Simplifying - Don't Over Think It!!!!

 Howdy all!  Hope everyone is well and safe today.

It is 69*F this morning and going into the 80's again.  We hit 87* yesterday.  I turned the AC on for one cycle late in the afternoon, and the house was good after that.  I had a very comfortable night, slept so good.  I sure resisted getting up this morning.  It is currently 78* in the house.  I will be opening windows in a bit, once it gets light out.  With temps like this it is hard to believe we are almost halfway through October.  Time to get things done.  Rain is coming later on!  So are cooler temps.

Isn't this the truth????

It sure is for me.  Just sitting with my Bits in the house and getting snuggles.  Watching and playing with kitties outdoors.  A nice breeze coming through the window.  Good simple food that just tastes so good.  Wonderful neighbors and friends.  A fall scented candle.  Home!

I think we tend to over complicate things so often.  It isn't about what you have or what you can buy - it is about feeling peace that comes from within and all those little things that happen each day.

I think it is beautiful to be the one who doesn't chase after more.  Doing what feels important to YOU, doesn't always match others - that is fine.  You do you.

Simplicity happens in all kinds of ways.  Having less.  Cooking with what we have.  Enjoying the simpler things in life.  Using up what we have - maybe finding new ways for things.  Keeping life basic and real and simple.  That is what makes it feel so comforting in my book.

Along those lines, I give a couple little ideas that were just "duh" moments for me.  Sometimes it takes a long time to figure out that simple ways work wonderfully!

I was dusting and cleaning last week, and I happened to notice the lampshade.  It was really dusty.  It is a linen type of fabric.  I usually use the attachment from the vacuum to clean it, and it really never does the best job and I worry about the suction on the shade.

What did I do?  I had this idea that worked perfectly!!!!

I used the sticky lint roller thing.  Oh my goodness, the shade is totally lint free and it was the easiest thing ever.  Took just a minute to do and no more worry about the suction on the shade (it is older).  I will never clean the shade any other way.  I can do this often and not worry about damage.  Something I had and can use over and over.

So many people over complicate eating.  It doesn't take a lot of courses to make a good meal.  It just takes good wholesome food, (even if it is one thing) that fills you and tastes good.

I know not everyone can probably eat them, but potatoes are just so versatile and can be made in so many ways.  They are pretty darn cheap and can stretch a meal to feed many, if need be.

Just a few ideas!!!!!!!!!  There are many more ideas as well.  I like potatoes, as they really do provide substance and help us feel full, they are pretty cheap, and very, very versatile.

Let's talk about cleaning products.  You walk down the aisle and there are literally hundreds of different products!  All have a "specific" use!!!  Well, let us think about this for a moment.  Most of the laundry products are highly comprised of water!  Duh.  Then they have perfume added.  Other cleaning items are either lots of water or very caustic chemicals (just smell some of them).  All are in plastic containers!  What are we thinking?  I make my own cleaning products at home using basic things.  Baking soda, vinegar, citrus peels, and yes sometimes just water and clean soap!  I have never made laundry detergent, I know many do - but I use very little of it.  Never do I use what they recommend.  I do not use fancy stuff for fabric softener.  I either use vinegar in the rinse (no smell by time it is done) or nothing.  I use peroxide for bleach - nothing toxic.  On top of all the water, plastic and toxic crap we are buying we are spending a small fortune for it!!!!  We have so much we could use right in the pantry.

Broth - have you purchased broth at the grocery lately?  It is very expensive - sometimes between $4 - $6 a box.  Look at the ingredients.  Again, lots of water and salt - probably nothing that is really real meat in it - maybe bouillon.  Make your own - it is so simple to make and it is basically FREE.  You are using what many throw away.  Sure, you use water - but you put real meat bones or scraps in it and any herbs you want.  You can do the same with veggie scraps for veggie broth.  Put in in a pot, turn on the heat, and go about doing your stuff around the house.  It takes care of itself.  Can or freeze.

Just an idea or two and looking at simplifying a little differently perhaps.

