A New Season and a Change of Plans

   

     A couple of weeks ago, I woke up and didn't want coffee.  That has only happened twice in my adult life.  Can you guess what would cause this very unusual sensation???

   If you guessed "baby", you would be correct!  Colton and I are very happy to be expecting Baby #3 in October! 

  My nausea seems to be less with each pregnancy, for which I am extremely grateful.  However, it is still quite unpleasant, and while I thought to announce a break, I know that after I came back, it would just be followed by more breaks.

  I know my blogging has been on again/off again, and that was never my intention as I set out (each time).  But the truth of the matter is that I am in a very busy season of my life, and I have come to the conclusion that the best thing for me right now is to say "goodbye". Not only is my current season a busy one, it is also very beautiful and fleeting.  I don't want to miss any of it (although it would be ok if we fast forwarded through the nausea)!  I hope you will understand and forgive such an abrupt end.  It is, at least, a happy ending.

  I enjoyed having my little blog, as short-lived as it was, and I really appreciate those of you who have left comments, given encouragement, and followed along.  I wish you all the best in your frugal homemaking endeavors, and hope we may perhaps meet at another place in Blog Land. 

With love,

Kelsey 

Every Part of the Buffalo

     It all started with a packet of licorice that a friend gave to John.  Just as he finished the last piece and I was about to throw the bag away, I thought, "What really cute packaging.  It seems a shame to throw this away.  I wonder if there is something else I could store in it for a while."  Laugh if you will.

    Then I was reminded of when I was in high school, there was a trend where the girls started carrying purses that were made of empty, sewn together Kool-Aid pouches.  Alas, I never had one.  But this got my wheels turning.  I turned to Pinterest to see if this was still a thing.  It is.  I even saw some totes made out of plastic coffee bags.

    Then I remembered that a while back I had pinned a tutorial for a tote made out of a chicken feed sack.  Perfect!  I go through plenty of chicken feed sacks.  In my excitement, I started telling Colton about Kool-Aid purses and feed sack totes.  He was smiling (sort of), but I could tell he was questioning my sanity.

    "You want me to start saving trash?"

    "Well, just the feed sacks."

    "So you can make bags."

    "Yes."

    He shook his head and laughed and asked what he was going to do with me.  I told him that he was going to love me forever.  He agreed.

    But not without sarcastically saying, "Because we use every part of the buffalo in this household."

    We had a good laugh about it and he teased me a bit more (and I'm still going to make those feed sack totes).  The funny thing is that we have started to seriously adopt that saying.  Now I am not advocating saving worthless trash.  That is a good way to end up on an episode of Hoarders.  But we are trying to look at cutting back on waste and seeing if there is a way to get more use out of things before tossing them.  (The key is that is does actually have to be useful or beneficial and worth my time, otherwise it's just clutter.)  It is one more way to stretch those hard-earned dollars, which is becoming more and more necessary as we see the price of just about everything going up!  It also puts into effect one of my favorite sayings:

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."

    So this week, in keeping with my Unfinished Project theme, I went through my mending basket, in which I not only have mending, but also old clothes that are past saving.  They may no longer be wearable, but I can still pull them apart for materials! 

    I had three sleepers that James had outgrown, but not before he wore holes in the knees.  I harvested the zippers out of them (they are very long, but zippers can be shortened) and cut rectangles out of the biggest parts of the fabric.  I serged the edges and now I have three soft baby washcloths. 

    Another thing I had in my project stack was this box. 

    This is what I bought when Colton sent me into Sam's Club by myself while he stayed in the car with the sleeping children.  I am not responsible for my actions when left unsupervised in the seasonal goody section and there is European chocolate.  They will get me.

    Once I  we had eaten all of the cookies, I was about to throw the box away when, if you can believe it, Mr. You-Want-Me-To-Start-Saving-Trash said, "Are you sure you want to throw that away?  It's a good box."

    He was right.  It was just like those decorative boxes they sell at the craft store.  It even had a magnetic closure.  I made it over into this using what I had on hand:

    So basically, if you want to think of it this way, it was like buying a decorative box at the craft store, only this was cheaper and it came with cookies.  Thank you, Colton.

    Have you ever saved anything from the trash to turn it into something useful?  

