The Chelsea: Sewing Pants From My Past

I am so excited to be a part of The Chelsea Blog Tour today!

Have you ever had a piece of clothing that you absolutely loved?  A special dress, or skirt, or pair of pants that you just wore all the time because not only did you love the way they felt, but you loved how you looked in them?

I used to have a pair of pants back in the 90s that I loved, but it wasn't love at first site.  I bought them (yes bought - I wasn't sewing at that time in my life), to wear around the house.  They were made of black knit material, had this seam down the front, and a flared leg.  One day I got brave and wore them to work.  I actually felt guilty about wearing them to work because they were knit!  You didn't wear knit pants to work, at least not back then, and not in my mind.  But I started styling them with cute blouses and even cuter boots and they very soon became a staple piece in my work wardrobe and in my date night wardrobe as well.

In fact, I ended up wearing them so often that they became threadbare.  I actually wore holes in them and I have never done that with any clothing I have had.  I had to eventually throw them out.  But because I loved them so much, I started looking for another pair.

Fast forward 20 years (YIKES! 20 years!), and I finally gave in to my sewing obsession.  I love sewing for my family and me. I love how I can make clothes that not only fit much better than any ready to wear items, but that are also a higher quality.  I have become a follower of a couple of sewing groups on Facebook and that is where I saw a post from Greenstyle Creations that was calling for testers for a new pattern for pants.  You can't believe my surprise when the picture of the pants was almost the exact same pair of pants that I had and loved 20 years ago! I had always been in search of a pair of pants just like the one I had, but never found any like them. I immediately signed up to be a tester and was so excited when I found out I was chosen!

My third pair.  I love this fabric!

Even though I have been sewing (this time around) for about a year I still felt a little nervous being a tester for this pattern.  I was worried at first if I would even be able to sew these pants.  In my mind I could never do these wonderful pants justice. I also thought I would never be able to get that seam down the front to look good.  I was pleasantly surprised to find out how easy this pattern really is to sew.  And the front seam was not an issue at all.  I don't have a coverstitch machine, so I just lengthened my stitch and top-stitched down the front.

I love the detail of the front seam!

So here are my tips when sewing these pants:

Fabric is the Name of the Game!
Different fabrics will give this pant a different look.  The pattern calls for a stable knit.  The reason is so you can see that bell bottom at the end of the pant.  However you can use a DBP for a more relaxed version. It will still have a flare, it just won't stand out.  When I made my three different pairs, I went with a more stable version in fabrics that were recommended.  However between those three there are differences in how the pants look.  My first pair used fabric that was very heavy (and also was very hard to sew), my second pair used a ponte, but not with as much stability as the first, and my third used a ponte but it was flocked making it heavier and more stable than the second pair, but not quite as much as the first.  All three pairs turned out great and all three will be worn.

My second pair I made. I love wearing these to work!

Don't Stress Over the Pockets.
When testing started, there were not pockets on the pants, but they were very quickly added to the pants.  The pockets were something that I loved and desperately wanted, but I was questioning my ability.  I made the pockets on the first pair and they actually turned out pretty good.  However the pockets on my second pair of pants didn't turn out as well.  On the third pair, I decided to leave the pockets off, but mainly because of the type of fabric I was using.  That flocking just doesn't lend itself to being able to sew through multiple layers of fabric. The point is to try it and see how the pockets go.  They look fabulous and they are a great feature to have.  If you don't do so well the first time, then try again.

The Flare is Not As Big As You Think.
While I love the flare, I was worried how it might look on me.  Yes, they mimicked the pair I had in the 90s, but back then bell bottoms were all the rage.  Here we are right smack dab in the middle of the skinny jeans fad. My daughter Carly called my first pair of Chelseas my "Elvis pants" and you know what, when I had those babies on, I had an attitude.  Even nuking my coffee seemed more hip with those pants.  Carly may call them "Elvis pants" but I like to call them my sassy pants! I actually loved the flare.  They were so flattering because instead of looking like an ice cream cone, it evened out my shape.

These are my Elvis pants!  I didn't think I would like my first pair, but I now love them!

And Most Important:  If You Haven't Tried Them Yet, You Need To!
These pants are amazing!  They are flattering on all body types! There were all sizes testing this pattern, and I did not see one person that these didn't look great on.  And of course I love how easy they are to assemble and sew.  I see a few more pair in my future...like a stretch denim and a corduroy. 

So here is some exciting news!!  Along with this blog tour there is a giveaway!  The first giveaway is The Chelsea pattern, and the second giveaway is stretch denim from Aurora Design Fabrics.  Be sure and enter below!
 

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Chelsea Pants Blog Tour

Monday, October 9, 2017

Sewing With Sarah

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Greenstyle Creations

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

HensleeFarmAdventures

Aurora Designs Blog

Thursday, October 12, 2017

Crafty Momma Drama

Friday, October 13, 2017

On Wednesdays We Sew

Diskordia's Curvy Sewing

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5 comments Greenstyle Patterns, pants, sewing, sustainable living

Carly Learns to Sew - A Video

There are some pretty important life-skills that you need to learn if you want to become self-sufficient. Actually I think they are important to learn no matter where you live or what you do for a living. Some of these include:

• Cooking
• Gardening
• Learn to can
• Home maintenance/repair
• Woodworking
• Sewing

To me it is important to teach my kids these skills and start as early as possible.  By the age of 2, Carly could crack an egg into a bowl (without getting any shells into it) and mix it up ready to be cooked for scrambled eggs.  By age 5, Drew could cook the scrambled eggs with some supervision of course.  They learned at an early age how to sort their clothes, put them in the washing machine, add soap and start it.  They also help me every summer in the garden planting, weeding, and picking.  They each have their chores to do when it comes to the animals, and Steve has already started teaching Drew how to build small items.

