Goals for This Week

Well I seem to be having some trouble getting goals posted on Mondays. My Monday gets busy and it doesn't happen. I missed last week and since I had quite a few unfinished goals I decided to just work on it for 2 weeks but then I missed Monday again. I guess I will just do it on Tuesday. :-)

Here are the goals from the past 2 weeks:

Homeschooling Goals

• Have our kids practice the piano - particularly their recital songs every day until the recital on Thursday (then I might let them have a little break).
• That Mara, Jonathan and Megan would finish their math books. 
• Write letters to Grandparents.

Homesteading Goals

• Get bee hive cleaned out and paint both hives.
• Plant peas and lettuce.
• Clean up workbench.

Homemaking Goals

• Fix up a wreath for the front door.
• Finish going through laundry room and organize and clean.  It could be better but it is okay for now.
• Touch up paint on front door.

Business Goals

• Get wedding portfolios organized on my website.
• Look through June wedding flower quotes and see if I need to order anything early.
• Add reviews/thank yous to my website.

Personal Growth Goals

• Practice the cello 5+ days this week. 
• Read "Bringing up boys". Almost done, but not quite.
• Write two verses out that go along with areas that I want to grow in and then hang them up somewhere that I will see them often.

Blogging Goals

• Link to 6 blog parties this week and share one post on both Facebook and Pinterest.
• Write 3 posts for repurposing series in May.
• Write book review.

Goals for the next two weeks (as I know on Memorial Day I will be a bit to busy having fun with my family to do much blogging. We are hoping to do some camping out on our property.):

 Homeschooling Goals

• That Aaron would finish his Math book (due to be done on Friday!).
• That the kids would finish their other workbooks.
• Get everybody invited to Homeschool baseball for the summer.

Homesteading Goals

• Get onions planted.
• Weed flower beds.
• Transplant seedlings that are to crowded into bigger containers.

Homemaking Goals

• Have the kids and I each find one thing/area each day to truly clean until it "sparkles".
• Mend.
• Touch up paint in our closet.

Business Goals

• Get wedding portfolios organized on my website.
• Organize my office.
• Add reviews/thank yous to my website.

Personal Growth Goals

• Practice the cello 4+ days each week. 
• Practice focusing on and truly listening to whoever is talking to me (less multi-tasking!).
• Do something just for fun with each child.

Blogging Goals

• Link to 10 blog parties and share a post on Facebook and 3 on Pinterest.
• Pre-post 3 posts.
• Read one book and write review.

Duck Tales

 You may recall that Megan got some ducklings for her birthday a month ago. They have been growing fast and the kids have been really enjoying them. That is we have enjoyed them except for when Megan ended up getting sick the week after they came and we think it was Salmonella which is something that you can often pick up from baby ducks. She was pretty miserable for a bit but I researched quite a few home remedies and she pulled through pretty good. We are certain to be much more diligent about hand washing now.

Here are some pictures of some of the fun times we have had with the ducks:

 They love to be out and playing with the kids and they just follow them all over the yard. They way that they so carefully follow just like they were playing follow the leader (they go through the same obstacles that the leader does) amuses us to no end. They joined us for a game of croquet not long ago.

 While out playing croquet they started following Ken around which the kids found super funny and wanted me to take a bunch of pictures (Ken is not all that fond of farm animals so that made it funnier). Ken had fun getting into the act of taking them for a walk.

They found him a little slow however and had trouble staying behind him.

 Aaron was super excited to have them go swimming but Jonathan and I had read that since they didn't have a mother to put oil on them that they could get pneumonia if they went to young so we didn't take them for a while. But the other day I said they probably could and so they headed down to the swamp.

 They loved it!!

 They found all sorts of things to nibble on and were of course natural swimmers.

They were no longer very interested in following either and Aaron had a challenge of  getting them to come back in. He managed though.

Our ducks our Indian Runner ducks that walk pretty upright and are supposed to be good egg layers. We hope so.

Have you ever kept ducks? Do you have any advice?

I will be linking this to some parties on my sidebar.

The Potter and the Clay

 A couple weeks ago the girls and I tried our hand at making some pottery. A friend had given us some clay that she had leftover after doing it with some of the kids at our homeschool co-op. We really like pottery around here (especially lovely usable stuff - I love my pottery serving bowls) and so we thought it would be fun to try make some ourselves. Mara called a ceramic place in town to see if they would be able to put it in their kiln and they said they could so we went to work.

 I had a lot of fun working on a couple of bowls. One of them (the one above) got cracks in it as it dried so I was able to soak it in some water and get it back to clay again and so hopefully soon I'll find some time to try again. The process is challenging but it is really rather fun to gently mold and shape it with your hands.

 Mara very carefully worked on hers - squishing it every so often and starting over. She has such a careful, slow and calm personality which sometimes I find amusing to watch as it is in many ways different then mine.

 It is starting to take shape (though this shape didn't stay - it ended up being formed in a different way).