  

    

Goals for 2022

     Here we are already at the end of the first month of the year!  I know I am lagging behind, but better late than never!

    Despite the hardships of the last year, I think it is always good to take stock of all of the good things that happened, too.  We can look back and reflect on all of God's blessings and see the year as a whole.  One of the big things in our home was seeing James grow in his first year of life and watching our family relationships blossom.  This was SO good!  

    We also made good memories going on our first family vacation.  We traveled across the country to visit my Grandma, which I did every summer as a kid.  It was so good to relive those childhood memories but this time with my husband and children!  It was such a fun adventure.

    Of course, not everything is a big momentous occasion.  There is so much beauty in the little everyday things- snuggles and giggles with children, quiet moments with my husband, countless meals shared around the table, excellent coffee and conversation shared with a friend, watching the little antics of our animals, seeing the garden progress each day and sharing excitement over new sprouts or the first fruits- so many of these ordinary things are huge blessings if we really stop and look.

    The new year is also a great time to set goals, revisit our budget and routines, and think about the things we'd like to accomplish or change.  Some people like to have a sort of "theme" for the year. 

     In thinking over everything, I have decided that 2022 is going to be my Year of Finishing Unfinished Projects!

    This is really sort of twofold, maybe even threefold.  I'd like to finish the projects I've started, or gathered, while using (mostly) the things I already have.  So this will save money too, which is also a goal this year.  That is always a goal, really, but fresh budget sheets make me want to attack it with new fervor.  😉

    I know in my craft post I talked about closing the gap between accumulating supplies and using those supplies.  I am going to continue with this, but it won't stop at crafting!  I have also gathered quite a few books and many of them I still haven't read yet.  So I will focus more on reading those books and slow down on buying new ones.  It is the same with recipes!  I have so many recipe books and recipes pinned on Pinterest.  It's time to try those out!  I have a basket full of clothes that need mending, so that will be tackled before buying new clothes.  I hope I am not making it sound like I am a hoarder- I promise it is not that dire!  But I look around and see things that need to be done and need to be used, and instead of adding to that list, I'm going to be ticking things off.  This will also include organization and deep cleaning in the home, as well as maintaining the things we already have.

    There will, however, be a few "new" outdoor projects added in regards to our little homestead.  We have some big news in that the home we have been living in and the acre it sits on have been transferred over to Colton.  Colton's grandfather is still living with us, and out of respect for him, we are not making many changes to the interior.  But we now have the freedom to do whatever we please with the outside, so some of the homesteading projects we have been dreaming of are able to become reality!  I will share more on that throughout the year as we make progress.

    I hope everyone has a wonderful new year!  Do you have any plans or goals you'd like to share?  I'd love to hear from you!

New Beginnings

    

Pressing On

     

     Hello, everyone!

    I want to thank those of you who have checked on me during my absence.  The last months of 2021 were quite hard on me, with the death of a loved one and a few other unrelated (but very serious) circumstances.  It seemed like they just came one after another, and while I meant to announce a blogging break, I just couldn't find a way to word it.

    I do apologize for such sporadic posts.  Life happens, and the online world is the first thing to take a back seat when things turn south or I simply get busy.  Thank you for bearing with me.

    Things have settled, and our family is doing well.  

    Because of the aforementioned circumstances, it was very difficult to be motivated for the new year as I usually am.  I don't mean to sound so doom-and gloom, but sometimes that's just the way things are!  The turning of a calendar page would not alter any of the hardships I was facing but rather be a continuation of them.

    Nevertheless, the calendar page does turn, and we must press on.  I suppose we all go through times like these, and I see it more and more the older I get.  It would be easy to succumb, I do confess.  

    But I have a Comforter, and therein lies the key.  If we press on towards the mark, if we keep our eyes upon Jesus, if we can hope in eternity and look at things through a biblical lens, the fog lifts and things get much clearer.  We have a purpose, as I have written before, that goes beyond our circumstances.  And so I enter 2022, not necessarily with excitement, but with resolve and renewed strength, knowing that Jesus will guide me through it.

    As for this little blog,  I have so many posts swirling through my mind (not gloomy ones, don't worry!), but I think I have learned by now not to make any promises about regularity despite the best of intentions (*ahem* monthly craft posts).  I hope to add more soon!