My mother-in-law and I have been working on reupholstering a footstool.  This is something that I have wanted to learn how to do, and there really is more involved than I thought there would be. Don't worry there will be a series of posts in the near future so you can see the steps involved and the finished project. :-)

While we were working on this, Carly wanted desperately to learn to sew with the sewing machine. She has already had lessons in using a needle and thread, learning the blanket stitch and the running stitch, but the sewing machine was calling to her.  (She takes after her mama.)

So we took time out to let her sew a little pillowcase.  I videotaped it and it is on our YouTube channel.  Be sure and watch to the end and see what happens.  

If you haven't watched any of our videos, now is the time to start.  You can see some tutorials as well as some fun stuff, our adventures that we have on the farm.

Don't want to miss any of our videos?  I don't blame you!  Be sure and subscribe and you can catch them all!

Leave a Comment Carly, Our Videos, sewing, sustainable living

A No Spend January Challege

For the past three years we have participated in a no spend January. If you have never done that before it basically means that you pay your bills and buy only the necessities.  You spend as little as possible on gas and groceries.  And if you don't need it, you don't buy it!

The first year we participated in this went great. We didn't spend any extra money and I'll never forget that we spent a total of $75.00 on food that month. In fact I strive to do the same every month, but have never been able to duplicate that month's food budget.  

The next year went ok. We had to buy tires for Steve's car but we had money saved and was able to use that. When we did go shopping I made sure what we got was what we needed, not what we wanted. That meant that I put several items back on the shelf after having them in my cart.  As I walked around the store, I asked myself, is this something my family can live without?

Last year (our third year) just seemed to fall apart from the beginning.  Drew needed new glasses and insurance didn't cover them. We had several repairs that came up and it seemed we were shelling out money for the kids for this activity or that. 

I really had not planned on doing a no spend January this year, but after looking at our finances and knowing we needed a way to recover from Christmas and taxes, and everything else that cost money in December, I thought it would be good if we went ahead and did a no spend month.

I know that this year, we are not going to have a true no spend January.  My car needs tires and really that is a necessity.  We will also be getting new glasses, but this time the insurance should cover the cost.  I plan on using up what I have in my pantry and freezers.  Flashback to November. ;-)

We will also be going through our house and purging anything that we do not need or use.  We have already tackled the hall closet (post coming soon) and I have gone through Carly's clothes.  It had been over a year since I have went through her clothes and gotten rid of the ones that don't fit. Needless to say I have two trash bags full of girl's clothes.

I hope that you will join me in this challenge.  I have started a Facebook group as a support to help each other out.  You can find it by going here.  

Let me know in the comments below if you have ever participated in a no spend month, and please join us on Facebook!

Leave a Comment budget, cleaning, January, no spend, simple living, sustainable living

Gardening in Winter: A Cold (Frame) Story

It has been a very mild December for us here in Missouri.  We were thankful for the weather that we did have as we laid Tippy to rest in our orchard.  Tippy was our dear sweet kitty.  She will be missed, and there is quite a void in our house without her.  Sox our other cat grieved over Tippy.  I didn't realize how much her passing would affect him, but it did, it affected all of us.

On the day we buried Tippy, the weather was very mild and we decided to take a little walk around our farm.  As we went buy our raised garden beds, I noticed some growth.  Some of our onions and spinach are growing.  I knew we had some old windows that we were saving to use for a greenhouse, so I asked Steve if he could fashion a cold frame for me.

Little onions and spinach growing. 

I have wanted to try and grow vegetables during the winter months, and I thought this was the perfect time to start my hand at it.  I'm not sure if this is going to work, but I will let you know.  With the raised beds, all we did was use one of the covers that Steve built, and then put the windows on top to create a greenhouse effect.  I will have to keep a close eye on them to make sure that they are getting enough water, and sunlight, but not burning up either.  A true cold frame would allow you to raise the glass so that the heat it generates from the sun does not burn the plant up.  At this time, we do not have this feature which is why I need to keep a close eye on it.

Our windows sitting on top of the cover on our raised garden bed. 

If you would like to watch the video I have it shared below.  It also shows you a beautiful view of our creek. If you would like to see more of our videos, then check-out our YouTube channel. 

Let me know in the comments below, have you ever gardened with a cold frame?

Leave a Comment cold frame, farming, gardening, Our Videos, sustainable living, vegetables

7 Tips to Making New Year's Resolutions That Last

For several years I have been like so many and have made resolutions at the beginning of the year.  And just like a lot of those that made resolutions, most if not all were soon forgotten.

The other night we were watching an older Phineas and Ferb episode. Doofenshmirtz was (of course) trying to take over the tri-state area during New Year's eve. He made a resolutioninator that changed everyone's resolution to follow him as a leader. *Spoiler Alert* At the end the resolutions of the people were changed to follow him but it only lasted for a minute. The plan didn't work because people never keep their resolutions.