We often just get in the habit of buying or doing things the same week after week, and when we really stop and think, we can see new ideas!  

Being a little more conscious of our daily habits, really can simplify life and it can also save a little.

I love my calm, quiet and simple life.  I just kind of go with the flow and keep a low profile.

Hope you love your life as well!

Have a beautiful day.

Weekly Wrap Up 10/11

 Hello to all this fine Sunday.  I hope you are all well and safe.

Happy Thanksgiving to all our Canadian friends this weekend!

Hoping that all our southern friends are safe from any harm or damage from the hurricane.

It is 60* this morning, and now dry.  We had a little soft rain last evening late.  The ground sure does need it.  Yesterday stayed pretty cloudy, but it was nice in the 70's.  I have been out to feed already, and it is very cloudy and foggy, and it actually felt like there was a fine mist.  I sure have been enjoying the warmer days that continue - I know all good things come to an end eventually.

Thought this looked festive and fall-ish!

My frugal week:

• Made a small pot of broccoli cheese soup, with a potato diced up in it
• Mowed and trimmed
• Did lots of yard clean up, pulling, cutting and clearing.  Put away the hose from out back
• NO heat or AC this week, and windows open a lot
• Did a big dust
• Darning socks
• HARVEST - lots of peppers, a few tomatoes and cukes
• Went to grocery of course for cat food.  Did get milk - 2.49/gal., eggs - 18/$2, and fruit - apples and mandarins and a few grapes
• I stopped a got 2 loaves of Artesano Brioche style bread - FREE.  It is thick cut and can be used for many things - toast, garlic bread, French toast, stuffing, etc.
• Shredded up the oldest 1 lb. cheese I had (cheddar) and froze - froze on a pan and then bagged
• Did a lot of walking and picking up trash (it has been windy)
• Picked a bouquet of NE asters
• Washed windows and doors, and sills and jambs, and frames and mirrors (I get on a roll!)  Then went on to stove and frig and kitchen floor!
• Made a small batch of biscuits
• Meals from home and using what I have
• Laundry in cold and hung it to dry
• Working of all the normal stuff

Budget meals this past week:

Cheesy broc./potato soup

Chicken Lo Mein (made w/spaghetti) and salad

Broccoli soup

Fish and fries (air fryer) and tomatoes

Cheese/sausage stuffed banana peppers (air fryer) and salad

Sausage gravy and biscuits, toms & cukes

Dbl. jalapeno/cheeseburger and steamed broccoli

SNACKS - milkshake, popcorn and fruit

Cream cheese, cheddar and sausage stuffed banana peppers topped with more cheddar cheese.  10 minutes at 360* in air fryer.  They were so yummy.

I think I am starting to get back on track.  The week before this, I just didn't feel like doing much.  I am regaining my energy and my oomph!  I am so grateful I can still do so many things.  This week will probably be picking most of the garden, as next weekend gets much cooler, after a couple days in the 80's.  I guess we will see what the week brings forth.

How was your week?  I sure do hope everyone is safe - so many things going on weatherwise.  Did you get any good deals?  Any gardening still being done?  

Wishing you all a splendid week ahead, stay healthy, and wishing all well.  So glad we had so many new folks stop by and post this week - I am so grateful for you all.

Blessings to you and yours from me at my humble little home.

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"Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.  Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day."

Matthew 6:34

Dear Lord, we give thanks for all our many blessings.  Thank you for the opportunity to be here this fine day.  Yes, please help us each to know that Your will be done, and all the worry, stress and anxiety that we feel, does nothing to help us.  May we lift all our worries and troubles to You and may we always praise the way You handle them in our lives.  I know I am guilty and I do try to release worry and fear and ask for help as I struggle with this.    Please continue to be with all and lay Your healing and calming hands on all.  AMEN

Be the Word - Be the Change

 Hello to all - so happy to have you here.  I hope you are all safe and well this fine day.

This morning it is 54*F and fairly clear.  I have been out already to feed everyone, fed Bits, had my breakfast drink, and contimplating the day.

