Flip-flops, Aprons, and Pearls

Where we are today

2011-12-29T14:59:00.000-08:00

With dreams of adoption rolling around in our minds, we are in the process of cleaning and organizing our house. If we are to be blessed with a little one with special needs they will need their own space. We are also in the process of finding a like minded church. We are seeking one that welcomes large families and has similar theological beliefs and similar views on how the body of Christ should function. One of our main goals is to find a family integrated church. To our knowledge there are none in our area but we trust that God will lead us to the right one in His timing. We feel very strongly about finding a group of faithful Christians to worship with before getting neck deep in the adoption process. We will need prayers. Lots of prayers and we want the support established before we get started.

Prayers Please

2011-12-28T12:44:00.000-08:00

I know that I probably have a grand total of one reader but I am still going to put out a plea for prayers for the children at Reece's Rainbow. Please pray that these children will be joined with their forever families soon. So if you have a moment pop over to Reece's Rainbow and pray for these sweet sweet children.

A Fresh Path

2011-12-27T05:25:00.000-08:00

I've been in the midst of trying to get my house organized and decluttered for the past few weeks. So I tend to follow a lot of Christian blogs on Facebook that give hints and simple tips to getting organized. One of those updates posted a link to a blog for the sweetest little girls on the planet. The Blessing of Verity. This is a blog where a sweet mother of 11 talks about her journey with Down syndrome. Her insight on the conditions in orphanages for these sweet children with special needs just pierced my heart. Then the thoughts began. Could we possibly give a good home to a child who so desperately needs love? (Maybe.) Can I just sit here and do nothing? (That answer is a resounding NO!) Then of course I start comparing myself to others and start listing all the reasons I will fall short but I always forget to factor in God and His wonderful Holy Spirit. I realized if we undertake this journey we will not be alone. So while I am still organizing my house and getting rid of all the stuff we simply do not need, we are walking a fresh path with a new goal adoption. Do I feel that I am called to adopt? The honest truth is I do not know. What I absolutely do know with no are of doubt is that this is the path I am supposed to be on. We are at the very beginning. So far it mainly has involved gathering information. Our main focus at this moment is finding a Church family that is supportive of families in general. We are seeking an Elder led family integrated Church that sees all children as blessings and will embrace and love a child with special needs. I trust that God is working in my life and my family and He will lead us where we need to go. I am excited about this fresh path that we are on and where it will lead.

Where's the Beef?

2011-11-12T13:17:00.001-08:00

This year we bought an entire cow for our freezer. I am really enjoying finding different ways to cook the beef. One of my favorite recipes is by Not Quite June Cleaver. It is a wonderful Sausage Stromboli. I always double the recipe as my family loves it so much. Also if I am in a hurry instead of stuffing the French bread, I will cut it into slices and broil it with mozzarella cheese and spoon the Stromboli mixture over the top. Very yummy! You can find the recipe at the following link.

Hearty Sausage Stromboli

Planning

2010-11-26T06:31:00.000-08:00

One of the changes I have made in the last 2 years is more planning for our homeschool year. I always wanted to be a fly by the seat of my pants kinda gal but that simply does not work well for our family. We tried doing the boxed curriculum where you just do x number of pages in each subject each day but that did not work well at all for us. So I embraced the planner.

First I do an overview of an entire year. I use the method described in the following video to map out our homeschooling year:

On this page I put all the info for birthdays and holidays plus field trips or any vacations we might take during the year. It also helps me to plan out breaks too.

I get my other planning pages from Donna Young. I gather up the curriculum I plan to do for that year and just write out some goals. Some science and history we use over 2 years. I typically plan 2 weeks out at a time. I use one of the weekly planners from Donna Young. I have bought planners but none have really suited our needs and I just end up not using it. This is all still a work in progress. Starting next semester I plan to do at least 3 weeks at a time so that I am looking forward to what books we might need to check out from the library. It also gives me more time to get a suitable substitute for books that do not work for us.

Homeschooling

2010-11-19T13:18:00.000-08:00

During the school year I am blessed to be at home with my children learning right along with them. We have been on this journey for 7 years now. It has been trying at times but mostly it has been deeply satisfying. I feel like I really know my kids and the bond in our family is very strong. I would like to start a series of posts where I share about the curriculum that we choose to use. There are many different styles of homeschooling and I do not feel that any really describe what we do. I guess if I had to choose the closest would be eclectic. We use a lot of the resources provided by Ambleside Online. This is a Charlotte Mason/Living Books approach to teaching. I lean heavily on this method but like all things in my life I am not a purest. I also use some of the Waldorf methods of homeschooling and some of the classical stuff too. This year has been the first year that I have really spent time in prayer and asked God's guidance in our school year. It has made this year the best year so far. I am more at peace with my choices and the kids have gotten a lot more out of our school year than ever before.

Over the next few posts I will talk about the different curriculum that we have used over the past 7 years and what we are using now.

Knitting Olympics

2010-02-11T07:34:00.000-08:00

This year I have decided to compete in the Knitting Olympics. You can read about it here. I will be attempting the Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark. You can see some finished ones here. Now I just need to figure out how I am going to Homeschool 4 kids, keep the house clean, cook, do music lessons and Church activities while trying to knit an entire shawl in 17 days. I do like a challenge!!!!

Celebrate the Boy

2010-02-03T06:00:00.000-08:00

Go Check it out at Made by Rae!!!

Goodbye to a Dear Friend

2009-12-09T05:22:00.001-08:00

Nancy Deason Jenkins, 65, of Springdale died December 3, 2009 at Springdale. She was born September 15, 1944 in Rogers to Mauriece and Letha Dell Reeves Deason.
She was a member of Fellowship Bible Church of Rogers and she also attended First Baptist Church of Lowell. She had been active in Women’s Ministry Leadership at Fellowship Bible Church. She had done numerous workshops, speeches and classes for women of all ages influencing their lives forever. She was the founder of an Aid Organization for Chinese orphans with a missionary trip to Bejing. She was a member of Springdale Kiwanis Club. She was a 2008 candidate for Springdale Mayor. She was passionate about Springdale and its future. She did extensive advocacy work for homelessness, mental health and insurance reform. Nancy never met a stranger and helped countless people, touching the lives of many through the years.
Survivors include her husband Dr. Travis Jenkins of the home, to whom she was married June 24, 1963; Two sons Adam Jenkins and wife Mary of Lexington, Kentucky, Nathan Jenkins and wife Sara of Knoxville, Tennessee; one daughter Susanna Taha and husband Tarek of Rogers, Arkansas; two brothers Darwin Deason and wife Katarina of Dallas, Texas, Dale Deason and wife Beckie of Decatur, Alabama; one sister Donna Buck and husband, John of Elm Springs; five grandchildren Sarah Taha, Isabel Jenkins, Dylan Jenkins, Donovan Jenkins and Miley Jenkins.

December 2

2009-12-02T06:33:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I managed to nearly finish a pair of longies. I did also manage to get rid of a huge trash bag of clothing and old shoes. It was wonderfully freeing. I look forward to throwing away more stuff. I did go through everything very carefully and salvaged anything that could be used for crafts or sewing projects. I also took out any clothes that could be used as rags or oil cloths. By the end of the week we will have a nice bag of items to donate.

My daughter is nearly finished with a doll that she has been making for the nature table. We will get that finished today and some pictures posted later.

Off to cook breakfast.

December 1

2009-12-01T12:54:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since I posted anything. Turns out it is not so easy to homestead, homeschool and blog. But here I go again. Back in the saddle so to speak.

We are taking the month of December to finish up craft projects that were started over the past year. Or in my case several years. Today we worked on a nature table doll and are almost done with it. I also have several new projects that are simple to do for Christmas decorating. I had both my girls make lists of what they need to finish. I started a list but we do not have that much paper. I have way to many UFO's to count. I am hoping to overcome my startitis. I love to learn new things. So I tend to start a lot of new things. It is not that I never finish anything it just takes me a while once the newness wears off. I have started dolls, quilts, pants and skirts. This is only the sewing stuff. My knitting basket is another story. So I will be posting throughout the month the different projects that we finish up.

I have also decided to organize my entire house. I have no idea why but the bug to simplify always hits me hard this time of the year. Maybe it is a reaction to all the holiday shopping. I actually rarely leave the house from Thanksgiving to the New Year. Thank goodness for a well stocked pantry. Makes me get all excited about the seed catalogs. I think I will pop over to rareseeds.com just to dream for a bit. Feel free to join me.

Check out this Blog!!!

2009-09-02T09:44:00.001-07:00

For all my knitting and sewing friends. This is a great cause:
http://ibol.wordpress.com/

More Blocks

2009-06-30T15:27:00.000-07:00

Here are some more blocks from the Oh Fransson Quilt Along. I do realize I am very behind but this is my first quilt and I want to do it right!

Tree Huggin' Tuesday

2009-06-16T06:59:00.000-07:00

I was visiting one of my favorite blogs this morning and she asked how many of her readers tend a garden spot. So I thought I would share some photos of part of my garden spot. It is raining rather hard here this morning so there is some parts missing as I can not photo them from the shelter of my porch. I do my own version of intensive gardening. I am slowly digging up my yard and adding things as I go. Right now we have about 75 tomato plants, asparagus, pole beans, cucumbers, cabbage, watermelon, cantaloupe, purple hull peas and potatoes. I also have raspberry and blackberry growing along the fence. Oh yes and various herbs that are trying to take over. :-) My spot is not very large yet. My goal is for my entire front yard to become edible. I do have a variety of edible flowers planted too. I was inspired by this garden. The plan is to add chickens in the next few years and goats in the future too. I must say it is an absolute joy growing my own food. Most of my neighbors think I am a little off for digging instead of tilling the ground. But I figure once I get it all dug up there will be no need for a tiller so why buy one now. Not to mention I have lost about 2 inches of arm fat this summer. Now when I wave as the neighbors drive by my arm is not still waving 30 minutes later. I've been working on my little garden spot since we first moved here about 4 years ago. I do love my garden!!!!

Our Nature Table

2009-06-05T14:44:00.000-07:00

I am a Waldorf Mama. I have finally got around to starting a nature table with the kids. I figure ya gotta start some where. Ours may not be the most beautiful out there but we are incredible proud of it. The shells came from a visit to a local Mill. We found the wasp nest on the porch last year. I knitted the little snail to go with a shell we found in our yard. The poor butterfly met it's match with one of our cats. We have added a walnut shell since this picture was taken and my oldest daughter is working on a fairy for our table. This is a lot of fun. I am glad that I did not wait until I could make it perfect. Because honestly it would have never been done if I waited that long.:-)
Enjoy!

Fabric Friday

2009-06-05T14:37:00.000-07:00

Some yummy goodness that I got in the mail from one of my very favorite enablers. I cannot wait to get started on a quilt made with the owls. I have been looking at Quilt blogs and admiring all the nice blocks made with that print. I am also going to make a quilt with the Far Far Away by Heather Ross. Of course I should probably finish my first quilt. :-)

My Quilt

2009-06-05T14:25:00.000-07:00

I have some pictures to share. I have finally got going on the quilt along that OhFransson! started a while back. Life got put on hold with the death of my Grandmother and the end of a homeschooling year. This quilt will be my first and I am very excited about my progress. These are pictures of the blocks cut out and ready for sewing and the finished blocks A. I hope to get going on blocks B & C this weekend. My better half has been on the pager for work and using my sewing desk for his computer. I will be happy to get it back.

Checking In

2009-05-13T18:07:00.000-07:00

Life has been busy. Hope to add more soon. In the meantime enjoy one of my all time favorite songs

Fabric Choices

2009-03-05T08:25:00.000-08:00

Yes? No? Maybe? These are some fabrics that are on the table for the Quilt Along.

A Quilt-Along

2009-03-05T05:23:00.000-08:00

I am going to try something new. I have decided to participate in a Quilt-Along that Oh, Fransson is hosting. I love her website and all her wonderful quilts. This will be my first quilt and I thought some hand holding would be nice. Later today I hope to post a picture of the fabrics I have chosen. Honestly I do like any reason to riffle through my stash.

Vacation

2009-02-21T05:43:00.000-08:00

If I were to ever go on a vacation my dream would be here. Most of my favorite knitting designers are on that page as teachers. No wait I was wrong all of my favorites are there. The cool thing is it is right around my birthday. So all I need to do is win the lottery so I can afford it and find a friend to go with me. Let's see most of my knitting friends are due to have babies in August so that will not work. Not to mention I do not play the lottery. I bet I could come up with a way and then I would actually have something cool to blog about.

Apron Giveaway On Another Blog

2009-02-16T10:22:00.000-08:00

I spend a lot of time over at Not Quite June Cleaver. I love her recipes and her aprons. I hope to save enough money soon to make one my own. In the meantime, I will continue to enter her wonderful give aways hoping it might be my lucky day!! So pop on over there and check it her out. You must peruse her archives cause seriously her recipes are wonderful. Then you must checkout her store.

Winter Meals From Our Summer Garden

2009-02-16T08:02:00.000-08:00

I honestly did not think it would be very easy to start the 100 ft. challenge in winter. We have very little left from our summer gardening efforts. It turns out that this is the best time to do it. I am able to see how much I could feed our family by putting up our food. We had a nice stew to eat from over the weekend. It was made from local grass fed beef. I used tomatoes that I had put up. I also added purple hull peas that were from our garden and corn from the farmer's market. Today we are having fried chicken. I plan on the side being green beans from the garden. For desert I am going to make either a mock pumpkin pie with our homegrown butternut squash or an apple dessert with apples given to me by a neighbor. I also found out that I can get steel cut oats locally grown and milled. The mill is right down the road and we will be going to it for a field trip for the kids when the weather gets nice. It's amazing what opportunities open up when you open yourself to a new way of looking at things.

100 Ft. Diet

2009-02-11T14:19:00.000-08:00

This is how I will be spending my time now. I am very excited about this challenge. I am committed to growing more of our fruits and veggies. We live on .75 of an acre and I am excited to see how self sufficient I can become on our little plot. Tonight for dinner we are having homemade pizza. The pizza sauce is made from tomatoes that I put up last summer. I will use cheese that I made from milk I buy from a local farmer. I am very excited about my little start. I encourage everyone to join in!!!

What the Heck Have I Been Doing

2009-02-09T13:54:00.001-08:00

Well it has been forever since I posted. I am currently doing some spring cleaning and getting my projects organized for the year. I have to organize sewing projects, knitting projects, homeschool projects, and gardening stuff. In the meantime go check out this wonderful blog for some cool urban homesteading.

Something Old, Something New

2008-11-09T04:29:00.000-08:00

Yesterday my sister and I made another trip to my Grandparents house to help with cleanup. It was actually kinda neat because it was me, my sister, my brother and both my parents. We haven't all been together just us three since the 90's. I personally love the walk down memory lane and it is an honor for me to be able to help clean out their house. We found some of my grandmother's old clothes from the 70's. These are the first pants she ever owned. I brought home the cabinet that my Grandfather made for her to keep her pretties in. I also was able to get some of her pretties to put in it. I have it in my kitchen and it looks beautiful. Hopefully they can come over soon and see that it is being taken care of. I know my Grandmother will probably not leave the nursing home again but I have hope.

We have lived in our house for nearly 4 years and I have had the hardest time finding stuff to decorate it with. I do not like over the top decorations. I love simplicity. It seems fitting that I would choose all the things that no one wanted from my Grandparent's house. Many times I even dug stuff out of the trash. I just do not get my mom. She threw away one of my Grandmother's aprons. It is from the 40's and I am pretty sure she made it herself. I took a picture of it a while back. I need to put my girls in it and get a better picture. I am to big to wear it. :-) She was 16 when she got married and I am now 35 trying to squeeze into it. I also got some vintage nighties that are just so pretty. I am hoping that some oxy clean will help me get some of the stains out. When an elderly person develops dementia it is rather fascinating what they do with their things. She was a very orderly person so everything was packed in suitcases. She made sure there was a folded Kleenex in every pocket. Kinda amazing where life's journey will take you....

I Tasted A Carrot

2008-10-30T07:41:00.000-07:00

Last night for dinner I made a nice roast with potatoes and carrots. Now normally I do not eat the carrots but for some reason they just called to me. I have always disliked the lack of taste in a carrot. It was wonderful. So full of flavor. I have spent the last 2 years cutting artifical stuff out of our diet and it has paid off. Fruit is like candy to me. We had bananas and raspberries with our breakfast and it was a heavenly treat. I want to encourage those that do want to cut out the hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, msgs and all that other stuff. It is so worth it in the end. Food in it's simplest form has the most amazing flavor. I am amazed that homemade bread just melts in your mouth. I am looking forward to cooking too. It makes a huge difference when you can actually taste the food you eat.

And Another One

2008-08-28T16:41:00.001-07:00

Take the Quiz here!

I'm a Fifties Woman!!!

2008-08-28T06:20:00.000-07:00

You Belong in 1953

You're fun loving, romantic, and more than a little innocent. See you at the drive in!

http://www.blogthings.com/whatyeardoyoubelonginquiz/">What Year Do You Belong In?

Canning

2008-08-12T08:59:00.000-07:00

Well I have been doing some more canning. I have managed to make some really good bread and butter pickles. Last year all attempts at pickles were to say the least really gross. This year I got my hands on a Lily Wallace cookbook from the 1940's and presto yummy pickles. I now have 3 copies of that cookbook. I will be giving them to my nieces and daughters when they turn 16. I am also making them some cloth dough mats. I found this wonderful red ticking at the local quilt shop on sale. Lots to do. I better get going.

Something Fun

2008-07-23T10:38:00.001-07:00

Here is something I came across that I find really entertaining. Hopefully the image will work for everyone.

Been Busy!!

2008-07-23T10:32:00.000-07:00

Oh my have I been busy. I put up some tomatoes yesterday. I put up some corn today. I am baking with fresh eggs and fresh milk and I am totally on cloud 9!!! I went to my Grandparents this weekend and helped clean a bit. I discovered in the trash the most amazing apron I have ever seen. Then to make it even more amazing I also found my Grandmother's pattern for the apron. My mom threw these treasures in the trash!!!! This is one apple that must have fallen in someone else's yard. I will get pictures of the two together soon. I have soaked the apron in some natural oxy clean type stuff to get some of the dust out of it. So in the meantime you can look at my corn, milk and eggs.

A New Friend

2008-07-14T18:17:00.003-07:00

I keep forgetting to share that I made a new real life friend!!! I am very excited about it. She has a daughter close in age to my oldest and they got along great. In fact my oldest keeps asking when we are going back. That is always a good sign. We have a lot in common and got along really good. Here is her blog. It is a really cool one too so go and visit!!!

Feeling Crafty

2008-07-14T18:17:00.002-07:00

I am gearing up for Christmas sewing. I have added some new fabrics and patterns to my stash for this purpose. I am going to be sewing some aprons for all the females in my family. I also want to sew some knitting bags for the knitters. I got some lovely charm packs from fabric.com to make place mats with my kids for our Christmas season. Today I was very organized thanks to A Virtuous Woman so I was able to get the patterns cut out. I am getting really excited. Hopefully I can make a bit of progress before the tomatoes come off and need to be put up. I also got a really cute nighty night pattern from Favorite Things that I need to sew up before my youngest DD's birthday next month. I am very excited about this because it will be the second birthday that I actually got the sewing done before the birthday. That's all for now enjoy my pics.:-)

Taking the Day Off

2008-07-10T13:08:00.000-07:00

I have decided to take today off. What that means is I am only going to do laundry, clean bathrooms, cook meals and run errands. I think in my free time I will finish up some knitting and sew myself a new skirt. I got some wonderful new patterns from Serendipity Studio. I got the Bella and Emily skirts. I also got some Christmas fabric so I might get sewing on some Christmas aprons. Ahhhh the possibilities are endless.