While the ending was funny, it was kind of sad at the same time. Most people make resolutions every year, but very few follow through on them. I started thinking about how I treat my resolutions and thought I would share with you 7 tips to follow to make your New Year's resolutions last.

1. Don't Make Resolutions

Wow, that was pretty easy. End of post, right? Not quite. A couple of years ago I stopped making resolutions. Why make resolutions that I was not keeping? In fact, there were some that wouldn't even last a month! Instead I make yearly goals.  There is something about calling it a goal that makes it seem more attainable.  And it's safe to say that we have all achieved at least one goal in our lives. In fact I think setting goals is more important than resolutions so for the rest of the post, I'm only going to refer to resolutions as goals.

2. Don't Set Yourself Up For Failure

There is nothing wrong with dreaming big.  We have our dreams here at Henslee Farm that we know some day we will achieve. But for the time being, I need to focus on the little things. The things that I know can be accomplished. We want to become debt free. Is that something that we can accomplish this year? Not unless a big wind-fall comes our way. However I can create a goal of paying off three debts. I know that is attainable and it is a step toward the bigger goal down the road.

3. Don't Be Too Specific

Sometimes being too specific can set us up for failure. One of your goals may be to become healthier.  If your goal is to exercise every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday for 45 minutes each day, chances are something may happen that you wouldn't always be able to follow that schedule.  Instead you could say that you want to increase your amount of exercise to 3 days per week. That goal gives you some wiggle room with the days and the amount of time you exercise.

4. Find an Accountability Partner

Find yourself someone that can hold you accountable. It might be a spouse, a friend, or a sibling. Share your goals with them. In fact if it is your spouse it is important to work together to have some shared goals.  If someone else knows about your goals it is easier to stick with them.

5. Put Them on Display

I'm sure you have heard of the saying out of sight, out of mind. Don't write your goals down and then put them away where you won't see them or will forget about them. Put them in a place where you can see them on a daily basis. It might be on the fridge, the bathroom mirror, beside your bed. Just somewhere that you can see your goals and be reminded of them.

6. Do a Periodic Review

When I create goals for my job, I review them after 3-6 months. I look at what I have accomplished,  what still needs to be done, and what if anything needs to be tweaked. You should be doing the same for your personal goals. Just like you put them on display to remind yourself of them, be sure and take a good hard look at them and see where you are in accomplishing them. It is okay to make adjustments to them. Life always throws us curves and it is important to be flexible. That is another reason why #3 above is important.

7. Celebrate Your Accomplishments

It is important to celebrate and focus on the goals you were able to complete. Even if you were only able to complete a part of a goal that is awesome. Don't focus on what you didn't do. Cut yourself some slack and realize that completing any goal or part of a goal is awesome. Not completing a goal this year does not mean you can never complete it. If you want to continue it just roll it forward into the next year, or maybe it is not something that is important to you anymore.  That's okay!  Look at what you did accomplish!

I thought I would share some of my goals that affect you guys for the 2016 year.

• I want to post on a more regular schedule. The holidays really threw me off.

• I want to include more posts on home improvement. We will be doing several projects this year that I can share with you all.

• I want to include more craft posts using recycled material.  Okay that one is specific, but I'm hoping with the leftover material from our building projects, I'll be able to transform some things into crafts.

• I want to provide some free printables for you guys to use.

• And the big one is I want to work on an ebook that will be available by the end of 2016 or beginning of 2017.

I hope that your family has a wonderful 2016 and that you accomplish your goals for this year.  I also hope that you will continue to come back and read and comment.  Speaking of comments...please share with me some of your goals for 2016 in the comments below.

Happy New Year!

Leave a Comment goals, holidays, New Year, resolutions, sustainable living

Building Shutters!

Our house, not only has new siding (check out the video here), but now new shutters!  The place looks so much better and we are so excited with how things are working out.  The weather has been cooperating and we have actually had time to be able to work on our place.

The next stop is inside to update some things in the house during the cold days of winter.  I know we will share all of those projects with you, but first I wanted to share our video on how Steve built the shutters for us.  (I love that the thumbnail is of our sweet little Abby!)

Here are some pictures of the finished project.

Seeing what it will look like.

We of course had to see what it would look like before actually attaching them to the house.  I think it looks pretty good.

All done!

Here is a picture with the shutters done.  I love how it makes the place look!  A far cry from our old siding and shutters!

Close-up

This is my favorite picture.  A close up of the shutters, with the Christmas tree in the background.  We are so happy with how it turned out!

So check out our video above and see how we made these shutters.  And let me know in the comments below what you think.

Leave a Comment diy, house repairs, Our Videos, shutters, sustainable living, windows

Sickness Has Hit!

Sickness has officially hit our household.  We have experienced a stomach bug and all the lovely symptoms that brings with it.  And we have experienced and are experiencing colds.  I have made our cough and cold tea (recipe to come soon) and have been drinking that.

Homemade cold and cough tea

I have also gotten out the homemade vapo rub that I made last year.  That recipe will come soon...I hope.  I say I hope because I didn't follow a recipe, so I hope I can remember what I used!

Homemade vapo rub

I love being able to use homemade recipes whenever sickness hits.  But don't get me wrong.  I have no problem with going to the doctor if the need arises.

I was planing to have an update on the 25 days of giving, but I think that I will wait on that.  Yes I have been giving, but it has gone down a different path than what I had originally envisioned.  I will have to share that with you later in more detail.

