Thursday on the Homestead

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Life has been busy here on my homestead lately. I have the kids in full swing now with their schooling and I have been making soap like a mad woman! Soon I will have a couple new scents out for the Christmas season. Hard to believe the year is zipping by so quickly. 

 

This week Tobin and I have been doing some organizing. He has been organizing and cleaning up his shop in preparation for some car maintenance and to get ready to do some work on the inside of the house. I have been cleaning house, defrosting freezers and still want to spend some time going through my storage totes to see what can be cleaned out. My kids have a tendency to just toss stuff in and on top of the totes; leaving behind a chaotic mess.. so I need to deal with this (with their help) and see what can be reorganized. The kids have gone through some of their clothing lately and so I have a few bags of out grown clothing to give away. We are making room for winter clothing and putting the summer clothing in storage.

 

I keep thinking on ways to simplify my life. It seems the more stuff and clutter I accumulate the more time and energy is spent just dealing with it all. My life is so busy that I really need to look at every avenue to simplify things and improve the basic processes and that has been the motivation for me to do some of this cleaning and organizing.

 

The other way I am working to simplify is taking a look at the basic functions of my home and seeing if there is any way I can make things more efficient or make changes in the way I am doing things so the process is a better use of time, energy and resources.  

 

For instance menu planning and cooking take a lot of time at my house. So I am looking at new ways to plan my meals that will not only save me time but make better use the basic foods I have in pantry and freezers.  That is just one area I have been thinking about.

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In any case that is just a little of where my time and energies have been put lately as well as focusing on my little soap business. 

 

Emily and Leanne have been busy too. They got their turn to go to the beach last weekend. Emily has become more like a nanny to the little twins she cares for. The mother was headed to the coast to her family’s beach house and asked Emily if she could come along to help. She also said Leanne could join her. Emily enjoyed the trip and the chance to make a little extra money and Leanne enjoyed coming along to help with the babies and give Emily some company. My girls also impressed the family by baking chocolate chip cookies and an apple pie while they were there. The girls said there were apple trees on the property so they went and picked the apples and Emily pulled out the cookbooks that were at the house to find a recipe. She told me, “I did not see anything that worked for me in their cookbooks”.. so I combined 2 different recipes and made some changes so I could get the apple pie the way I wanted it”.. lol  .. my little creative kitchen helper.. she really does love spending time in the kitchen creating. 

 

Also last weekend I watched a friend’s 2 children while her and her hubby got away for the weekend. They were such good children! They are about the same ages as Sierra and Isaac. So it was like a big fun sleep over weekend to them. Jacob invited his friend Andy one night and I had a busy house!

 

The rain is here again after a few dry days. Right now I am listening to it coming down strongly and the winds are blowing.. sure does make me think about fall time turning to winter time. The wood stove is going and there is something comforting and enjoyable about the cooler days and the warmth of the home. 

 

Well it is time to think about moving on with the morning. I need to go and get our oatmeal cooking and think about baking bread today. 

Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 18, 2007 at 3:38 AM

    Make sure you let us know what kind of bread machine you get....I probably will need a new one soon and am interested in which one you settled on!


    Love,

    Lori

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousOctober 18, 2007 at 4:22 AM

    I would love to hear specifics about your simplifying. I very much relate about the menu planning and cooking taking all day...I have tried (and liked) Menus 4 Moms but I can't afford to be buying the food on their menus to make right now...I just need to use what we can economically find. I get on your recipes site almost every day...you have great cheap nutritious recipes!


    I have five small children (5 and under) so the bulk of it is up to me. I would love to hear what kinds of things you are learning to help you simplify. You have motivated me -- today during naptime for 30 min. I am going to go through the clothes -- a project that has been looming over me all week.


    We can do it! Let us know how it goes!


    Rachel

    www.homeschoolblogger.com/deovolente

    ReplyDelete
  3. CathyOctober 18, 2007 at 9:47 AM

    Crystal,

    I always enjoy reading a new blog entry from you.

    Sounds like all is going well on your homestead.

    Nothing like the feeling of getting more organized...keep up the good work.

    Love to you my friend,

    Cathy

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousOctober 18, 2007 at 2:48 PM

    I so know what you're talking about regarding the menu planning and cooking. It seems like my cupboards are full.... of unrelated ingredients!! I know there must be a more efficient way of using what's on hand, but it escapes me. Please share if you come up with something! Thanks!

    ReplyDelete

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