December 27th Reset

 Happy 2022, almost 2023! I hope you're all doing well. It's been a minute since being here but I am ready to begin blogging again.  I believe I need to journal in one way or another so this is a nice place to be. So much has changed in my life since visiting last. 

I guess I will start with grocery budgeting. I am hoping to keep a running total for 2023. Let me start by saying that we are pretty well stocked on lots. I have made a challenge of spending $50 a week for 5 weeks, with using pantry  and freezer items.  I began this today. At Aldi I spent $20.54 and at Walmart $24.82. That's $45.36. I have over $4 if needed this week but otherwise I will move it to next week. 

I am hoping to figure out how to post pictures on this blog from my phone. We can only hope! 

Monday

Today is filled with lots of laundry. We have eight beds in this home and so that makes for a lot of washing -just in bedding alone! Even so, there is nothing like fresh sheet day! A few comforters are getting washed and freshened up as well. I bought some Fab detergent from the Dollar Tree which smells what I woould think of as heavenly. I bought Fab when James and I first got married and I worked at a local grocery store. I also bought some Bounce Island Fresh dryer sheets that smells even a little bit more heavenly. Having news scents of laundry products makes doing laundry more fun.

This past weekend our 20-year-old son moved back home. It is nice having him home again. We are currently chauffering him back and forth to work. It takes some time as his job is about 35 minutes away. I am thinking he can get a car soon though. All of that to say, we are up to six children at home again.

The past few weeks I have been asking the family to write down some meals they would like me to make. I posted a picture of the list on here to share. It has been fun making some family favorites. Hopefully, this list can be on-going and I am going to keep the list for future reference. I thought it would be fun seeing the fun note about someone feeling too sick to think about food....He's fine and recovered quickly. :)

We have been, as usual, trying to save money here and there and it is always fun to see how the Lord intervenes in our lives with blessings. We have been given lots of zucchini in the past five days. I have made a few meals out of it, plan on making a few more and also freezing the excess for later. I think I am going to make some zucchini-potato curry with some rice. I also thought of either Italian zucchini dish or stuffed zucchini.

We are also supposed to get lots of venison from a co-worker of James'. He needs to clean out last year's deer to make room for this year's. He asked James to bring a big cooler to fill. Yes, sir! In years past we would be given venison as long as we'd pay for processing. This is even better as we don't have to pay for processing. I am praying for that man to be a very successful hunter in the future. :D


This week we have the usual school and chores but have lots of fun coming. Our oldest daughter and her family plan on making it in on Wednesday and be with us for a few days. We are going camping on Friday and Saturday with our church family as well.I am so excited about it all!

Well, the washer is singing to me so I guess I should run and switch things around. Work never waits!

Large Family Dishes

I thought I would start a small series on ways that could possibly help those of you out there that may be looking for easier ways to maintain a home. Over the years I have learned a few tricks that has helped. Is our home always in order?  No, no one's is! As mentioned a few posts ago, things can get out of hand. Still there are little ideas that can be put into place to help matters. Today we will talk about dishes.

Especially in a large family many things can get out of hand such as toys, laundry and dishes. Being that we eat all or at least most meals at home this is an ongoing task. We do not have a dishwasher and to be honest I don't want one. We had one off and on for 20 years and we keep things just as clean, if not cleaner without one. I now store our 33 gallon trash can in the spot where the dishwasher went. The trick in our home is to keep only the amount of dishes as we have family members. For us currently that is seven family members so that would mean seven plates, seven bowls, seven drinking glasses and seven hot beverage cups. No more can get messed up if they are not in the kitchen! If needed, you can even mark the dishes with initials on the bottom with fingernail polish, or simply color code with fingernail polish. We have done that.  I do have a box hidden in the "school" room that has extras as dishes do break or for visitors' needs. I do sometimes keep out an extra place setting for drop in company as we have a son that pops in from time to time.

Another trick that we do, oh say, 80% of the time (the goal is 100%)  is each person upon finishing a meal goes to the sink and washes their own place setting. Then they simply leave them in the dish drainer to dry. "Instantly" the dishes are done.

A game I play to keep up on the cookware is that I imagine that I have only so many pots and pans. The policy is that I can't dirty up another frying pan or pot if there is one already dirtied that I need to wash. No duplicates can be dirtied! Another trick is each time a pan is pulled from the cupboard, wash another pan that is in need of washing...or maybe even 2 or more!

Who Am I?

It just occured to me that perhaps it is a good idea to make sure you know a little about us. I am a Christian homeschool mom and homemaker of seven children. I am 48 and have been married almost 30 years. We have seven children and one grandchild and another on the way. We live in South Carolina.  My oldest daughter lives in Virginia with her wonderful husband and son. We see each other as often as we can. We still have five at home. Our 20 year old son moved out earlier this year. I have to say that I still have not gotten used to the idea of having children old enough to move away and it is not my favorite part of life.

I am a homemaker who loves the Lord. We are members of our local church and are thankful that God put us where we are. Church is a huge part of our lives. I know that the Lord puts us here for the purpose to serve and finding that way in service is a gift. It's a gift that shifts with the seasons of life and a need to be sensitive to. No matter what, though, we should always point towards Jesus. Jesus is everything.

I enjoy seeing the beauty in all of God's creation. I enjoy plants and everything to do with plants... the smell of soil, the excitement of seeing plants sprout with the promise of new beginnings, the work that goes into tending the garden, the sunshine beaming down and how it warms the earth, the rain that falls to add moisture and nutrients back into the earth, the sound of breezes rushing through the leaves, the blooms and then the fruit that soon follows. It is all a beautiful process of which I am thankful for.

I enjoy creating things and being productive. I don't like being like stagnant waters that sit to only to go rancid and spoil. I enjoy being like flowing waters and swirling around seeing what can be done to make life better. My ways of creativity have varied over time in many ways....gardening, raising chickens, decorating, sewing, needleworks, painting, drawing, writing, baking, cooking and developing the art of cleaning the home. Many of these ways ebb and flow but yet some I may not ever do again.

Happy Monday

I am hoping you all are doing well! We are enjoying this first part of the week. This month has been quite crazy and so I am thankful for a slower week. I just don't do well with having to be away from home. It is good to get away a little here and there but I am content with being HOME. There is no place like HOME. Something that I have been reminded of this month is that you cannot make a house a home unless you are * home*.

Housekeeping was slipping behind but today -yes, today, I was able to be home and worked and worked and worked.  I worked mainly in the master bedroom and bathroom with trying to get it up to snuff. It is about there. Then there were the usual daily chores of dishes and laundry. Couple that with homeschooling and cooking then we have a full, full day. The downside is that I didn't get to go out for fresh air today.

Tomorrow will be half a day of being gone. Once a week we journey into "town" to run errands. We go to the library, have a group science class for the high schoolers and the girls have piano lessons. From start to finish our journey lasts four to four and a half hours. With it being in the late afternoon/ early evening I have learned to have supper ready before we go and to make it an easy meal. Tomorrow night I have scheduled for us to have oyster stew. I will need to boil eggs and the rest will be easy to toss together and keep on warm for when we get home. Speaking of meals...I need to make a blog post on meal planning.

Okay, so for now that is all. I hope you all have a very blessed week!