For now, I am going to sip my tea and slather my neck and chest with the vapo rub.  I'm also going to take this time to relax and read and recuperate.  That is something that I never seem to find the time for!

I hope you are all staying well.  And keep watching for a cool Christmas craft that is coming up later this week!

Leave a Comment health, sick, sustainable living, tea, update

A Month of No Groceries: My November Food Challenge Week 3

Well, week 3 didn't go as planned.  I'll tell you more about that later.  The good news is that the meals we had were much better than week 2.  I was actually able to plan ahead and cook more!  Here is what we had.

Monday: Leftovers from take out we got on Sunday
Tuesday: Taco Soup (Recipe to come later)
Wednesday: Loaded Baked Potatoes
Thursday: Beans & Ham and Mac & Cheese
Friday: Beef and Bean Enchiladas
Saturday: Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, Peas, and Homemade Bread
Sunday: Clean out the Fridge Night!

I'm happy to report that the beef and bean enchiladas used the most leftovers of any of the meals.  I had leftover tortilla shells, leftover homemade enchilada sauce in the freezer, and leftover beans from the night before.

Beef and Bean Enchiladas. Yummy goodness inside!

And then you can see our Sunday evening meal was a clean out the fridge night.  I wanted to make sure that all the leftovers from the meals we had this week were eaten and not taking up valuable space in the fridge since in just a couple of days it will be Thanksgiving!  Already the turkey (that my mom so graciously gave me) is in the fridge thawing and getting ready to be roasted on Thursday morning.

Our Wednesday night meal

Now for the bad news.  I did buy groceries this week.  I broke down and got some things that we really needed for meals and for Thanksgiving.  Here is a run down of what I ended up buying:

• milk - $2.87
• celery - $0.49
• 2 lbs. carrots - $0.99
• 10 lbs. potatoes - $1.49
• corn - $2.00 (4 cans)
• sharp cheddar cheese - $1.79 (block)
• sliced ham - $3.29 (all natural)
• cream cheese - $0.89
• coffee creamer - $1.69
• Cranberries - $0.99
• mandarin oranges (I gave in to the cryings of my children, they love these!) - $3.56 (4 cans)
• 3 lbs. sweet potatoes - $0.99
• pumpkin - $1.78 (2 cans)

So for under $25.00 I was able to get a few groceries that helped supplement our meals, and will help make the recipes that I plan to serve for Thanksgiving.  While I was really hoping that I could get by without buying any groceries at all this month, I think this is pretty good.  Remember I did spend some the first week, and while I didn't give you a total on what I had spent that week, I will tell you now.  It was $18.00 for 4 items.  Those 4 items were purchased at Wal-Mart.  The items above I purchased at Aldi.  It makes a big difference.  So while I'm not happy that I bought groceries, at least I did save money on them.

Tuesday's meal, taco soup, yummy!

This week is going to be tricky with making meals.  I don't want to make big meals that we will have lots of leftovers due to Thanksgiving coming up.  I don't want to take up space in my fridge now that it is cleaned out, but I do want to continue to cook our meals.  I guess you will have to wait and see how we do this week, and see what kinds of meals I can come up with for my family, and hopefully resist the urge to buy any more!

So tell me, how did you guys do this week?

2 comments budget, cooking, food, groceries, no spend, sustainable living, tips

A Month of No Groceries: My November Food Challenge Week 2

We have just finished week 2 of no groceries and I can tell you that it is getting harder.  I can also tell you that life is getting busier as you can probably tell since this post is late.

The good news is we did NOT buy any groceries this week. The bad news is that we did eat out a couple of times. The reason we got take-out  is because this weekend we were working hard on putting siding on our house. Since it was just Steve and I putting on the siding, I wasn't able to take the time off to make meals. Plus by the time we called it a day from putting up siding, we were both exhausted!

This picture was too cute not to share, plus you can see the mess behind them from the siding project

What bothers me about the meals we bought, was the money we spent.  We could have used the money spent to purchase enough groceries for at least 1 week probably longer. :-/  What I should have done was plan ahead and had something in the crock pot, or fixed a meal ahead that would have been easy to reheat.  However the way last week went, that just didn't happen.

My lack of planning was the real issue this weekend.  I now realize that I need to plan ahead.  I have always been horrible at meal planning.  Even if I do plan ahead, I don't stick with it.  

As for meals this week, it has been interesting to say the least.  This week was probably one of the most stressful weeks I have had in a long time.  Not due to the no groceries, but to other things that were going on.

Monday: Kids ate at my sister's house; Steve and I ate pbj

Tuesday: I honestly don't even remember

Wednesday: Crock pot chicken (big fail) turned chicken tacos

Thursday: Goulash (family recipe coming soon)

Friday: scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, sausage, gravy, & biscuits (honestly the best meal this week)

As you can see we had some issues this week with the meals.  On Monday, the kids ate at my sister's house. Actually I had a couple of bites (alright more than a couple!) of her chicken and dumplings.  They were delish!  I definitely need to get her recipe.

Tuesday I honestly cannot remember what we had.  Wednesday I took one of my freezer chicken meals and put it in the crock pot.  It did not turn out well.  This is the second time I have fixed it and the second time that it was horrible.  I will not be making brown sugar chicken again!  I ended up shredding the chicken and used some tortilla shells we had to make chicken tacos.

Goulash - our family's recipe

 
Thursday I made my family's recipe for goulash.  The kids had been asking for this one.  They love it!  I will be sharing that recipe with you very soon.  And Friday it was breakfast for supper.  Really it was my favorite meal.  I love breakfast!

Our yummy breakfast for supper!

My goals for this week are meal planning and making some meals ahead so that they will be easy to heat up. Even though we do not have activities this week we do have siding to finish installing so long as the weather cooperates.  Hopefully this week will be a little easier and I can do more cooking!

So for those of you doing this challenge, how did you do?  Let me know in the comments below.

4 comments budget, food, groceries, no spend, sustainable living

DIY Porch Railing

We have moved on to our next project in our steps to beautify our home.  We have purchased siding and now we are waiting for it to come in and be delivered.  In the mean time, Steve decided to update our front porch railings.

Our front porch and back decks are a real sore spot with me.  In fact they are a sore spot with Steve as well.  When we had our mobile home moved onto our land, it just so happened that our insurance company decided to make a surprise inspection.  When they saw that we had no porches or decks in front of the doors...well you can imagine.  We were given one month to rectify the situation.  

This seems like a long time, but when we both have full time jobs, and two small children to take care of, it's not as easy as you think.  We decided to go the easy route and buy deck kits for all three entrances.  Before that decision was made and before the insurance gave us an ultimatum, we had actually been drawing up plans, and dreaming of the deck that we wanted to build, but at this time we knew we had to put our dream deck on hold.  

We had to build our decks during some of the hottest days of July.  I'll never forget trying to dig for footings for the deck.  There actually was no digging.  We kept hitting rock.  It was almost impossible, it was extremely hot, and the deck kit ended up being a lot uglier than I thought it would. We did our best and we got three decks built in just a little under 4 weeks.

The porch railing before.  Steve started dismantling it before taking a picture.

The biggest issue with me and those decks are the railings.  You can see in the picture above, just how ugly the railings are.  In preparation for our new siding, the railings on the front porch had to be removed.  I have asked Steve for a couple of years to change out the railings in front.  There was another issue with those railings that I hated besides the way they looked.  If we ever sat on our front porch, those railings were right at my eye level!  I couldn't see anything except ugly railing! So they had to go, and while Steve was more than happy to do that, something had always come up that was more important.  Now that the railings are removed, Steve decided to take the time to build new ones.

In this process we also decided to move the stairs to the middle of the porch rather than against the house. Weeds would grow between the house and the stairs and it was almost impossible to keep them cleared out!  The picture above shows the new placement of the stairs.

Determining railing height so I could actually see over them!

Since we are planning on painting the deck and railings white, we was able to use scrap lumber that he already had.  He knew (and got my okay) that he wanted to make X's along the front, but he wasn't sure how he was going to do it.

Close up of the X's we both liked!

He said that he tried laying the boards different ways in order to make one big X  in each of the sections, but when it didn't look good, he decided to make a couple of X's in each section.  If you look closely below, you can see that he actually made two V's.  An upward V on the frontside of the railing and a downward V on the backside of the railing. 

Close up of inside of railing and you can see how he constructed it.

When I saw the picture, I fell in love.  It looked so good and I am so happy with it.  It is not completely put together, as you can see above, he will wait until the siding is up and then put the porch back together and secure all the X's back in, plus he wanted to make sure I was 100% happy with it before making it permanent.  Smart man!

Front view of porch railing, and view of how desperately we need siding!

I can hardly wait for the siding to go up and to share that with you, but also for the new porch railing as well. I love that this project cost us ZERO DOLLARS because we were able to use lumber from an old deck that we dismantled.  It is great that we can use what we already have on hand to help make our place more beautiful.

Let me know below what you think of the porch railings!

Leave a Comment decks, diy, house repairs, porch railings, porches, sustainable living

A Month of No Groceries: My November Food Challenge Week 1

Well, the first week of buying no groceries has passed.  If you haven't read my post about my November food challenge, the you can read it here, but basically the challenge is to go through a whole month without buying groceries.

Actually this week was not as bad as I had thought it would be.  The excitement of the challenge was there to keep me going.  Normally, I live for Wednesdays where I can read the grocery store ads and see what is on sale that week.  And now that the holidays are nearing, there is usually some pretty cool baking supplies that are available that aren't available at other times of the year.  Or at least they are harder to find.  But I was good, and didn't look at the ads until Friday, when my curiosity got the better of me.  Old habits die hard I guess.  Still there was nothing in those ads that tempted me. 

Another thing that helped a lot this week was the fact that we were able to stay home every night!  That hasn't happened in a couple of months.  But football and cheerleading are over for the time being.  Nothing starts again until the middle of January.  We do have church on Sundays and cub scouts on Mondays, but the rest of our days are our own.

Being able to stay home during the evenings this week, allowed me to fix supper every night.  It wasn't always a grand meal, but we were able to use up some food from our freezer and pantry.

Here is the real kicker.  Even though we didn't buy any food (see below for a few exceptions), we did receive some food.  A friend whose son has started taking piano lessons from me brought us some deer meat, and some bierocks that she makes which are awesome!  I put those in the freezer and I can take one of those to lunch when I don't have anything else!  We also received some fresh veggies from my mother-in-law.  She had bought some for a party she was having and she didn't want the left-overs so we ended up with them as well.  We also received a gift of a very nice beef roast from some friends of ours. 

