The last hurrah for old jeans!

 I had mentioned at the beginning of this year that I planned on tackleing the repurposing of various items each month. I have many things on hand such as old jeans, wool clothes, toilet paper tubes and other various saved cardboard, scrap papers and more and I thought it would be fun to have a different them each month.

  I do still like the idea of focusing on one item for a while and I choose denim for January but I soon discoverd that January wasn't a long enough time to get all my denim items done- so it dragged on into February and even March. Though I still don't have all the projects done that I had thought of and though I still have some old jeans on hand I am ready to focus on something else for a while. So in April (which starts in less than two hours- do you have any pranks planned for the day? I don't but my mom warned me to be watchful as she over heard my sons talking) I plan on announcing a new theme!

  Meanwhile- one last denim project (for now!). The picture at the top is of a denim decorated container that I had fun making.The container originally held a hot chocolate mix that I had been given.  I made it a while back but hadn't managed to get it in here. I was inspired to make it after seeing pictures of Melissa's (who blogs at Those Northern Skies) decorated boxes and containers. Mine doesn't begin to compary with her artistic creations but I had fun making it and I do like it.

I think it would be fill with cookies or something like that and give to someone. I think decorating containers is rather fun now- I think I shall do it again!

Meanwhile I thought it would be fun to share some links to various ways that I have reused denim in the past. Here we go.....

~Patching jeans. This is the first thing I generally do, and then I reuse them again later.

~Pinwheel hotpads.

~Overall Apron.

~Re-made overalls.

~Jeans used for the top of a skirt.

~Crocheted denim rug.

~Denim tote bag and bookmark.

~A tote bag using denim.

~A denim skirt re-done.

~A simple quilt with denim.

~Bible case.

~Ruffled denim bag.

~Another simple quilt made with denim.

~Denim trimmed apron.

~Denim and flannel frayed edge quilt.

~Organizing boxes decorated with denim.

~Patriotic denim bunting.

~Use denim to make some "armor".

~A denim skirt.

~Denim baskets.

~A denim vase.

~A magnetic note holding pocket.

~Fluffy denim rag rug.

 Denim is certianly a versitile and fun material to work with. I love the way it looks as well. Do you like making things from denim? I would love to hear your ideas for re-using old jeans!

I don't buy.... Frozen Pizzas

Store bought frozen pizza used to be something that I would keep in our freezer pretty regularly. Our family all liked it and it certainly was a quick and easy meal when time got tight. However as I have worked on making our meals both more economical and healthier - frozen pizzas were something that needed to go. (Though I have a quick confession- we actually bought and ate frozen pizzas just this week- but the circumstances were special and I will try to blog about that later.) As a general rule I have not purchased frozen pizzas for a few years now.

 We do still like pizza however and I still like the convenience of having one in the freezer. We still can do that- it is just homemade instead of store bought.

 What I do is whenever I make pizza I simply make two (and it wouldn't hurt if I would start making even bigger batches!) and I freeze one. Here is my recipe and how I do it:

Pizza~.

I like this crust recipe:

~6 cups flour ( I make around 1/2 of the flour whole wheat.)

~2 teaspoons salt

~ 3 teaspoons sugar

~2 Tablespoons yeast

~1/4 cup oil

~2 cups hot water

~1 egg

Mix dry ingredients and then add the wet ingredients and mix well. Let sit 8-10 minutes. Spread out on a greased cookie sheets. This recipe makes two 10 X 15 inch crusts.

For eating right away: Put on toppings (I like to use spaghetti sauce, browned hamburger, sausage or ham, sliced olives, mushrooms and cheese) and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

For freezing: Bake crust at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Let cool and then put on toppings (usually the crust cools while we are eating the other pizza for supper), cover with aluminum foil or I have a big old plastic rice bag that I use and I also put it in a plastic grocery bag and put in the freezer. To get ready for eating I stick it from the freezer into the oven while it is preheating to 350 degrees and cook it until the cheese is all melted.

This method works great and helps a lot with saving money too!

I am linking this to Frugal Friday at Money Saving MOM.

Illusion by Frank Peretti {Reveiw and Giveaway}

 Not long ago I was asked if I would like to review Frank Peretti's newest book "Illusion". Though I knew his writing style is not my typical favorite I thought it might be fun to read.