Yesterday was another beautiful day here.  Full blue skies and sunny.  It got into the low 80's yesterday.  Today should be in the 70's.  I was looking at a forecast prediction map for my area - and the rest of the month looks pretty darn good.  Nothing cold and nothing too hot.  I am loving this.

I challenge everyone today to be the ONE that CHANGES someone's day!  Be the one with a kind word, a smile, a helping hand, a listening ear, a shoulder to cry one, etc.  Be the one.  It could change NOT just a day for someone, but perhaps a week or month - even a life!  That is pretty huge, considering it could possibly just take something little on our part.

We have no idea what is going on in other people's lives behind closed doors.  It could be anything.  Health issues, abuse, financial woes, spiritual struggles, loneliness, depression, anything.

Just something as small as a smile or kind word, could maybe make them realize that they are seen or heard and that they matter!

What a gift to give.  AND it costs you nothing!  AND it could be the best gift someone ever received!

I am so grateful to have you all here.  I love to see new people comment.  I earn nothing from this little blog, but I receive so much.  I see lives that are helped, lives that are touched, and I see strangers that have become caring and thoughtful friends - from all over the world and all walks of life.  That makes me smile each and every day!!!!  THANK YOU!

I hope you all have a great weekend and remainder of the week.  May you enjoy good weather and safety, and wishing you all health and happiness.

Go out and make a change!!!!

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Using What You Have and Making More!

 Good morning all - and happy Wednesday.  Hoping you are all well and safe.  Please know that I think of all of you that don't stop by often.  Wishing you all well.

It is a cool morning here - 52*F at 6AM.  Looks to get to 80* or above today and dry.  All good with me.  Yesterday was another day of perfection weatherwise - it was so beautiful.

When out feeding the cats, I noticed smoke coming from a neighbor's chimney!  He is in his 90's and kind of frail - so he must have been chilly!  My house was 72* this morning.  Still haven't turned on the furnace.

I understand some of our northern neighbors will be getting snow this weekend.  YIKES!  That is a nasty four-letter word in my book!!!

I recently saw someone on one of the FB groups I belong too, post a recipe I just had to share.  She said she really likes good tasting chocolate and says it has gotten so pricey, that she decided to try something different.

She said this is wonderful. It is something I will definitely try, as I have everything here to make it!  Pretty simple and saves a trip to the store.

I really like all kinds of patties and burgers - made from lots of things.  I love a good hamburger, I have made tuna and chicken patties and I like a combo of beef/pork or even ground turkey made into burgers.  I also like potato cakes and veggie fritters as well - they could all be made into a sandwich if one chose to.

I have made bean burgers as well.  Very tasty and easy and uses what you have.

It sure is worth giving it a try.

Click on recipe to enlarge for easier reading.

It is easy to halve the recipe.  1 can - and a little lesser on other items, still using 1 egg.  Use whatever beans you have - or homemade beans.  Remember 1 can is about 15 oz. - close to 2 cups.  You know that to me, close counts!!!!!

I have made these with black beans and with red beans and they are really very good.

Just a couple of fun things to make at home, when you might be out of other things.  I love knowing how to make things differently.  I love the chocolate bar idea - that could be made into all kinds of shapes and moulds.

Here is a notice I saw yesterday - also something GOOD to know if you are around an Aldi!!!!!

Nice!!!!!  October sounds like the month to stock up at Aldi!  I will be going and looking around at some point soon.  It has been a while since I have gone in.

Well, you know we are all about stretching our dollars and saving when we can around here!  I want to help as many folks as will listen. 

Sometimes we talk recipes, sometimes finance, and sometimes just caring and loving.  Hopefully it all makes a difference for someone.

Have a great day and be sure to SMILE today!

Don't Fall For It!

 Hello and happy Tuesday to all.  I surely hope this finds you all well and safe.

