the Farm

We have goats that are in season and things are getting wild in the pastures. We have 2 bucks that are of breeding age and the largest one is trying to make sure the younger one leaves his girls alone. I have an idea that Sam, the younger one, is pretty sneaky.

We have one (maybe two) female that was bred a while back. I am sure the rest are bred by now. So in about 5 months we should have kids again. We are still trying to sell some of the younger ones. We really need to thin out the herd before winter.

We have ordered 60 more chickens that should arrive at the end of October. They are all hens and should be laying eggs in about 5 months, also. We are going to try to sell eggs at the local farmers market next summer. We already cannot keep up with all the people that want eggs. I hope the sales at the market are good.

I planted garlic over the weekend. I have been meaning to do this for 3 years and I finally did it! DH tilled up the area for me and the soil was just right for planting. I put the cloves in the ground and covered them with soil and about 4 inches of some very old hay we had in the barn. Hopefully, next year we will have plenty of garlic. I think I planted 22 cloves and that should equal 22 bulbs.

I still have 2 small pumpkins that need to be cooked and put in the freezer but I may wait until right before Thanksgiving for that. I also have a half bushel of apples that need something done with them. That should be the last of my freezing and canning for this year.

I have started stocking up on baking supplies for the holidays. Chocolate chips were on sale really cheap last week at my local store so I stocked up on them. Today spices were on sale at Walgreens for .50 each so I stocked up on cinnamon. I still need to stock up on Plain flour, whole wheat flour, bread flour, sugar and brown sugar. I have plenty of pecans saved from last year. So other than cherries for chocolate covered cherries I’ll be set.

Have a Happy Fall!

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

Rearranging

Today I rearranged some of my kitchen. I had a lot of things in the kitchen that I don't use very often and kept all my canned goods in the laundry room. After thinking about I decided to move all the things I hardly ever use into the laundry room and the canned goods into the kitchen.

I don't know why I never thought of this before. Every other house I have lived in had a pantry and I never had to put much thought into where the food was going to be stored. Maybe after being in this house for 4 years I will finally get it more organized.

Organization is very important when you live in an old farm house that doesn't have any closets and limited storage. I am currently rethinking how I have everything stored. I have done this occasionally since we have lived here and most of the changes I have made I have been very happy with.

This is my new food storage cupboard in the kitchen:

And this is what I did with all of my canning from this year:



I use to keep all of my cookbooks here but they have been moved to a bookcase in the living room. I think it looks pretty to display your home canned goods.

I also cleaned out the freezer in the back porch area and moved a lot of the vegetables that I froze this year out to the large freezer. I kept enough in the smaller one to get us through a few weeks and will replenish it before it gets too cold out.

So teach us to number our days,

that we may gain a heart of wisdom

Psalm 90:12

Going Green

There is a lot of talk these days about going green. And I guess in my own way I have jumped on the band wagon. My thoughts of going green tend to mean something different than just saving the planet. I think going green is more about the green in my wallet, and since most things green are cheaper than their counterparts, I am all for it!

I do believe that God expects us to be good stewards of everything he has given us and the earth is one of those things. We should all do our part to take care of it. Reduce our waste, replenish our land and, recycle as much as we can.

I have reduced the amount of paper I use in my home. My paper towel roller has been empty for 2 weeks now and I don’t know when I will refill it. I still have a roll of paper towels but, I’ll keep them until I just really feel the need to use them. We have gone to cloth napkins, and no paper plates. This saves money because I am not purchasing these things or putting them into garbage bags that cost money. It saves the planet by not filling up the landfills.

I cut down on junk mails by sending letters to the 3 major credit bureaus asking them to remove my name from their mailing lists. This saves money because I am not accepting their offers. It also saves the planet by not sending all that junk mail to the dump.

I am using homemade laundry detergent and hanging my clothes on a line to dry. This saves money because the laundry detergent is cheaper; it cost nothing to hang my clothes on the line. It also saves the planet because of the energy I am not using.

Most kitchen scraps are put into the compost pile which the chickens dispose of. This saves money on chicken feed.

We carpool to work most days, do most of our shopping on our way home, and stay home as much as possible. This has cut our gas bill almost in half.

We don’t eat out as much as we use to. I cook from scratch most days (no over packaging.) We produce a lot of our own vegetables and herbs, and eggs.

So, I guess we are getting greener…conservation wise & financially.

I hope you are finding some greener ways,too!


If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

New to Blogger

I have been blogging on another website for a while. But I read so many blogs on this site that I have decided to move over. Every blog I see on this site is so cute! I wanted to make mine more personal and it is so much easier on this blog. I am looking forward to blogging on this new site!