  My favorite books are always realistic. Generally they are historical books. Either they are biographies, autobiographies or historical fiction- I simply love to learn and I love history. Other books that I tend to choose to read are non-fiction DIY or self help books. As a general rule I avoid anything that is unrealistic or has fantasy in it. Which would mean that generally I wouldn't bother to pick up a book like "Illusion". My kids now, to my surprise, sometimes have very different tastes in reading. But that's all right - as long as each of us strives to honor and glorify God in what we read.

  I wanted to share the paragraph above because my taste in books certainly affects how I review books.

  Part of the reason that I thought it would be fun to read "Illusion" is because I had read Frank Peretti's book "This Present Darkness" years ago and though it certainly wasn't a favorite of mine- it caused me to think, to examine what the Bible said on spiritual forces and henceforth to grow in my Christian walk. I like to be spurred to think more and was hoping that this book would do that as well. Sadly, it didn't.

"Illusion" is a very well written and interesting book. It is big (54 chapters and 497 pages!) and so will keep you busy reading for quite some time. I do think that Frank Peretti has a talent for writing stories.

Here is the just of the story:

"Dane and Mandy, a popular magic act for forty years, are tragically separated by a car wreck that claims Mandy’s life—or so everyone thinks. Even as Dane mourns and tries to rebuild his life without her, Mandy, supposedly dead, awakes in the present as the nineteen-year-old she was in 1970. Distraught and disoriented in what to her is the future, she is confined to a mental ward until she discovers a magical ability to pass invisibly through time and space to escape. Alone in a strange world, she uses her mysterious powers to eke out a living, performing magic on the streets and in a quaint coffee shop. Hoping to discover an exciting new talent, Dane ventures into the coffee shop and is transfixed by the magic he sees, illusions that even he, a seasoned professional, cannot explain. But more than anything, he is emotionally devastated by this teenager who has never met him, doesn’t know him, is certainly not in love with him, but is in every respect identical to the young beauty he first met and married some forty years earlier.
They begin a furtive relationship as mentor and protégée, but even as Dane tries to sort out who she really is and she tries to understand why she is drawn to him, they are watched by secretive interests who not only possess the answers to Mandy’s powers and misplacement in time but also the roguish ability to decide what will become of her. "

 Obviously unrealistic but an intriguing story line. It was not (for me at least) one of those books that I had trouble putting down but it was fun to read. Though the book does refer to God and a relationship with Him there was not a lot of Biblical lessons that I could see. I was disappointed in that. The book is quite decent but in my opinion it didn't have anything in it that would make me want to read it again (and I love to reread good books). I didn't feel like I really gained or learned anything from the book.

   Perhaps you would like to read this book however- maybe it is more your style than it is mine. I was sent 2 copies of this book- one to read and one to giveaway.

Would you like to win this book?

Simply leave a comment below telling me what sort of books you like to read. (I love to hear of good book recommendations for either myself or my children!) Be sure to leave an e-mail address so that I can contact you! (If I can't contact you then you can't win.)

This giveaway is open to those in the United States (or APO addresses) and will be open until April 14th when I will randomly draw a winner.

Disclaimer: I was sent this book free of charge for purposes of reviewing. I was not required to write a positive review and have received to compensation for this review other than the book.

My No shopping update and lessons learned.

You may remember in January and February I had fun pretending we were unable to shop and trying to use what we already had instead of buying anything. (Like the Ingalls during the hard winter.) It was my goal to do that until May like the Ingalls had too but we never were able to do it perfectly and some things came about that caused me to quit my little pretending.

