Field Trip~ October 21

Our October field trip was to the Tallahassee Museum of FL History.

We met out in front of the building and took a group pic of the kids~

Back: Dylan P., Kayla P., Tamara H., Anna G., Sarah S., Rachel R., Bethany R., Charley D., Scott P., Jed D., Danny H., Matthew S.

Front: Lydia P, Nikua S, Peter T, Caleb P, Sylas P, Sam G, and Nathan S.

The museum was also having a quilt show that weekend. I enjoyed looking at the variety of quilts and we got to vote for "best of show" for a few different categories. There was some machine stitched and some hand quilted ones. And anywhere from bed quilts to lap quilts to wallhangings.

Here are just a few.....

A close up of some of the machine stitching!

And then on to the main part of the museum....

The kids on the upper deck of a boat...

The older girls went their own way and I met up with them a few times. :)

Bethany!! :)

Danny and Dylan

They went off together, too, so I pretty much explored the museum at my own pace, by myself. Occasionally I'd be in a room with some of the kids or other Mom's. :) (It's not a real large museum)

Lunch time on the lower floor patio~

Garrett and I played on the steps while his mommy was changing his little brothers diaper! :) He's a cutie!!

More posts coming later today.....it's soon time to take both kids to the eye Dr.! :P They BOTH need new glasses! OUCH!!

I'll be back! :)

31 Days Hiatus~

 I am taking a brief break from my 31 Days .....

 Yesterday we did some catch up work on school, I had prison Bible studies to grade and another "secret" project to work on. I also have to clean church yet this week, make food for Pastor Appreciation supper tomorrow night, and get my house ready for guests Saturday night.

 I think I am allowed to take a break, right? :)

 I am still not done going through a stack of "stuff" that got pulled from my big closet, and I really need to wrap that project up!! That will be my goal for today, along with grocery shopping and washing clothes.

I have more updates to do on here, too....some school projects, a trip to South GA, and a field trip to Tallahassee, where the above quilt pics were taken. :)

See ya later~

31 Days to Clean ~Day 13

Today's Challenge was the straighten and organize the kids toys. This was the area I had in mind....the shelves in Tamara's room.

BEFORE:

 AFTER:

We got a box full of things for yard sale and a bag of trash!! :)

Homemade Laundry Soap

I ran out of laundry soap last week and had bought most of the products I needed to make my own, then Friday before we left for the weekend, the rest of the items came from Alice.com, so first thing this morning, I made the soap so I could wash clothes! :)

Got the recipe HERE:

1 4 lb box Borax

1 4 lb box Arm & Hammer Baking Soda (or two 2lb. boxes) :)

1 4lb box Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (my box wasn't quite 4 lbs.)

3 bars of Fels-naptha soap

2 small containers of oxyclean or store brand oxyclean (not sure if what I got was considered small, but it was the smallest the store had!)

I shredded the Fels-naptha soap in my food processor. Wasn't sure if I had the nerve too...was afraid it would leave a soapy taste, but I figured the dishwasher would take care of that!! I'm sure it was MUCH quicker than grating it by hand!!

 And no, this isn't cheese!! ;)

Then I dumped everything else in a 5 gallon bucket and mixed it all together!! 

Yes, I even bought a cute jar to store it in! Go figure, I JUST threw out my big plastic barrels that pretzels come in, which would have been a perfect container!! :P Sometimes it DOES pay to hang on to stuff!!

The Oxy Clean containers had these little handy 1 T. scoops in them! So glad I didn't buy anything special!! :)

From the wash I did today, I was impressed! The clothes smelled good and got clean. One piece that had a stain (that I forgot to pre-treat) came out clean!! :) I guess time will tell. It cost me $20 for all the ingredients shown in the top pic and supposedly this should last for a good 6 months or more....can't beat that!!

I also made a half batch of homemade fabric softener...

3 cups of HOT water~

added 1 cup of Suave hair conditioner and mixed till the conditioner dissolved, then added 1 1/2 cups of white vinegar. You can double that for a bigger batch, but I am about out of conditioner, so I didn't make so much this time!

This is the first time I've ever tried homemade soaps, so I am still a little skeptical, but so far I like what I see and smell! :)

31 Days to Clean ~Day 12

Today's Challenge~ Organizing Entertainment Center

This was a quick easy job. You won't see a big difference. 

The bottom cupboard had bunches of old tapes that were just thrown in there and the bottom drawer had some things that needed to be thrown out....an empty pack of batteries, an old remote, and some DVD's that never did have cases. 

BEFORE:

Dan had to buy a DVD series for school and to take up less space, he put them in sleeves, so we saved a bunch of the empty cases to replace broken ones. They also came in handy to store some homeless DVD's! :)

AFTER:

The top...

BEFORE: (this is mild)

And AFTER:

 Also, this week's challenge on Women Living Well for "Making Your Home a Haven" is to create family nights. 

This is a harder one for our family since Dan usually has to do his school work in the evenings. 

But, tonight he and Danny are watching football in between studies and I made fresh, hot Chocolate Chip cookies and choc. milk for us. 

So, I guess my challenge is to plan some fun evenings this week...I can do that! :)

Oh, we do have a Netflix movie waiting to be watched....the Grace Card!

 I was telling my sister this weekend, that my "picture-perfect" evening would be ~ Everyone sitting around snuggled under blankets, reading and sipping on some hot drink while soft music is playing and candles are flickering and making the house smell wonderful! :)

OR

sitting out by a campfire roasting marshmallows and enjoying the night sounds (MMM...the smell of woodsmoke)....I think we need to find a place to get some fire wood!! :)

But those are MY KIND of fun evenings, not necessarily the kids! :)

I really liked this quote off the WLW website~

"A wise mother knows how to have fun and how to be tender. She knows the healing touch of her hands. (Jesus used his hands to touch and heal many). There is power in the gentle expressions of love through warm embraces, cuddles and back rubs. God made backs with nerve endings that simply enjoy a rub!"

31 Days to Clean~ Day 11

Continuing on......

I don't have any pictures for today, but I will tell you that I filled 2 kitchen size garbage bags and am on the 3rd, and also filled a box with trash too!! :O My dear hubby added to the bags with some of his papers!! :)

I just have to brag on my man a little! He just finished another class for school and his final average for that class was 99.6% !! He did SO good.....even with all the stress at church and his job! :) I admire him!! :)

I also hit the grocery store today and am planning what food I am taking along this weekend. We are going to spend a few days with my favorite southern sister!! :) Cannot wait!

Oh, and Friday will be another OFF day for my cleaning....we have a field trip with the homeschool group.

Maybe I can get some pics tomorrow!?? The exterminator is coming in the morning and then I get to have coffee with a dear friend after lunch!! <3 I also need to wash clothes and do some baking! :P So, I think I shall head for bed, so I can have a clear mind tomorrow! :) 

**this felt like a rambly post.....sorry! :P

31 Days to Clean ~Day 10

Continuation.....

So here is the stack of trash that got picked up Monday morning.....lots of empty boxes I was saving for

 who-knows-what??

The gray barrel is full of the kids school books from 1st-3rd grades....I resisted the urge to save any!

And I barely beat the garbage man in taking that stack out from the kitchen!! He was coming in the road as I snapped these pics! :) He probably wondered what that crazy lady was up to!! :D Or maybe it was dark enough he didn't see me!! I can hope, right?? :)

I got a little more done yesterday....just a little pic of some progress...

Still got a long ways to go... 

And this is another project in the works...all my photo's! That is going to require some time. I want to organize them according to year. