Home improvement projects

  This fall has been a busy time for us as we have been working on putting up food from our garden, started a new school year, have been busy with political activities getting ready for the election and have had quite a few weekend activities too (including several trips). I guess we didn't think that was enough though (sheepish grin and shake of head) because we decided to throw some home improvement projects in there too.

 It all started because my older brother (who is a carpenter) was in the area temporarily and needing work. We also had some things that needed done on our house. So.... we decided to get busy. :-) Peter did various things like fixing leaks, putting up the rest of the trim in our downstairs (a project Ken and I had been planning on finishing for a couple of years, but hadn't.) and then he also put tile in our upstairs bathroom.

  This was rather exciting as previously it had been a not very exciting linoleum. I am a big fan of ceramic tile (at least it's looks and easy cleaning) and so I am loving this new look!

   I worked with Peter to get our bathroom ready for tiling. I didn't realize how long it would take to get the linoleum up. Whoever put it down, really used the glue! Peter and I had a few hours of fun visiting time while we worked at scraping it all up and making it flat for putting down the tile (though before tile Peter had to put concrete board down so that the tile doesn't crack as it is on an upper floor).

  After the tile was all laid (that was Peter's job, I wouldn't have minded trying to help but we were out of town when he did that) then I got to seal the grout and then I decided the paint needing touching up in that room so I painted and then Ken put the trim back down. The ceramic tile was some that my sister Anna and brother-in-law Travis had and they let us have it. I think it is beautiful and am very grateful to them!

   Getting things done around the house can get rather addicting so lately I have been painting again, touching up the cream paint all over the house (some places I basically just had to repaint) and then adding a wall of color in the living room/dining area. Now I am on to sewing: curtains, slipcovers and pillows. I also have been having fun changing decorations around. I am hoping to have it done soon and then I will give you a "tour".

  Do you enjoy doing home improvement projects? Have you been working on anything lately?

Parenting with less stress { Dreaming together }

 Something that has been very helpful to having close relationships with our children has been to dream with them. Kids love to dream and I don't know about you, but I enjoy it too. However I don't think all parents share their dreams (wild or not so wild) with their children.

   We have had fun dreaming about trips (perhaps by bike or canoe) across the country, mission trips to other countries, living off the land and oh so much more. Some of the things we dream about will never happen but we still have fun dreaming about them. It draws us closer together to have shared dreams.

  So my challenge is this: if you aren't the type to dream, then just try it once, have fun with it and then dream together with your children! Dreaming together can be the cause of educational activities like pouring over maps to plan routes or learning all about a country you would like to go to. It will strengthen bonds which in turn causes you to have a less stressful job of parenting. And that, That works for me!

Do you have any outlandish dreams that you have shared with your kids? Please share!

Bringing in the Harvest {Freezing Celery}

 Our gardening season is drawing to a close but we are still getting a few things out of it. This week my parents shared with us a bunch of cutting celery (and also more broccoli!) that they had.

I thought I would share with you are simple method of putting up this celery for later. This celery is not the type that you cut into celery sticks but it is wonderful in soups, scalloped potatoes, anything where you would like that nice celery flavor. Cutting celery is also much easier to grow here in the northland.

 My parents gave us this whole bucket full of celery. They had put a little water in the bottom of the bucket to keep it fresh.

 We carefully cleaned it, the bottom tends to collect a lot of dirt.

 Then we chopped it up.

 We chop both the stalks and the leaves.

Then I just packaged it in little zip lock bags (it was a great time to use up the shredded cheese bags that I have washed and saved) and threw it in the freezer.

This was a very simple project and it will be so nice to have this to add to stuff all winter long! Putting up food for winter in a simple and easy way definitely works for me!

Make your home a Haven {The week's wrap-up}

Earlier this week I had mentioned some goals that I had on making our home a haven. Today I thought I would report a little on how our week went.

 It has been a good week. Parts of it have felt a little disorganized because I have been in the process of doing some home improvement projects and still working on putting up food for the winter. However it has made me realize even more that the real haven is in our attitudes, how our heart is rather than how our house is.