What amazes me is how blessed we are that even though we aren't buying food, we still receive it.  This same thing happened to us last year, during a no-spend month.  God does provide!

I want to share with you our meals that we had this week.  For a couple of meals, I was able to use left-overs and turn them into something else for another meal.  I love it when it works out like that!  Also, please don't judge on some of these meals.  I am going to be better about adding in veggies or fruit.  There are a couple that after I looked at them, are not the healthiest, but hey, we ate!  Here they are:

Monday: Porcini Mushroom Tortellini, roasted green beans, peaches
Tuesday: Pork chops, stuffing, and beets
Wednesday: Hamburgers, fried eggs, and tator tots
Thursday: Pork roast, mashed potatoes and gravy, crescent rolls
Friday: Hamburger pizza (from leftover hamburger) and BBQ Pulled Pork Pizza (from left-over pork roast)
Saturday: SOS (slop on a shingle) This was made from leftover gravy from breakfast and leftover hamburger and roasted turnips
Sunday: Beans and Ham with cornbread and slaw.

BBQ Pulled Pork Pizza - made from leftover pork roast.

It wasn't until Friday that I started making things from scratch, and making due with what I had.  I really wanted to make a BBQ pork pizza, but we didn't have pizza crust and we didn't have shredded cheese.  So I found a somewhat quick pizza crust recipe on Pinterest. The one I usually use takes 1 1/2 hours rising time.  I did not have that much time.  While we didn't have shredded cheese or sprinkle cheese as we call it in our house, we did have sliced cheese that I cut up into little squares and used.  The crust turned out great, and no one was the wiser when it came to the cheese!

The kids devoured the hamburger pizza before I could take a picture.

As for Saturday's meal, that morning I had made biscuits and gravy for breakfast.  I usually don't cook breakfast except for on weekends.  We ended up with left-over gravy and I still had a hamburger patty left-over which gave me the idea for SOS, or as my husband says slop on a shingle.  Actually that first "s" stands for something else, but I will leave that up to your imagination.

SOS or Slop on a Shingle as we call it.

I also made two loaves of white bread to put the hamburger gravy on.  I really was afraid that this meal was going to be a flop.  Growing up we would have it every once in a while.  In my early twenties, I used to fix it quite a bit because it was inexpensive and easy.  I didn't know how Steve and the kids would react to it.  To my surprise, they loved it!

Homemade white bread...my favorite!

So the big question is, did we buy any groceries?  Well...kinda.  When I made the pizza crust on Friday, I realized that I didn't have that much yeast.  And then I used almost all of what I had left on Saturday for the bread.  So Sunday we went to Wal-Mart and we bought yeast, as well as coffee creamer, Pepsi (my husband's addiction), and potato chips (also my husband's addiction).  If it was up to me alone, I would have bought the yeast and that would have been all.  But I'll admit since my husband wanted the coffee creamer, I will enjoy that as well.  As for the Pepsi and the chips, well they are all his.

I'm hoping that the second week goes a little better and that I will be able to tell you that we bought no groceries!  On a positive note, my mom has a turkey for Thanksgiving, so we won't have to buy one!  I'll be getting a turkey from her to cook for our festivities.

So did you decide to do this challenge?  If so, comment below and let me know how your week went.

6 comments budget, food, groceries, sustainable living

Our Kitchen's New Window Trim

We are on a mission to update our place.  We had really wanted to build a house and had even gone as far as talking to a builder.  But where we are right now in our lives, we decided that the best thing to do would be to postpone that idea and work on our home.

We currently live in a mobile home, and square footage-wise it is bigger than the bungalow that we moved from.  However our bungalow had a ton of built in storage that I miss.  A lot!  Steve has promised to build me some built-in book shelves this winter and I can hardly wait!  But in the mean time, we have set out to beautify the place a little bit.

I showed you pictures of our front door that I painted and our french door in the back that had to be completely taken out due to rotting headers and footers.  It looks so much better!  We will also be putting new siding on due to our present siding being rotten in more places than what we originally thought.  We also hope to take out the underpinning and put in a rock or a decorative cement block foundation.  And Steve has already built one shutter to see if we would like it.  We did!  It should look a lot better when all of that happens!  I can't wait to share those projects with you!

Our latest beautification project was made possible by Pinterest.  I can just imagine what Steve does whenever he gets a notification that I have sent him a pin.  9 times out of 10 it means more work for him.  What is so wonderful is that I don't ever hear him complain about it.  He may tell me why it wouldn't work, or wouldn't be possible for us, but he is always open to new ideas and will at least give them serious thought.  Thanks honey!

This specific pin was for trim work around windows. We had new windows installed early this year and it was a very good decision!  Our utility bill went down, in the first month by $100.00!  It has stayed down every month since, so they will eventually pay for themselves in the long run.  So with new windows, we really needed new trim.  The trim that we had around some of the windows was just the wood corner round. On our kitchen window it was the plastic corner round.  Needless to say, it did not look good.  We took it down and for months, our kitchen window has been trim-less.

No trim, messy kitchen, and picture taken at night equals one ugly mess!

 I sent Steve several pictures of trims that I liked and we agreed and what we wanted.  We didn't follow one pin over another, we just took ideas and measurements and went with what we liked and what would work for our window.

Now comes the simple living, self-reliant part...we used lumber we already had on hand.  That's what I love about this!  It didn't cost us a dime.  Now if we want to do more windows, which we do, we will have to buy some lumber.  But for this first window, we didn't have to.

