Under the Sink

When we moved into our home the under the sink cabinet was icky!! We pulled out as much of the damp wood, fixed the leak, & purchased white board to slide under there! My husband cut it to fit under there perfectly. This is a perfect solution, the white board does not absorb water in case of a spill and it is easy to wipe up any spills from cleaning products!

Line Dried Laundry

I am enjoying my clothesline! I just love hanging the clothes on the line and watching them drying! They are so fresh smelling & I love that we are saving money!

My laundry basket full of line dried clothes!

My sheets on the line!

Hamburger Gravy

1 pound hamburger
1/2 quart milk
1 small onion, chopped
1/8 cup all purpose flour
salt & pepper to taste

Cook hamburger. Remove from heat and sprinkle flour over cooked hamburger. Stir evenly until coated. Place skillet over medium heat, add 1/2 of milk and stir until gravy begins to thicken. Add remaining milk until gravy comes to a boil. Season with salt & pepper.

Serve over mashed potatoes.

* This is a really simple and really good meal using very few staple ingredients!

My Future Garden

We have been talking about our garden for a few weeks now. We still aren't exactly sure where it is going to be but we knew we wanted to raise sweet corn, tomatoes, green beans, and lettuce! I am so excited about getting outside and working in the garden and growing our own food!!

This past weekend we went to the Tennessee FFA Alumni Convention and they had garden seeds for sale and seeds/gardening supplies in the silent auction!

My father-in-law bought me 4 of these tomato pails! They include the potting soil, tomato seeds, tomato labels, and tiny gardening tools! I am so excited about these tomatoes!!

These are the seeds we purchased! We are going to grow:
Onions
Pepper
Cabbage
Lettuce
Broccoli
Green Beans
Sweet Corn
Cantaloupe
Sunflowers

I cannot wait to start growing our garden plants and I will post when we start the seeds!!

Baby Quilt

Last week I was able to take a little time to cut out patches for the baby girl quilt I am working on! I broke the cutting up so it wasn't too much of a job! I now have all the squares cut out so now it's just time to start sewing them together and watch a beautiful quilt take shape!

The 3 different patches on the fabric that will be the backing!

The stack of patches ready for me to start sewing!

A Little Organization can Save Money

I am a bargain hunter, just like my mom is, it is something I love and have been doing for years. There is something so exciting about finding a cute sweater on clearance for $3 or a great pair of pants for $5 or a $1 picture frame. However, I have realized that just because something is on clearance it isn't always worth the money. I typically don't purchase pants or shirts if they are over $10 and dresses if they are more than $20, that has been my unofficial "rule." I have realized that if I purchase three $5 shirts and wear them only once before donating that I would be better off buying one $20 shirt that I love and is a classic piece I will wear for 2 or 3 years. This is a recent realization to me: as far as stretching your money goes, many times quality is better than quantity (quality=nice piece you love, quantity=several things you buy because they are cheap!)

I was reminded of this tonight as my husband and I browsed a few stores. I checked out several clearance racks looking for some great deals but remembered that I have no clothing or household needs that would justify even a $5 purchase right now (in fact I am trying to get rid of things.)

As I was walking out the door of the last store I told my husband, isn't it crazy how people shop, they just go browsing and pick up anything that strikes their fancy or is on sale! It would be much more efficient to make a list of the clothing, household, or decor items that we need and purchase those items instead of looking for items that are discounted deeply that you will give away within the year.

So, I am going to approach shopping for clothing, shoes, decor, etc. like grocery shopping, make a list of what I need and stick to it!! And I am positive I will save money!

Homemade Draft Stop

The temperatures are falling...and we are trying to be energy efficient this winter to save money! So with that in mind, tonight I made a draft stop for our living room door!

This was really easy and took about 15 minutes! I used flannel fabric that my mother-in-law gave me and cut it a little longer than the door. I sewed the long end together and made two small bean bags to weight the ends. I sewed a bean bag in one end and then turned it inside out and stuffed it! After stuffing it I sewed the other bean bag on the end and sewed the draft stop shut! A very easy project and a very useful project!


Here is the draft stop keeping out the cool air.


A close up of the beautiful flannel that matches my cream & blue curtains.

So now I feel very productive since I made something, especially something so useful!

What a Weekend!

We have had a wonderful weekend thus far!! John David came home for lunch Friday, I made Chicken Enchilada Soup! Then he surprised me by telling me he took the rest of the day off!! What a great surprise!! That afternoon we went to vote and then went to Office Depot (where I found a much needed pack of 3 dry erase markers for $1.13!!!) Then we went to T.J. Maxx & to Wal-Mart. John David purchased an exercise ball to use as his desk chair...I know it may sound crazy but it is really comfy!!

Friday night, John David found a PowerBook G4 on Craigslist and around 9:45 we met with the seller and bought that! (He used his graduation/play money so it did not effect the budget!!) So yesterday was a lot like Christmas!!