When I am joyful, gentle, patient and loving with my family then our home feels like a haven even if the house is a bit in shambles because I am painting walls. However if our house looks immaculate but I am not patient but rather irritable (which then of course causes discord throughout the family) then our home will NOT feel like a haven.

  God has been so good to help me with my attitude this week! The week wasn't perfect but by God's grace it was good!

 Here are some of the simple pleasures that we enjoyed:

~ Playing in piles of leaves.

~ Pirates on the deck.

~ Oatmeal and fruit- a nice morning comfort food.

 ~Candles, games and a yummy treat. Thanks to the others that are doing the Making a home a haven for reminding me how fun candles can be. My kids truly love them. They make a normal night seem very special.

~Welsh Rarebit, a fun thing to try to end up our study of Wales. It is simple to make, simply mix grated cheese, a little milk and a bit of mustard. Spread it on bread and put it into broil until it bubbles and melts. Then top with tomato slices and broil a little more.

~Watching the kids create to give to others.

~Enjoying a fun historical reenactment together at the library.

~Lots of hard but productive work.

~ Smiles, hugs and stories.

~Bible reading that really speaks to me!

These are some scriptures that have come to my attention this week and I have found them very helpful in my goal of making my home a haven.

"Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;" Phil. 2:3

That has been our memory verse this week and it sure is a helpful one to remember as we try to have a happy home! This morning I was reading in 1 Corinthians and read the 13th chapter. I thought I would share these verses:

"Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." verses 4-7

  One thing that has been really good this week has been my resolution to really truly listen and give people my full attention when they speak. I think everybody likes to be heard and it has helped the kids' attitudes to be better. We are working to stop people from interrupting, rather slowing down and fully hearing what everybody has to say in their own turn.

How has your week gone?

Have a Handmade Christmas Carnival coming soon! Please join me.

 Have you been thinking about Christmas lately? I will admit that I haven't been very much. I have been to busy enjoying the beautiful Fall weather and bountiful harvest that God has given to us.

  However Christmas will be coming in just a little over 2 months! I like to make handmade gifts and this year I don't want to procrastinate in doing it!  :-) I also think it is fun to share the ideas I have found and/or made for frugal and fun homemade gifts and I love to have you share your ideas with me too!

So..... I will be starting "Have a Handmade Christmas"Carnival on starting on October 19. I will have an idea to share with you and I will have a way for you to link up your posts as well. Please grab the logo in this post if you would and tell others about it and come and join me for a fun time of making handmade gifts, decorations and food for Christmas! We will do it every week into December.

   I thought just for fun today I would share a few links to projects that I have bookmarked and you might see me trying in the next couple of months. Maybe it will get your creative juices flowing too! :-)

•  An easy to make scarf (that I think I want to try making from some recycled fabric)
• Maybe something embellished with flowers like these.
• I like the looks of these sewn and knitted mittens.
• These flowers would look so cute on special packages!
• I think this necklace would be fun to try.
• This woven rug (using cardboard for a loom) looks comfy as well as a neat thing to make with the kids.
• I wonder if I could make a manly one of these picture holders for Ken. It would fit nicely in his stocking.
• I think Megan would like these "Fish Mittens".

 Are you already working on Christmas gifts or do you have a lot of plans? Please share! I know I like to do frugal things but you are welcome to link up any handmade project as long as it is family friendly.

Using up old curling ribbon

 A while back the kids brought home a bunch of helium balloons from somewhere. (That seems to happen every so often when we help to clean up after events.) Pretty soon the balloons were all limp and getting old and they had all of the curling ribbon strings on them.

 The curling ribbon wasn't  looking the greatest but I figured it could be used for something. We cut it into pieces of similar length.

 Tied them together in the middle and then used the edge of a scissors to curl up all the ends.

 The result was a nice curly little "bow". Perfect for some colorful and cheerful package. And once again I was happy to use up something that would have otherwise been thrown away!

Have you done any fun "reusing" lately?
What are your favorite frugal gift wrapping methods?