1. Life got busy- The kids and I headed off to Iowa with my parents for my Grandma's funeral and though we actually bought very little on our trip (we were able to pack the majority of our food), I was not able to get the fridge prepared enough with food that Ken liked and so he did a fair amount of shopping for convenience foods while I was gone. As soon as we got home we had a houseful of company and then after that I was sick for around 2 weeks and meanwhile Ken did more shopping of convenience foods just to keep the family fed while I lay on the couch. (My mom and sister were also great to take care of us during that time!)
2. My parents and my Mother-in-law questioned the wisdom of getting too low on food supplies especially during this time when gas prices are rising (which will lead to higher food prices). They were concerned that I might run us completely out of things like oil/fats which are rather necessary. Though we still had a lot of food- Ken and I did see wisdom in their council and so I have decided to start stocking up again. I placed an order with Azure Standard (to get my oatmeal and such) and after finding a good deal on Coconut oil at Vitacoast I stocked up on that as well. (I was able to get $10 off as I was a first time customer. You can too if you use this link and if you do I will also be rewarded.)
3. We are close to running out of things that are essentials- like veggies. So shopping soon was going to have to happen anyway. We still have not bought any pasta or chocolate chips or white sugar or flour. The pasta and chocolate chips have been missed a bit but we are surviving. :-)

One of our meals using what we had- Liver, Oven Fries, Cabbage Salad and Sunflower seeds that I roasted myself.

 I did have fun during this whole process (though when I got sick I simply did not have the energy to try to keep it up any longer) and I think I have learned from it.

During this process I have.....

• Really made an effort to use tallow in my cooking/baking and have found that I like it quite a lot in somethings. This is nice because as we are able to get as a part of the 1/2 beef that we get (grass fed and finished, hormone free and raised naturally) it is basically "free". It is also what I consider to be a healthy fat.
• Used up most of the odds and ends of foods that we had in our cupboards or freezers that I had been avoiding.
• Become more aware of the things that are "essentials" and the things that we might enjoy but can actually get by without pretty easily.
• Become more excited about the idea of living on less in many areas of our life. I feel I learned some about living more simply and have worked to get rid of clutter in many more areas than just food.
• Stretched myself in cooking creatively while using just what we had.
• Have enjoyed how much of what we eat has been stuff that we grew or picked or got locally.
• Become more interested in trying to eat locally and shop less all of the time.
• Been very thankful for the bounty that God blesses us with in so many ways! 

Do you grow or raise a lot of your own food? Do you like to have a lot of food stocked up? I would love to hear your thoughts!

My chives are coming up! I am excited about adding them to our diet.

Eager to garden

 Though we are still two months away from normal garden planting time in our area we have been thinking about gardening lately. The snow is all gone, the weather has been pretty warm and our garden seems to be calling.

  Though I know better than to plant much of our garden I have heard that it is good to get peas and lettuce in early- even before the last snow is good. We easily could have another snow- we normally do get some snow in April- and so I have been wanting to get the peas and lettuce in the ground.

  Ken doesn't have time at the moment to till to the whole garden but the boys were wanting to do something with the garden so I suggested that they get the spot for the peas and lettuce ready. They were quite eager to do that. A couple of days ago armed with shovel and hoe the went to work to get the ground all ready for planting. We haven't gotten the seeds planted yet but I am hoping that maybe we can get that done today.

I am very grateful to God for:

• Boys who are eager to help.
• A place to plant a garden.
• The fun Spring weather that we have been having.

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

March's Rag Rug {Using t-shirts, sweatshirts and a hula hoop}

 For the month of March (in my goal of sharing a rag rug each month) I thought I would tell you about some "Hula Hoop" rugs that we made. I first got the idea for this circular weaving when a friend said that she had taken a class where they made them using bicycle tire frames for their "loom". I started thinking about how she said they did it and figured that a hula hoop would be bigger and maybe easier to come by anyway. Then I googled that idea and found that it wasn't original with me. Family Fun has a whole tutorial on how to make a "hula hoop rug". Then I was able to barter for a hula hoop and we got busy making some.

 Even Megan was able to help with this rug which she thought was quite a lot of fun.

 Jonathan helped with the weaving too. On this first rug we did make the mistake of pulling our strands to tightly and we ended up with a rather bowl shaped rug (which I gave to my mom and she is using as a chair mat in her red, white and blue room) but we learned our lesson and the rugs after that lay nice and flat.

These rugs are very fast to make and when you use thick strips of sweatshirt material they are thick and comfy too! The main drawback is that when I washed one of the rugs some of the strands got pulled a bit out of shape. I was able to get it looking good again with just a little tugging here and there but I don't think they are the sturdiest rug nor the best one for washing.

Here is the link for the tutorial.

Have you made rag rugs? What sort do you like to make? Have you ever made one like this?

