4 Sweet Sisters

When I was a teen I always said if I had a home with 20 rooms I would decorate them all differently! There are so many different styles that I'm drawn too. Over the years I've had to try to refine my taste a bit. So now I'm somewhere between a traditionalist,country,minimalist (if that makes any sense?).I also really like the shabby chic and flea market look. I enjoy getting subscriptions to a couple of mags a year. Although I hate ads! My favorite is Country Living. Something about all the colors in there gives me peace, joy and a sense of lost feminity. So over the past couple of years Ive been tearing pages out of these mags of favorite things, ideas and colors. One of the reasons I've done this is that I have a hard time mixing and matching patterns and colors. I really don't care for "matchy" furniture (which we ended up with because of price((but it can be recovered easily when the time comes, I think)). Paint and fabrics throw me for a loop sometime

Tasty Blueberries. Strawberry Face. A hard days work for the older chicks and myself! We went a bit crazy this weekend and went blueberry and strawberry picking all in the same day! Yes, I'm a tired, but we did have a lot of fun. The fields are about and hour from our home and with the way gas prices are we decided to make a day of it. The chicks had a great time. Although the younger ones got a bit bored after they were stuffed with berries! They spent a good deal of their time with 2 of the farm's horses. One chick took it upon herself to name them Johnny and Louise. And cried as we left because I forgot to take a picture of Louise... Needless to say I had been busy with baby wiping that chick down. The layer of dirt that came off her feet and legs! Yikes! Monday we got a late start. But we were able to make lots of strawberry and blueberry jam. Plus about 6 quarts of syrup for pancakes and milk shakes (Superman's favorite). Since we are wrapping up some school things we

Crystal over at Biblical Womanhood is talking about CSA' s today. I really wanted to be involved in one but found it to be expensive to pay $650 in advance for the 1 share. So we re-looked into organic veggie co-ops. We also found these out of our price due to "having" to purchase a certain dollar amount every 2 weeks. Also depending on the co-op you might not get to choose the produce you want.( We're not into kale, so paying for a months worth doesn't fit into our budget.) What we did do: Joined 4-H, $10 dollars per child, per year. So we have had 4- 10x10 veggies plots with most of the seeds, plants, manure, and water provided. Plus it's been great in many ways for our Chicks.They have learned a lot from the Master Gardeners, so have we! Diligence, hard work, perseverance and knowledge of the plant and insect worlds has been gained. My oldest has a much better under- standing of the work and effort needed to produce and how many of us fail to see the HUGE b

March was a crazy month for us! We blew through our EM two times! Surprise Dental Bills! Meaning we really thought our mouth's were in great shape. Anyway, I ended up having a raging infection for over 2 years(yes, I had been to the docs and they keep saying nothing was wrong). That is finally clearing up. Praise the Lord! We also decided it was prudent to have sealants done for everyone who needed them. That's alot of teeth! Instead of rattling on..... - Went through EM two times. ***But we paid cash and in full*** - Saved another $400 for everyone Else's teeth expenses this month. - Funded 1/3 of original EM back. (Plan to have the rest in by the end of April) - Canceled TV, but picked up Netflix. It's so much better for us! - Did a tally of what I truly spend for groceries for our family of six. $350 a month ($85 per week)@ about 70% organic food. I have a general house fund that groceries is listed under, so I wasn't totally sure. But I feel good about it. - Kep

Friday is tomorrow and my wonderful husband has taken the day off to go for strawberries with us! There is a quaint little cafe that we go to for a light lunch and then for strawberries. This year were taking Grandma and cousins with us. It's a fun trip. Later in the month the organic fields will be open for picking and we'll load up then! Tomorrow will enjoy the shortcake and cherry smashes! Frugally speaking: We have really been trying to cut our power bill down. This was our best month yet! Only $137 last year $170apx. We haven't put the air on yet, but we are paying for it with a bit of sleep deprivation! We have a wonderful kitty that lives behind us ( I use my 3rd daughter's description, not my own). Usually around 2 A.M. he starts! I thought it was time to get up and nurse the baby. Hmmmmm, that's right I haven't had a wee one for 2 years! Then 2 nights ago all the fire alarms decided to test themselves at 3 A.M. They work really well! Everyone was up...

Well, I'm finally starting to feel a bit more human today! This infection and the medication has really thrown my body for a loop. Today I will be starting a regime of organic apple cider vinegar and raw honey to help get my body back on track. The other night I was praying and I really felt impressed to get apple cider vinegar. So On Sunday I caught up with a friend at church who said,"funny you should mention it, I just started this morning". So I read her Bragg book on it and felt it would greatly help my situation. I'm also planning on starting my rebounding again. It really feels great and my skin and body feel so much firmer from it. I put it away 1) because our house is on the market and it is in the way 2) I can't keep my chick-a-dees off of it! I end up having to pull a timer out etc.etc. We also have no more Sky Angel as of today! They went to IPV and it was going to cost us $60 or so a month to upgrade! Yikes! Dave R. says, "It's not in the bud