My Grandparents

2008-07-06T18:26:00.000-07:00

My Grandma and Grandpa M. taught me most of what I know about simplicity. I went and visited with them this weekend in their new home. We had to put them in an Assisted Living/Nursing facility because they are both suffering from Alzheimer's and dementia. They have adjusted really well. We are so blessed that it is really really nice. They are happy to just be together and we are happy that they are safe. They were staying with my parents but my Grandmother was starting to wander at night and no one was getting any rest. I was at onetime a CNA in a nursing home and I had swore I would never allow my relatives to live in a nursing home. Life has it way of making you eat your words though. We are in no position to take care of them with our small house and 4 kids. I also realize that I am not super woman. I am excited about the opportunity to help those who are in there with my Grandparents. I see now that there is a huge chance for service there and I look forward to it. I miss working with the elderly. I am amazed that I am at peace with all of this and just enjoy being able to chat with them once a week. They used to live farther away and we were not able to get to see them as often as we would have liked. The cute thing is they do not remember our visits so are always so happy to see us. In the next few weeks we will be making the trip to clean out their house and I hope that we celebrate the memories and do not get overwhelmed by what we are doing.

Homemade Deoderant!!!

2008-07-06T18:20:00.000-07:00

Checkout this post at Angry Chicken, one of my favorite blogs. I have been working on making my own homemade lotion and now I am going to use some of those ingredients to make my own deodorant. I am too excited. So my sis and I totally need to start our own line of bath products. She can make the soap and I will do the deodorant and lotions. How fun would that be. I have always dreamed of having my own stall at the Farmer's Market. I hope to get to this sometime next week. Hopefully I will have a picture to add so that this blog will be a bit more interesting.

I Still Like to Pretend

2008-07-03T08:21:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things to do is read Little House on The Prairie books or watch the T.V. series. I am so inspired by the way they lived and the simplicity of their life. It was so uncomplicated. When I was a child I would get so lost in my head pretending that I was Laura Ingalls. Now that I am an adult I still pretend but now I pretend to be Caroline Ingalls. I find myself out in my garden with a bug problem or dealing with tomato blight asking myself "What would Caroline do?" That leads to an entire day of me just pretending that I am her and it inspires me to bake homemade bread or tend to the mending. I guess you could say that she is my hero. I do still like to be Laura and wear my hair in braids and go fishing. I am passing on that love to my kids too. We are planning a pioneer day where we try to live like pioneers would. I plan on cheating and waiting for cooler weather etc. I do need to get some sort of oil lamp to use at night too. We have also talked about making our own beeswax candles to use. I am blind at night though and need a lot of light to see. I would love to have a wood cook stove. We will probably look over a fire during our travel back in time. It will be nice though because it will give me a good excuse to turn off the t.v. for a while. I do hate that noise from that thing. I guess that means I will have to do without a computer for a while hmmmm I wonder if I can do it..

I think I am seeing flannel nightgowns in my future...

Tasha Tudor August 28, 1915 - June 18, 2008

2008-06-19T17:45:00.000-07:00

I am so sadden by the passing of Tasha Tudor. I have been greatly inspired by her life and example. Her contribution to children's books will be sorely missed. They were so very pure and innocent. The family has set up a Memorial Website in her honor.

15 Years

2008-06-17T17:25:00.000-07:00

Today is our 15th Anniversary. It's hard to believe how quickly it has gone by. We celebrated last night with a wonderful Italian Cream Cake that I got from Not Quite June Cleaver. It was yummy. I was able to get some farm fresh eggs and I had soured some fresh raw milk to use in place of the buttermilk. It was incredible. I hate to admit it but I am more excited about the farm fresh eggs then I am the 15 years. I know shame on me. I have pictures of the cake that I will add later. My desire for celebration was to spend it together as a family doing something fun. We went to the zoo in Little Rock this past weekend and so I got my gift. I figure that June 17th was the start of our little family (6 humans and 7 animals so far) so I have always wanted wanted to celebrate it as a family. It was great. Today I also ordered seeds for fall planting and readied another area of the garden. Praise God for all his Blessings.

First Post

2008-06-16T17:18:00.000-07:00

Well I have another blog but it is supposed to be a knitting blog but I have found that I am not one dimensional. I have many interests so I created this blog to showcase my many dimensions. Here are just a few of my interests: sewing, cooking, knitting, crossstitch, homeschooling, homesteading, traditional roles, and last but not least God. I am a Christian stay at home mom to 4 kids. I also love to read and learn new things. So I welcome all to pull up a chair and sit down with a nice cup of tea or coffee and enjoy my ramblings. I hope that you will find something to amuse you here.