My Homesteading Heritage

My Grandpa and Grandma in 1948

  My Grandma grew up during the depression. Though I wish now that I would have thought to ask her more about her childhood I did learn some things about it from her.

  I do remember that her memories of the depression were ones of hardship. If I remember right their family lived as share croppers (they could live on a farm in exchange for a portion of the crop) in those days- living in Iowa. They had very little. It was interesting to hear some of her memories as a little kid during those times and then see how it probably influenced the rest of her life.

  She believed in being prepared. She had bottles of water stored in her basement in case the electricity would go out and she couldn't get water, she kept plenty of food on hand, she liked to read about survival and things of that nature. She learned many skills to help her in many situations.

   In more recent years when I would call to visit with her and I would tell her about our gardening, cooking from scratch, sewing, wild food harvests, canning,  etc.- Grandma would say "That is good that you can do that- I am afraid that many young folks don't know how to do those sort of things." I would agree that unfortunately there are a lot of people that have lost these basic skills but then encourage her with my reports that I was seeing a reviving interest in them. She was always happy to hear that.

 When my parents and I were traveling home from my Grandma's funeral we had fun talking about some of our memories of her. I have also had fun talking with others lately who also knew her and I decided it would be fun to write down a list of some of those things that I remember (or was told about) about her that are part of my homesteading heritage.

So here are some of the things that my Grandma did on her homestead:

• When my Dad and Uncle John were little she used to butcher 100 chickens in a day mostly by herself. My grandpa would chop of the heads and then she with the help of her two boys would do the rest. That was without a plucker too. I have to say I am pretty impressed and don't think I will ever be able to match that!
• When I was a kid Grandma would purposely come visit us at butchering time so that she could help. For someone that didn't enjoy the process all that much, I was very impressed that she was willing to do that.
• My Grandpa died before I was ever born so Grandma had many years by herself. She had her own chainsaw and she knew how to use it. She always heated her house with wood (though my uncle did help put up a lot of that wood).
• She had a pistol and knew how to use it and I remember one story about how she used it to "take care of" a skunk that was on her property.
• She always had a garden until her later years and enjoyed using the produce from it. I remember her coming to visit us when I was a kid (from Southern Iowa to Northern MN) and bringing big ripe tomatoes up to us before ours were ripe.
• She planted and cared for fruit trees and I remember peaches, apples and cherries from them. Pie cherries were a specialty that she would share with our family.
• She knew how to sew, knit and crochet and did quite a bit of it for us grandchildren. She also helped us learn to do those things as well.
• When I was newly married and living in Iowa near Grandma we had heard about possible problems that might happen in the year 2000 (Y2K- do you remember?) and so we decided to prepare just in case. We planted a garden again at her place and she got me started with some canning equipment and encouraged me in the process. We had decided that if anything serious did happen that we would go live with Grandma at her rural home. Nothing did happen but it was kind of fun to spend that year with Grandma - preparing.
• Grandma knew the wisdom of stocking up and being prepared. We had fun going shopping and buying in bulk from Amish stores in the area.

I would guess that I have just hit the surface of all the homesteading activities that Grandma did- but I had fun thinking about the heritage that I have in that area and I hope that you enjoyed it too and that maybe you will be reminded of some of the things that you have learned from your grandparents or other elderly people in your life.

I am linking this to the Homestead Barn Hop at Homestead Revival.

Humility, Gentleness and Patience

Pussy willows have been out for a week or so- quite early for here. Beautiful!

   "Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Ephesians 4:1-3

  This passage is in Paul's letter to the Ephesians. As he sat in prison something that he thought was important to remind the Christians was the importance of walking with humility, gentleness, patience, love for each other and unity in the Spirit. My "guess" is that it is probably important for us today as well.

   These are some traits that I want to work on in my life. This verse inspires me- I hope it will you as well.

Fluffy Denim Rag Rug {Tutorial}

  I had said I was going to try to make one rag rug a month this year- well this one is February's. This rug though simple in concept took me quite a bit longer than I had thought it would. I also ended up with less time to work on it than I thought I would.