It is a chilly morning here - at 48*F at 6AM.  Looks to get into the 70's again today and be another lovely day.  Yesterday was another perfection day - 70's, and a sky of pure blue - not a single whisp of a cloud.  I did get to spend a lot of time outdoors.

Still no heat or AC being used here.  It was 72* in the house this morning when I got up.  All good.

I believe the hummingbirds have gone to the south this season.  It has been a couple days since I have seen one.  The feeders are still out.  There are lots of stink bugs and box elder bugs around - a sure sign of fall.  And I keep seeing grasshoppers - that is unusual.

Trees are still green for the most part.  That will probably change over the next couple weeks.

Commercials. Ads.  It is on TV, radio, on YouTube, on FB, in magazines - we are surrounded by the distracting noise.  It wants you!!!!!!  They want you to think you NEED to have what they are selling.  They try the best they can to make it oh so attractive.  They want you to think you can't live without it. They try to convince us that what we have and how we live, isn't enough.

NOISE - all of it.

I really despise commercials, for the most part.  I will go out of my way to NOT buy things I have seen on TV or in ads over and over.  Their crazy advertising dollars are not working on me.

I don't fall for it.  I can make about anything I want or find something I have that will work as well.  Truth be known, none of us need that much!!!!!

Sales, clearance, weekly deals, odd stores, using what we have, second hand, and just saying NO to all the noise SAVES MONEY - YOUR MONEY!

Society may call us cheap - I call it smart to know how to live better and well on less.  We can have great meals for ourselves and our families, we can have a lovely and neat home, we can have an emergency fund for whatever may come up, we can beat the system!!!!!

It is a game - THEIR game - and we can play too!!

We all see and watch people buy and buy and have to have the newest and the biggest and shiniest.  They go into debt to get it!  They go to the after holiday "sales" and buy and buy - charging all along the way on the "sales" for stuff no one really needs.  Then they pay and pay with interest on all those "sales" they got!  Make sense?  NOPE!  That stuff cost them far more than it was ever worth.

It pays to stop and think how many hours one has to work - to purchase THE thing!

I know most of us here know these things.  There is always someone new coming on board, and the goal here is to teach a better way.  Life can be soooooo good with less - it really can.  

It becomes your new normal and you will find the noise gets quiet and life gets a bit slower and you enjoy a lot more.

So slow down, turn down the noise and have that life that the spenders can't imagine.

Have a beautiful day my friends.

Weekly Wrap Up 10/4

 Happy first Sunday of October to you all.  I pray you are all well and safe.  It is a chilly morning here, around 50*F, going into the 70's later on.  Yesterday was such a gorgeous day - there was not a single cloud in the sky around here.  Pure blue.  Then at sunset last night, I had never seen anything so vivid and wonderful before.  Reds, oranges, pinks and so very bright.  The western sky was just on fire - it was something to see!

This past Friday I rode with my brother and SIL to southern IN (about 75 miles) for Fred's funeral.  We didn't get to go the way we have for years (road work) and took the new way, I-69.  It may have been a little faster, but so boring.  If the leaves had been changing it would have been pretty - but they are not yet.  There was nothing to see but trees - I am just so used to going down there and seeing smalls towns, lakes, farms, and fields.  We gathered, there was so much family there, and I got to see so many nieces and nephews that I haven't seen in ages and even met some new little ones.  It was terribly sad, but good as well, with the communion of the family.  I love them all so much!  There was a lot of love gathered there.  Blessed.

Truthfully, it was a quiet week on the homefront.  I don't feel I accomplished a lot.  It was pretty exhausting mentally, so I get back to things this week!