Megan was meanwhile patting away at her clay and trying different ways to to get it in the shape she wanted it. She added plenty of water too which caused her area to be a bit messier. Megan is in some ways Mara's opposite. She wanted to make it quickly and when it didn't work out the way she wanted the tears began to fall. She is probably the most dramatic of my children. 

   She did finally get something made that she was fairly happy with but not without quite a few tears and much encouragement from me. I think sometimes it is hard being the youngest as you compare what you are doing with what the others (who are older) around you are doing and you don't feel that it compares very well.

  What was kind of cool about the pottery making (I thought anyway) was that the next day I read in Jeremiah chapter 18 about the potter for my morning devotions. I love to be able to really picture and understand what they are talking about. I could understand much better God's desire to take Israel (His "pot") and squish it up and turn it into something different. They had rebelled and turned their backs on Him and I totally understand what He was saying. When clay doesn't co-operate, as Megan can attest, it doesn't make you very happy.

  I found some other verses too, that talk about pottery and I thought it would be fun to share them with you:

  "But now, O Lord, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our potter; and all of us are the work of Your hand." Is. 64:8

Do we let God mold us and make us into something really special and usable or do we resist His work on us and instead insist on being a cracked bowl that is basically useless?

"Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker- and earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth!

Will the clay say to the potter, "What are you doing?" Is. 45:9

Let's be mold-able in God's hands so that He can make us into the best things possible!

Tips for Making Your Home Ready for Selling

As we are still trying to sell our house (showings have really slowed down lately) I decided to research some tips that are supposed to help your house look more appealing to prospective buyers. I also thought I would share some of the things we have done or are working on. And then of course I would love to have you share your tips with me!

Making your home look nice on the outside:

• Keep flower beds and yard neat and tidy. Ken put new mulch in our landscaped section and around some trees, we cleaned up our garden and we don't need to mow yet because the grass isn't tall enough. I do need to work more on cleaning up flower beds.
• Keep your garage doors closed. We do that most of the time (unless we are working with things out around there.) We also always park in the garage which I think looks better as well.
• Repaint or touch up the paint on the front door. I got that done yesterday.
• Put some pots of annual flowers around the doorway. Mara planted some yesterday with some flowers I got at church on Mother's Day. It looks pretty with them out there.
• Check porches/decks for repair work that may be needed. We repainted both of ours and Ken made a minor repair on the deck.
• Neatly put away outside toys/bikes.

Making the inside of the house attractive:

• Give each room a thorough cleaning and get rid of clutter. I have done this but we really need to clean again and I am sure we quite likely will find more clutter.
• Take down most or all of your people/family pictures and replace them with neutral decorations. This one is really hard for me as I love have a personal home - that people can walk in and find that our home represents us - to take our family out of our home is not easy but I can see how this process could be good for me. I need to learn to have less of me in many areas! Below shows how we replaced our family picture in our living room with a neutral picture. 

• Repaint bright, dingy or unique walls with neutral colors. The wall above is due for going back to cream again. We have the paint already, I just need to find the time. I had thought I would skip doing that as I like the wall but when we had a bunch of Realtors over for a special Realtor showing - a comment that was made several times was that we should repaint that wall.
• Inspect and repair things all over your house. We sure our finding the necessity of doing that as we basically look things over with a fine tooth comb.
• Have light bulbs that light up quickly (the old type) and clean the light fixtures and have the rooms nice and bright.
• Clean off the counter tops. You want things to look roomy.

• Fresh flowers add a nice pop of color. 
• Make your home sparkle. Spring is quite busy for us and though I like to have a neat and clean home it is not generally a sparkling clean home. I am trying to work on that. I have set the goal for the kids and I to each make sure something turns from drab to sparkling each day. (They can choose a light fixture, a window, an appliance, the porch or whatever. But I figure that way at least we will make some progress.
• Work to get rid of any odors. Try to figure out the source and get rid of it. Clean well. Open your windows if you can and air your house out. Bake before a showing. Boil cinnamon sticks and cloves with water in a pan on the stove before a showing - it makes your home smell wonderful! We have struggled with having a septic/sewer smell some which has been rather discouraging. We have had a plumber and a heating guy here and tried to figure things out ourselves but are still smelling it (in our laundry/mechanical room) at times. Any suggestions for us on this one?
• Clean off the front of the fridge.
• Open your drapes or blinds. That isn't an issue with us as they hardly ever get closed and when they do they are opened immediately upon waking.
• Hang nice/new towels and shower curtains in the bathroom. (something to work on.).
• Check faucets to make sure they are in good repair and then shine them.
• Clean inside cupboards and closets as they will look there. I have worked on this through much of the house but really need to take care of this in my office/craft room.
• Clean and organize in the garage.

General tips

• Try to think like a buyer and notice the things that they would notice. Possibly ask a friend to do this for your as well. Try to fix the problems you notice.
• Use Yellow! It draws the eye and is supposed to make people feel like buying. I wonder if it works.