You may notice in the picture that the drywall below the window is bowed up.  The people that installed the window was supposed to fix that, but they didn't.  We weren't real happy with that and Steve was toying with the idea of removing the window, fixing the frame and then reinstalling it.  Neither of us really wanted to do that.  Well with the trim that we choose, we were able to hide the fact that it was not level.

Clean kitchen, pretty trim, picture still at night equals much prettier site!

I love the trim work that he did.  The best part is that it has a ledge!  It is not a big ledge, but just big enough I could put a small plant on it.  Steve is planning on tackling the other windows on the days that he can't work on the outside of our house.  Slowly but surely, our place will become beautiful once again.

Let me know in the comments below what you think about the trim.

 

9 comments diy, house repairs, sustainable living, window trim, windows

My November Food Challenge: A Month of No Groceries

I can hardly believe that it is already November! October is always one of those months that is filled with football games, birthday parties, and Halloween festivities.  With all those activities, the month tends to fly by.  This year was no exception. 

With all of the events and activities there was very little time for me to cook for my family. We have gotten into the rut of either grabbing fast food on the way to or from an activity, or we just plain and simple eat junk! The couple of meals I did make tasted so good. It made me realize how much I have missed eating real home cooked meals. Our fall garden did very well so those home cooked meals included such things as spinach and green beans and will soon include turnips and peas as well. There is nothing as good as fresh veggies from the garden! 

Our very messy pantry!

As I was trying to figure out some ideas for meals for this week I was looking through the pantry and freezer and the amount of food we have is astonishing. My first thought was that I really needed to organize my pantry. Then I realized I don't need to organize it, I need to use it! The same goes for our fridge/freezer and our deep freeze.

Our deep freeze...this is only the surface.

That's when I had a great idea! Why not go a whole month without buying groceries? I was so excited about the prospect of not going grocery shopping. I looked and we have plenty of staples...flour, sugar, eggs (thanks to our ducks), potatoes, onions, etc. We have meat in the freezer from the cow we butchered, and even some pork leftover. We could actually do this!

I went to go tell Steve my great idea and then it hit me...Thanksgiving! I completely forgot about Thanksgiving. And we are hosting this year. I don't have a turkey in the freezer. But I do have pumpkin for pie, and I have cranberries for sauce, and I can make bread for stuffing.  I started thinking, maybe I can make this work. 

Our fridge freezer, it is pretty packed!

After telling Steve my plan he agreed that we could do this and that we needed to. The savings from not buying food could go towards purchasing siding for our house which we desperately need. It would also allow us to use the food we already have, and not let it go to waste where we would eventually throw it away.  I hate to waste food!

In my thoughts about how this would take place, I started thinking about how we might need to make some exceptions, or what I needed to get, just in case.  Those kinds of thoughts are what have gotten us in this food hoard mess in the first place!  I am not going grocery shopping.  If I run out of bread, I'll bake more.  If I run out of milk, I have powdered.  We have lots of grains, we have veggies from the garden, and we have meat and eggs.  WE CAN DO THIS! 

So this month, I will be keeping you posted on how this challenge is going every Monday.  In fact this post was supposed to be published yesterday, but life happens!  I will even let you know some of the meals that we have made, and I will start with what we ate last night.  We had Porchini mushroom tortelloni in my homemade canned marinara sauce, roasted green beans from our garden, and canned peaches for dessert.  It was Meatless Monday for us.  The family loved it and there were just enough leftovers for lunch the next day!

Our "blue plate" special meal.

I want to stress that this is NOT a no spend month, this is simply a no grocery month.  Do you hoard food?  Would you like to try this challenge yourself?  If so, let me know in the comments below!

Read my post on how we did with this challenge during Week 1
Read my post on how we did with this challenge during Week 2
Read my post on how we did with this challenge during Week 3
Read my post on how we did with this challenge during Week 4

Leave a Comment budget, food, freezer, groceries, pantry, sustainable living

Old Fashioned Apple Butter - A Family Tradition

Have I told you how much I love fall?  Enjoying the cold, crisp days.  Fresh apples from the orchard.  Corn mazes, and pumpkin carving.  What's not to love? 

Another reason I love the fall is due to a family tradition that was started by my niece and her husband.  Actually it is a family tradition that his family started and they decided to carry it on.  Making old-fashioned apple butter!

Stirring the pot...literally!

When I talk about making old-fashioned apple butter, I am not talking about using an old recipe, but about the process of making the apple butter.  We make it outside, over an open fire, in a big kettle.  I have a picture in my head about how pioneers must have done something very similar. 

Our apple butter making day includes a gathering of family and friends.  We use this time to visit with each other and tell stories.  We also catch up on what is going on in our lives as well as relive the past.  And of course we each take a turn stirring the pot. ;-)

Carly's turn!

It is a true group effort.  I wouldn't want to try and stir this all by myself.  It does get tiring after a while.  And before the apples break completely down, it can be quite hard to stir.  While the apple butter is cooking, we eat a potluck lunch, and continue visiting with each other. At the end of the day, when the apple butter is cooked, we each get to take home a pint jar to enjoy. 

I talked to one of the men that was there and we discussed how people used to come together to help each other out.  They would have a big barn raising, or help each other butcher, make soap, etc.  It was a way to lighten the load of work that was very taxing.  For us in this process, we helped each other out by taking turns to stir to make the process easier.