My frugal week:

• Raked some and picked up sticks and things in yard
• Did a little additional yard work in the flower beds
• Sweet neighbor behind me - gave me some apples.  They had gone to the orchard and saw me outside and shared a few
• Trimmed my hair
• I got address labels in the mail - I haven't received any of those in a long, long time
• Laundry and hanging clothes to dry
• Paid a couple bills by phone
• NO grocery store
• Scrubbed the bathroom down
• General cleaning

Budget friendly meals this past week:

French bread pizza

Cheesy goulash

Chicken tenders and a big salad

Breaded pork chop, fried egg and toast

Pulled pork & refried bean tostadas (topped w/tomatoes)

Grilled cheese (when I got back from funeral) - long day

Taco rice bowl

SNACKS - tomatoes, cucumbers, fruit, popcorn

See, nothing much going on here this week.  How was your week?  Did you accomplish a lot?  Any good deals?  Inquiring minds need to know??  LOL

I truly hope each of you have a wonderful week ahead.  Stay so very safe and healthy.  Keep the people you love close.

Blessings to you and yours from me at my humble little home.

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And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.  To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever.  Amen

Philippians 4:19-20

Dear Lord, we come forward with many thank you's for all our blessings.  Help us to see blessings in everything, even when bad things happen.  You are always with us, and You will guide us and protect us, that we know for sure.  Prayers for health and safety for all.  Thank you for always providing for us, may everyone realize the many blessings that You give.  AMEN   

Days of Old - Memories

 Hello to all and welcome to this little village.  Welcome to October as well, the month that takes at least another hour of daylight from us!!!   Grrrrrrrrr

It is starting out warm here.  68* this morning going to the 80's today.  Then rain comes in late tonight and overnight dropping the temps in highs of about 70*.

The sunrise was another spectacular sight this morning.  And I saw a hummingbird this morning!!!  Quite something for Oct. 1 around these parts.

Well, I know I am.  We can revisit in our mind, and maybe some of you can still go back to that place.  But for me memory is all I have, and pictures.  The days of playing on the porch and in the yard, helping daddy in the garden, kneeling on the couch looking out the big window waiting to hear if school was canceled for snow (usually no).  It was family get togethers, Christmas coming down the steps, the smells of momma's homemade cookies, and just listening!!!!!  I would love to stand back in a corner today and listen and watch a day of the past!!!!!!!

I did have a good time at home, I know not everyone did.  That makes me sad.  I can still close my eyes and step back in memory and just feel the love.

This was "home" all my life until Mom passed (25 years ago).  It burned down a couple years after that.  It looks large, but it wasn't.  2 attic bedrooms was it upstairs.  A living room, dining room and kitchen and bath down.  There was a big back yard and a huge garden and of course the porch I loved so much.  5 kiddos and mom and dad lived here!  I kind of laugh about it now - not sure how they ended up with a total of 6 children (one died right after birth), with so little privacy!!  I guess they were more creative than I thought!  LOL

I had a lot of quality time in life there, I had sadness there, I had laughs there, I have memories there.

I guess with the passing of Fred in the last week, it has gotten me thinking again.  I have gone through pics as the kids wanted pictures to display at the funeral.   They know I have all the old ones.  We have shared a lot of stories over the past few days.  I have talked to them and to my brother more this week, than I have in the past month or so.  Good comes from bad, I guess.

Tomorrow we will make the journey to southern IN for the funeral.  I will be riding with my brother and SIL.  Prayers for safety would be appreciated.

Life sure has a way.  We just never know what each day will bring.  There are a lot of curves in the road of life for all of us.  So grateful that God saw fit to give the ability of memory!

I love this!!!!!  We all need to preserve our memories of our life in some way.  Recipe books, journals, videos, something.  I kind of think blogging is a version of this - although it will not be around forever.  It is important to leave something behind for those coming up behind us.

Here I sit and type about things I remember and the people I miss, they are not forgotten.  Someone will be doing the same about us someday.  We will all be memories to someone in the future.  Make them good memories and maybe log the info that they may never know.

I am still contemplating writing a family book - geesh I need to get moving, don't I?  I aint getting any younger.  I just want all the family history to be remembered - not just about me, but the whole family.

Talk to your family and friends and keep in touch.  Create good memories with all.  Have fun in life.  Pass on the family history if at all possible (good or bad) - as someday it may explain a lot to others.

Love each other.

Have a special day and thank you for being here.  That means so much to me.

Have a great weekend.

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