We are doing are best to make our home attractive to buyers but also trying to be realistic and know that we can only do some much and that truly God is in control and it will sell in His timing. When I am struggling to keep up with things I do comfort myself with the fact that our last house sold to somebody who came to look at it one very busy day when I was gone all day, didn't know they were coming and left dirty dishes on the counter. 

 Do you have any tips for making a house ready for selling? What would like best to see (or not see) when looking at a house?

Ways We Have Saved Money Lately

All those small ways of saving a little money add up in the long run. Here are a few of them simple things that we have done lately that save us money:

 We have packed along homemade meals when we go places - lately there have been regular picnics out at our property. Sometimes I struggle to think of a meal that packs well but we have managed. Do you have any good ideas for healthy/wholesome food that is easy to take on a picnic lunch?

  I cut the boys hair.

  I took apart the hair clippers that I was afraid was going to need replaced because it was working horribly and I cleaned it out and put it back together (I didn't take all the parts apart!) and it is working again. Yay! Purchase avoided.

 On Mother's Day for a fun activity we took a bike ride. Entertainment doesn't have to be expensive. It is a whole lot of fun (and good exercise) to take a family bike ride. We had fun spotting the spring flowers that were blooming.

 We made cloth pads. These work well for your monthly period and they are healthier to use as well (I guess the bleach and other things that are in the disposable ones is not very good for your skin). These were free as we made them with old sheets, old washcloths/towels, some old pajamas and some Velcro we salvaged from some old pants.

 We have made quite a few homemade gifts lately or put together gifts from things that we had on hand.

 I mended socks.

Aaron mended his cowboy boots - using shoe goo to repair the soles that were coming off. Extending the life of shoes is good.

I made napkins.

 I saved buttons from the shirts I made napkins out of for using on other sewing projects. I have very rarely purchased buttons in my lifetime as I can generally get all I need pretty easily from the clothes that I re-purpose.

 We have been doing very little shopping and a lot of creative eating from the pantry. I did just order brown rice and another 40 lb chunk of cheese and then I hope to see if we can basically only eat from the pantry until we move. Hopefully we can also forage some food.

 We have combined errands several times to make less driving and using gas.

 What have your been doing lately to save money? I would love to hear!

Pulling Back the Shades {A review}

When I was contacted about reviewing this book I really felt like saying "No".  I had heard of the book "Fifty Shades of Grey" when it was talked about in a Christian magazine and I had heard enough to know that I would never want to read it and I honestly didn't care to read a book that was going to discuss it either. I have been blessed with a good marriage and I have not had to deal with all the sexual sins/perversions out there and I would prefer to be as innocent about it as I can. So when I saw that in "Pulling Back the Shades" they would discuss "Fifty Shades of Grey" and Erotica, Intimacy, and the Longings of a Woman's Heart it sounded like a christian book that I would rather just skip out on.

 However I also noticed one of the authors was Dannah Gresh (Juli Slattery is the other) and I have really appreciated the way that Dannah tackles tough subjects with practical thoughts and biblical application. I also started thinking about what my purpose for this blog is: My goal is that I would be able to encourage other women to live like the Proverbs 31 woman and that includes their role as a wife. When we read Proverbs 31 we hear about a woman who honored and blessed her husband and he in turn blessed her. That is what I want for me and that is what I want for you. So in the end I decided to go ahead and review this book so I could share some of the things I learned with you.

  In this world there is evil at work that would like to destroy our marriages. A marriage is a picture of what the church is to Christ (WE are the bride of Christ) and Satan doesn't want that to look like a good thing. He is out to destroy it just as much as he possibly can. He will use any avenue that he can and he will certainly attack the intimate area of your marriage if possible. One of the avenues that Satan is using to attack this area of marriages is Erotica. Erotica is writing that causes you to dwell on sex. God created sex to be something that is wonderful and good - In a marriage. But when you read erotic or look at pornography, or are involved in sex outside of marriage then what God created to be good becomes something wrong and sinful. There are so many reasons physically and mentally and spiritually that God made it to work like He did. Life always goes best when we follow His plan.

  I think Dannah and Juli did a wonderful job of addressing the issue of women and erotica and the dangers that they face when they read it. If in your life/marriage you have struggled with a good sex life, if you have been tempted to read Erotica (or any books that make you feel aroused by what they talk about - even Christian Romances can be dangerous) or if you have dealt with issues of rough "play" in your intimacy - I would really recommend reading this book.

  This book is a tool that you can use to share with others who may be struggling in this area. If you don't struggle in these areas nor are trying to minister to those who might I would say to skip out on reading this book. Though Dannah and Juli tried to very carefully and tastefully talk about the subject there are still things discussed that I really would prefer not to know about. However the main book they are discussing (Fifty Shades of Grey) sold over 70 million copies in its first year and many women how profess to be Christians are reading it so this isn't something that only a few people are aware of. That one book is certainly not the only book on the subject either - so a christian response to Erotica was truly needed.

  I would love to hear your thoughts on this subject (But realizing this could be a sensitive subject I will remind you to please keep your comments kind).

  I received this book for purposes of reviewing but the thoughts that I have expressed are my own and I received no other compensation for writing this post.