Drew's turn!

To the pioneers this was their social time.  To be honest, it is my kind of social time as well!  It is a great way to pass down the traditions of the old ways of doing things.  To be able to pass down these types of traditions to our children is the whole reason why we moved to the country and started our farm in the first place!  We wanted our children to learn the "old" ways of doing things.

Steve's turn stirring!

When it comes to a recipe, our family doesn't have one written down for the apple butter.  Each year it is slightly different, and each year it keeps getting better.  I can tell you that my niece uses apples from a local orchard, apple cider for the liquid to help break the apples down, and spices which consists of sugar, cinnamon, and cloves. 

I will tell you my niece's secret to making the apple butter over the fire.  She starts it on her stove first and then puts some of the apples in the blender.  To be honest, if we had to cook down the apples from slices, it would take all day!  This helps to hurry things up a bit, which I can't blame her for doing.  Once it goes into the pot, it simmers for several hours before its ready to be eaten. 

Steve would say I'm always stirring the pot! ;-)

I always enjoy these times.  I love creating new family traditions and continuing on the traditions of our ancestors.  I hope to be making apple butter with my family and friends for many more years to come!

Let me know in the comments below what types of traditions your family has.

Leave a Comment apple butter, apples, cooking, fall, family, homemade, simple living, sustainable living

How to Make Raised Garden Beds for a Fall Garden (Absolutely Free!)

Some of you may remember me mentioning that my garden didn't do well this year.  To be absolutely honest that is an understatement.  It really did nothing at all.  I was able to pick some shelly beans which I saved for seed, and I got a few cucumbers out of the garden.  That was it.  My husband says that it was because we bought a new pressure canner.  We jinxed ourselves.  I say it was because of all the rain we got, (we are still! trying to fix all the leaks in our roof).   Whatever it was, our garden just sucked!

But not everyone's garden fared poorly. My niece's garden did great this year.  The rain didn't seem to bother her's at all.  I am so jealous happy for her. :-)  So what was the difference between her garden and ours?  Her's was a raised bed garden.  Ours was straight in the ground.  I probably don't have to explain that with hers the water was able to drain, while ours was sitting in water.  In fact our garden looked like a pond in some places!

So while our garden did not do well at all this summer, we are not people who give up easily.  I talked my husband into building some raised beds for us to plant our fall garden.  It really wasn't that hard to persuade him.  I asked and he said yes.  The ones he built are small so that we can try them out and see how we like them.  Also they were built from lumber we already had on hand, which also determined the size.  After all, that is the point of being sustainable, right?  

I decided if we were going to do this, I should read up on raised garden beds.  I already had a plan in mind and I was able to get some newspapers from the local library that they were going to discard. I thought newspapers would be great for putting down first to keep the grass and weeds out of the garden. Then I read where cardboard really is better because it breaks down slower.  I was in luck, because of just moving my mother-in-law, we had lots of cardboard that we hadn't gotten around to recycling yet.  Since I had both, I decided to use cardboard in one and newspaper in the other to see what works the best.  I will have to let you know after this gardening season.

So to begin, the garden bed is just a box.  We already had these put together.  In fact they are parts of a porch railing which we took out the slats.

It began life as a railing...

Then we put two together to make it deeper.  We wanted to make sure that there was enough root space for the vegetables to take hold.

Stacking one on top of the other.

Steve screwed the two together to that they would be more stable.

The perfect size!

Then we set them where we wanted.  We decided we wanted them just outside our garden area, that way it would be easy to transplant in the spring.  Our garden proper, will soon become a chicken run once again (the perfect pest control!).

After that, I layered one with newspaper, and the other with cardboard.

From this point on, it is hit and miss on what to do next.  Some used a system that was cardboard, mulch, soil.  Others put the soil right on top.  We decided that on top of the newspapers/cardboard to first put grass clippings (that is our mulch), and then we put some chicken manure on top of that.  I want to stress that the chicken manure that we used was not fresh.  It was from a pile that we had sitting out composting, or as my dad would say it was "seasoned."  

With the grass clippings

Then on top of that we used soil.  We had all of this on hand which is why we used what we did.  The point was to make these without spending any money!

Ready for seeds!

While we were getting these ready and before we actually planted in them (thank goodness!) our dear sweet Abby (our boarder collie) decided she wanted to help.  She did this by digging in them.  So we decided that we needed covers for them.  I was thinking along the line of just laying some chicken wire along the top, which we had plenty of, but leave it to Steve to get all fancy on me.

He actually used a couple of more railing sections and built me covers for my boxes.  He did use chicken wire and he even made me handles for the boxes from scratch!  He used some stout wire that he had to fashion them. 

So here it is in all of its glory.  Steve actually made me two more for a total of three.  I couldn't be prouder of my little raised beds.  The best part is that they cost $0 to make.  

All done and ready for the veggies to grow!

Wondering what I planted?  Well, I used seed that I already had saved so that was something else, I didn't have to buy.  I planted carrots, turnips, peas, spinach, and green beans.  

I can't wait for my little fall garden to start growing and I can't wait to see how these raised beds do.  Hopefully we won't have to worry so much about weeding or getting too much rain.  I'll keep you all posted on how my garden grows. ;-)

So tell me in the comments below, how many of you use raised beds? 

3 comments budget, fall, gardening, planting, sustainable living, vegetables