June in Review

(Officially typed 4/24/10)

This was a month of taking it easy I suppose. I really don’t have that much to write about…it is the month before baby is due so it’s to be expected…

We’ve kept up with our school work pretty well. Mostly Bible, Math, Reading (aloud) and Science. A lot of reading living books!

I had a midwife appt. on the 11th @ 10am after which dh brought us down to the Peninsula to stay with my parents while he did some renovation on the house (kitchen in particular). While there, I ended up sick, sick, sick. *bleh* Eight months pg, staying at camp with no running water and using an outhouse. Most of the children ended up with something in varying degrees too. At least there was no throwing up…that would have been real difficult to deal with in my condition and under the circumstances! We were sleeping in the cabins and did go up to my parents house in the afternoons on most days so it wasn’t total roughing it. But still…hard on this pg lady! Most of us ended up staying a week. My dad did a quick trip up with our oldest daughter and son mid-way through to give dh some help. Son ended up sick in bed those couple of days while daughter pushed through with a sore throat and a few other mild symptoms. She ended up staying while my father and son came back down. Mean while, I spent a couple full days in bed and a couple mostly in bed while they were gone. Thank goodness for my mother and an aunt visiting from VT! They were able to watch over the children quite a bit with my second oldest daughter allowing me that much rest.

We spent Father’s Day hanging around the house just like on Memorial Day. Guess we couldn’t expect much after the week I’d just spent before it.

Hit 37 weeks at the end of the month – not long now until we meet our new little bundle of love!!

Now, this month’s pics.:

We love having so many wild visitors to our yard!

‘Til next time,

Thoughts on Window Coverings

I was recently discussing window coverings with my IRL friend Grace. She had some drapes for her living room that she was wanting to alter which of course got me going on our various window covers…or rather, lack there of.

We originally had wooden blinds throughout the house (that were also original to the house) except where the sliding doors are. Those doors had vertical fabric blinds. My dh replaced the blinds in the living room due to his height. The wooden blinds took up more than an inch of space when fully pulled open as opposed to barely an inch thin metal blinds. They obstructed his view too much and so he indeed replaced them with metal ones. *ugh* These blinds didn’t last long in new condition due to children pulling and tugging and lifting to see under them. One set was completely broken within the first year. Another followed the next year and those still remaining are looking pretty beat up.

The fabric blinds in the dining area were gone pretty quickly too…within a handful of years of moving in. They were looking quite worn anyway but I guess they couldn’t stand up to our use of them more than they did the previous owners. 😛

We still have the original wooden blinds in the bedrooms and the fabric blinds over the other sliding door.

My goal after the metal blinds fiasco has always been to replace everything with curtains. We had curtains/draperies in our condo living rooms (blinds in the bedrooms) and I liked them so much better. As I mentioned in a previous post, I really like/want cast iron (or cast iron “look”) rods. So, last fall, when I saw a post on Freecycle for a curtain rod that at least sorta had the look I wanted, I snatched it up. (Dh is going to paint it flat black for me as he did the kitchen cabinet hardware.)

Today, I came across this site and was impressed with the selection of window coverings! So many nice looking things… But, since I’m a DIYer and pretty frugal, I particularly liked that they had fabric by the yard for making your own! I’m not so sure the prices are in our range though…but they are fun to get ideas from. 🙂

As soon as that curtain rod gets a new coat of paint, hopefully, I/we can take another step in this loooong remodeling project that is our home. 🙂

What do you have covering your windows throughout your home? Gimme some more ideas to play with! 😉

Until next time,

Today (Simple Woman’s Daybook)

Courtesy of The Simple Woman

Outside My Window…3″ of new snow, blue sky, bright sunshine. Clouds are supposed to be gathering soon though.

I am thinking…how nice it would be to get back into some sort of a routine…to find a happy balance in housework, homeschool, home business and fun time.

I am thankful for…a warm strong house. Last week’s storm is still fresh in my mind. That although we lost our crabapple tree (for the most part), the other trees that fell didn’t damage the house and the damage to the Suburban is minimal!

From the kitchen…we had a yummy brunch of kefir soaked gluten-free oats with fresh homemade crabapplesauce drizzled with honey and Cheesy Potato Spinach Bake. More crabapplesauce is being processed today. Dinner is still being decided. I’m looking forward to making my first batch of kombucha sometime this week too – as soon as my scoby gets here! I’m excited!

I am wearing…a black and white plaid flannel skirt, white tshirt, black apron and dark multi-colored Sketchers. My hair is in a bun.

I am creating…no sewing/craft projects right now. I’m working on cleaning out my craft closet and rediscovering a bunch of goodies that are inspiring me to start crafting again soon!

I am going…to stay at home today where it’s cozy and I’m content!

I am reading…lots! Reference my sidebar to the right. 😉

I am hoping…to make some progress again soon on our remodeling projects. Our flooring is a disaster and nice flooring would be such a blessing before the holidays! There’s so much more to it than what’s stated… It would make our home so much more liveable and comfortable for our own family and it would open my heart and mind to being more hospitable to others. Things I’ve been desiring for some time…

I am hearing…the radio in the garage and my dh working out there with our two sons because he has the door propped open.

Around the house…things are in disarray throughout the house because we’ve all been extremely sick for more than a week and are still recovering. However, today we are attempting to get back into a routine and slowly but surely getting certain areas in order again. Desperately seeking order again!