Here is my sweetie on his new chair & playing with his new computer!! He has quite the Mac set-up now...what more could he want??

This morning we slept in...nothing like sleeping late snuggled in fleece sheets!! We didn't really anything productive but that is the beauty of Saturday morning. John David installed Leopard on the PowerBook so while that was installing we played 2 games of Yahtzee! (I am not bragging or anything but I won twice!!) I love playing games with my sweetie!! We decided to go to McDonald's for lunch and then we explored the county a little! We went down a really nice road with nice houses & small farms! That was fun, especially since we are getting close to buying!! (Just a few more "financial goals" to accomplish and we will be on our way to home ownership!!)

We came home and I worked on my Sunday School lesson, preparing crafts for tomorrow, and then I made supper, Chicken-n-Dumplins, and they were so good! I then made a fleece body pillow case from a fleece throw we had at home. (Our fleece sheets came with pillowcases but we sleep on a body pillow so we didn't have a fleece body pillow case!!) I cut a little off the blanket and stitched it up and it turned out great!!

ECB Tutorial

A Day with My Hubby!

Today has been one of those wonderful days! John David had been in Louisville all week training and took off today! It is nice to have a weekday with him! We slept in this morning and had one of those nice, relaxing mornings that I often dream of! I just love the simple, quiet days and I cherish them so much more now since he is working now! Life is beautiful when we sit still and enjoy those we love!

Friday Night

We have had a lovely Friday night! When John David got home tonight we sat on the couch and talked which was relaxing! We watched the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics which amazed us! We watched some of the Parade of Nations and then went to McDonald's for dinner! (We haven't been to McDonald's in months and really enjoyed our hamburgers and tea!) A nice, simple "date" night together!

4th of July!

We have had a wonderful, laid back 4th of July! We actually went to FFA Camp yesterday to do some filming for a promotional video for the state officers to take to chapter visits. We arrived there around 10:30 and spent yesterday filming all the fun things that go on at camp! We really had a great time there! John David ended up as the DJ for the camp dance last night and everybody had a blast...we even danced and he spun me! I am learning!! Camp ended this morning and we headed back home, stopping in Murfreesboro for barbeque.



Us at camp!! (This picture was taken on John David's Blackberry...it looks amazing to me!!)

When we got home we were tired from staying up late last night so we laid down and rested...how nice to climb in the bed and relax!! I spent some time on one of my most recent projects, cross-stitching a baby bib for an upcoming shower...I am almost finished!





He caught some of the exciting cross-stitching action!!

We also began working on another project, refinishing a chair! We got this chair from Mom B. and I absolutely love it. It has a crack in the seat and is missing a spindle but we are trying to make it into a beautiful dining chair!! We worked on stripping off all the paint tonight! I haven't decided if I want to stain it or paint it black.



The chair!!



John David hard at work...he is much better at these things than I am!!

So that was pretty much our 4th of July, no big party or cookout, just enjoying a day together doing the things we like to do and enjoying the simple pleasures of life!

Spring Break

We have had a relaxing Spring Break thus far! Yes, we have slept in but we haven't slept past 9:30 at all (which is a feat for us!!)

My birthday was Tuesday and we had a lovely day! We made my birthday cake together the night before and I was really excited about my cake so we had birthday cake for breakfast!!



My homemade birthday cake! Strawberry cake with cream cheese icing!! Yummy!!





Wednesday I called "Spring Cleaning" day! Since the big moving day is getting closer I wanted to have a pre-moving cleaning day! We had a very successful day cleaning out closets and drawers and I realized that we really do not own a lot of things that we do not need! It was really encouraging to see that we do not have a lot of useless clutter and that we are really living simply!!

Thursday was a relaxing yet productive day! We went to pick up a few items at the store and only bought what was on our list! (This is really exciting too!) We are trying to stay organized by not bringing in new things into our house that we can live without and to live a simple, non materialistic life! We did buy a small bottle of white paint (on our list) to finish a flag that I started in December! When we got home John David finished the flag by stamping the stars!!



This flag is made from a scrap piece of tin from my Grandpa's farm! I think it is beautiful!



I couldn't resist taking a picture of it with my rocking chair!!



We have the flag hanging on our door for now! Hopefully one day soon we can hang it on our barn or front porch!!


John David had an evening job filming for a man who goes to church with us. While he was filming, I did laundry (a week and a half worth at the laundromat!) After getting home from doing laundry I ironed John David's shirts and starched his jeans!

I also got some good news while I was doing my ironing, my cousin Katie called me and told me she was named Star Greenhand for West Tennessee!! (Star Greenhand is for Freshman FFA members, it is based on their Supervised Agriculture Experience Program as well as their involvement in FFA) I am so excited for her! She now will advance to state for the opportunity to be named Tennessee Star Greenhand!! I am so glad that Rebekah and I were able to be involved in the FFA and that Joseph, and Katelyn have become involved too! FFA really has had an impact on our lives!!