   Oh well, I am pleased with the end result and even though it took time- that is something that I as a stay at home mom am blessed to have. Other than time it simply took old jeans (and I did use a few scraps from old slacks as well) and thread and a bunch of sewing machine needles as unfortunately this rug caused me to break quite a few.

If you would like to make a rug like this one.....

Here is how you do it:

Get a base cloth. I sewed together some jeans legs to do this but you could also just use a solid piece of sturdy cloth. My base piece was about 2 feet by 3 feet. This will not show so it does not need to look nice.

 Cut lots and lots of little squares of denim or whatever fabric you are making your rug from (I have made one similar to this one before using double knit squares and that worked well). You could cut perfect squares all exactly the same size but you don't have too. My kids and I cut these squares (I always enjoy having the kids help with projects if possible and they like it too) and they range from squares that are 2 inches on each side to ones as big as 3 X 3. Also any that were perfectly square where pretty few and far between. I'm am just saying that you can be a perfectionist if you want to but you certainly don't have to be.

  Also you could have all your squares be exactly the same color or you can have a rainbow if you want. What I did with this rug was I used all different colors of blue denim, some slack fabric in various shades of brown, a few white denim squares and some blue and white striped denim. I just put them on randomly.

To start putting your squares on the base fabric you simply fold a square in half so that it creates a triangle and lay it on the edge of the fabric as shown above and then sew down the middle of it.

As you are sewing them on you layer the triangles on top of each other as shown above.

 After you get one strip down then you turn your rug around and head back the other way with another strip. You want to lay your strips close together so that they cause each other to stick up. Just continue to sew them on back and forth until you come to the end of your rug.

 If you have any questions just let me know.

I hope you enjoy the process if you try this rug!

I am linking this to the Hometead Barn Hop at Homestead Revival
and
Make Something Monday at Sarahndipities.

I don't buy..... Window Cleaner

     I used to buy all the normal cleaning supplies- window cleaner, oven cleaner, tub and toilet cleaner and so on. As I have worked to have less chemicals in our house and also to worked to save money I no longer buy any of the cleaning supplies that I used to. There are cheaper and safer ways to get things clean and for that I am thankful! I also like that there is far less packaging to throw away with these new methods.

  What I use for windows (or walls, counters, etc.) is extremely simple and cheap. I simply fill my spray bottle nearly full of water and then add around 3/4 cup of white vinegar and shake it up. It is then good to go. Sometimes depending on the job I may add a drop or two of dish soap for some extra cleaning power or I may add Tea Tree oil for a good scent and extra disinfecting ability. No matter what method you use it is very simple to make and works just fine!

 I did also read recently of another idea that I would like to try but haven't yet- and that is to soak orange peels in the vinegar before you use the vinegar to make this cleaner. They say it adds a nice smell and cleaning power.

   When I wash windows the method that I like best is to spray them down and then using a scratch/scrubby pad I scrub the window and then using a squeegee (which I wipe dry with a rag after each swipe) I get the whole window streak free. When I do mirrors I simply spray and then wipe with a lint free rag like an old cloth diaper.

  Have a natural and clean house doesn't have to be expensive- in fact it can be much cheaper than one that is filled with chemicals. Give simplicity a try!

I am linking this to Frugal Friday at Life as MOM.

Using our life....

"The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it." (William James)

Ken put the quote above on his facebook page today and I like it too so I thought I would share it on here. When I think about what statement means I think of using our life for the good of others. When we invest our time in our children or when we tell others about the saving relationship they can have in Jesus Christ then we have used our life in such a way that will last longer than we do.

 I just want to encourage all of you that no matter what your place in life- you can invest it in such a way that will make a difference!

A Joyful Heart

 "A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones." Proverbs 17:22

Last Monday I was quite sick and some of the kids weren't feeling very good either but somehow by the grace of God we were able to have a good day anyway. It was a day of fever's, achiness and weariness but we laughed anyway. We laughed about the stupid dreams you have when you are sick, we laughed over the weak trying to help the other weak, we laughed about the crazy home remedies that we were trying, we just laughed whenever something seemed even slightly funny.

 As my Great-Grandma used to say (at least according to my Mother) "You might as well laugh as cry."

  I am so very grateful for the gift of Joy that God has given us. It is so nice to be able to find humor in the hard times. Sometimes joy comes easily and sometimes we need to choose it and I admit that I am not always perfect at doing that but I want to be!