One of my favorite things…the big bear hugs my 18 month little girl loves to lavish on me! *melt* 🙂

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: Continuing to bring order to my home, mailing out a business order that’s been on hold since we’ve been sick, getting lesson plans caught up and more planned out, visiting with my parents after my mom’s surgery (if we are all well)…goodness knows there’s much I’m not thinking of at the moment…

Here is picture thought I am sharing…

Success! Homemade naturally fermented sauerkraut with homegrown veggies. The children can’t get enough! 😀

August in Review

Officially posted 1/14/09

Children

8/02 – 8/05 L. has really begun to walk! Not just two or three steps but sustained walking! On the 4th, she walked from the pantry all through the kitchen and dining area to the fireplace without falling down! 🙂 Wow, my baby officially isn’t such a baby any more…

8/09 L. is 16 months today! ♥

Celebrations

8/28 W.’s bday!

Remodeling

8/07 New 3 basin sink installed in kitchen. Yay! Now washing those big pots our large family uses so often will be so much easier since one basin is deeper than average.

Well, so far, this has been the shortest update. I wasn’t need as much in the shop although I did do a lot of knife cleaning and packing in the house. This month we did a lot of school – what I would consider more our normal work load. Lots to catch up on and keep ahead in (ha!) if possible. Take the opportunities when we can as things can get a little topsy-turvy here on a moments notice… 😛 Oh, and I had a couple of health concerns that made me rest a lot (good thing I wasn’t needed in the shop as much!) that I’ll keep personal. Not very many pictures to share either. I did a “photo shoot” with L. for her “baby” portraits and there are a few pictures of the children in the kiddy pool, bouncy horses, swings, etc. but that would become redundant for you here. Maybe next month…

Until next time,

I’m Droolin’

We have been in “remodeling mode” around here for quite some time. In our discussions about walls and windows, I’ve been telling dh for the past few years that I want to replace all the blinds in the house with wrought iron curtain rods and curtains. (I know that’s more of a “redecorating” issue than “remodeling” but it all ties in…bear with me. 😉 ) Our living room used to have wooden blinds…the originals from the seventies. Dh took them down about 4 years ago because, when drawn up, they blocked about 2 inches of his vision out the window (he’s quite tall). I wanted to do the curtain thing then but he wasn’t keen on it and wanted me to wait on it anyway due to him wanting to repaint, etc. He wanted to just put up some temporary cheaper *thinner* blinds until we could come to a final decision and had the work done that needed to be done. It’s been 4 years. 😕 Then, we took down the vertical blinds in the dining area not too long after that because they were really worn and ugly and we just happened to have been given a set of “regular” blinds that would fit there…again, temporarily. Now, a set of blinds in the living room broke last year. Dh cut the strings so they wouldn’t be lopsided and we’ve lived with just twisting those open and closed instead of drawing them up and down. Eventually, that set started to lose slats and started to look really bad. Recently, the “new” blinds that had been hung over the sliding door had a string fray and so we were living with it half drawn when I even bothered to draw them on that side. (I wouldn’t have bothered to draw that one at all if I weren’t so desperate to let as much light in as possible…it’s Alaska remember? The Land of the Dark for more than half the year. 🙄 ) Thankfully, it was the side that was just window not door. Well, yesterday, something happened with another set of the blinds in the living room. (We have four windows across that wall.) I don’t even know what it was. I heard one of the girls call to me saying something about the boys and the blinds and before I could address it…almost before I could turn around…dh was removing that blind as well! Then he says to me, “Don’t you have some curtains we can put across here.” 😯 !!!!! I won’t mention the lack of memory on certain details of said topic… 😉 I just told him no I didn’t have any and would think of something. 🙂

Frugal Friday – “New” Cabinet Hardware

Frugality won out! As much as I would like to purchase new hardware for our cabinets, I love being frugal more than I like shopping for something I don’t necessarily need. 😉 So, after some thought, I realized it was mostly the “matte black finish” that was attracting me to those choices. Yeah, I really like the cup pulls over the others but the others are nice too…and…and…

Well, the bright idea came to me to just paint them. I’m quick on the uptake huh?! 😉 I know I’ve read about it in remodeling articles before but it just didn’t come to me right away because, I guess, I was really drawn to those cup pulls. Anyhow, dh ran down to the local hardware store and brought home a can of flat black paint appropriate for the job. He sprayed all the handles and hinges for the cabinets and has them installed on the cabinets that we are finished painting.

Wow! I love my cabinets now! I’m still not particularly fond of the design of the handles but now I can look at them not only without cringing but with decided appreciation! 🙂

I love my Honey for his handiness. ♥ I love being frugal. ♥ And, I love that our kitchen is finally “taking shape.” ♥

So, what do you think?

Have a great weekend everyone!

~Tamara
♥ oxoxox ♥

Kitchen Work

We haven’t worked on our kitchen for quite a while. In fact, we quit working on it about this time last year (about a whole year! where does time go?!?) due to the impending arrival of baby, business picking up for a new season, etc. A few weeks ago ( a month already?!?) dh took everything out of it again to resume the remodeling. Yes, life is tough for a family of nine with a torn up kitchen! But, a little here and a little there (mostly after he’s home from work and dinner is over), we are making progress again – thank the Lord!

He’s moved the refrigerator into the pantry as well as the cabinets that were over it. The cabinets that were to the right of the stove, and we removed *years* ago, are now installed to the right of the sink where the ones that were over the refrigerator were. Two of the three sets are finished being painted. It’s time to think about the hardware. I don’t like the old hardware and was thinking one of the below options:

 

 

Which one would you choose?

~Tamara
♥ oxoxox ♥

February in Review

Chickens

2/01/07 2 (L&F)

2/02/07 1 (M)

2/03/07 3

January in Review

Celebrations

1/23 T.’s bday

December in Review

December’s post…finally! Sorry, I just haven’t been able to be online. I’ll leave this as a sticky for awhile and then drop it down chronologically. January is coming too I promise…hopefully sooner rather than later. But, we’ll see. *sigh*