 So this week I encourage you to choose Joy! I'll be right there with you!

Rethinking life....



2 sweet kids who had snuggled up next to me on the couch while I was sick.

Yesterday we attended a funeral. A friend's husband had passed away unexpectedly last week at the age of 73. This has been a year of funerals for us as a freind from our Republican group died of cancer at the age of 64 in January. My cousin (30, I believe) passed away from Cancer just shortly after (though I did not attend that funeral as it was in another state) and then my Grandma went to be with her Lord in February.

   Though I am happy that these loved ones can be free from their pain- death is still sobering. We get reminded that death can come at any time and just how very important it is to be ready for it! What a peace there is when you know that the person is ready! And what peace you can have if you know that you are ready!

  With nearly two weeks of our family being sick around here we have had quite a lot of thinking time. A time to consider what is really truly important in life.

  My conclusions (which are that I have a strong relationship with God and people)  aren't really any different than they ever were  but the reminders of death and sickness are good for realizing maybe I should do some reprioritizing.

Here are some of the things that I want to pay more attention to....

~Praising God in every single situation. No matter how I feel!
~Choosing people over things.
~Taking the time to read an extra story or just sit and cuddle on the couch.
~Being alert to sharing God's love in every situation.
~Not pressuring myself to get things done in a certian time with blogging. I had made a list of things I wanted to post about on here back in January and since then I have allowed that list to pressure me.  That is over. I still will try to do what I can but when life gets terribly hectic I am not going to feel pressured to get a project made or make myself post when I just don't feel like it.

 I hope I can be more the person that God wants me to be!

I don't buy..... Lip balm or Chapstick or Lotion

This item of not buying almost feels like a stretch as I have never spent that large of amounts of money or purchased these items that often. Also I just barely figured out the replacement for them but I am rather excited about them so I wanted to share right away!

First off- I have gradually but majorly been reducing my use of lotion for several years now. As I strive to use natural things on my body (as our pores nicely absorb whatever goes on us) and as I try to steer away from unnatural scents- lotions have had to go.

When I didn't use it often I realized I also didn't need it that often. My brother-in-law has had a theory that lotion just makes our hands dry out and after trying going without and my hands were better I did begin to wonder! Sometimes in the winter sometimes especially after washing dishes I would find my hands quite dry- then I would rub coconut oil on them and that worked quite well.

  Just lately I tried something new a fancier than just coconut oil and that is making lotion bars. I had seen the idea here and there and thought it would be fun to try using some of the beeswax from our hives. When I was figuring out a present for my sister's birthday recently I decided to make some to add to her gift.

   I also tried out making lip balm and that went quite well too and works really nicely. Both things were quick to make and I think make very nice little gifts.

 Here are the recipes:

Lip Balm
1 oz. beeswax
1 T. Honey
1/2 cup Coconut Oil
Peppermint oil extract to taste.

In small saucepan or double boiler melt wax (you may want to chop it up small to speed up the process). Add Honey and Oil and mix in well. Pour into tubes or containers and let harden.

Bee's Wax Lotion Bar
1 part beeswax (chopped up)
1 part cocoa butter
1 part coconut oil
Fragrance if desired

In small saucepan or double boiler melt the wax, cocoa butter and oil. Mix well. Add fragrance if desired. Pour into molds and let harden. After hardening pop out of molds and store in sealed container. To apply just rub on your hands.

 I used a tin can for my double boiler and I have an aversion to putting wax on my food dishes and then having to clean it off. Though I don't think these mixtures would be that bad for cleaning off.

 Heart shaped silicone ice cube trays are what I used for the lotion bars.

 I used any little container that I could find for the lip balm. I am going to have to have people start saving empty containers and keep my eye out for ones that would work well.

 Both products turned out very nice and I am so happy to have a couple more things that I can make instead of buy.

 I had everything on hand that we needed to make these so no money was spent but I not only had something for my sister's birthday but stuff for us and for future gifts. I have seen this sort of stuff for sale locally too and people seem rather eager to buy it so I think this could be a good money making opportunity if you cared to pursue it.

I am linking this to Frugal Friday at Life as MOM.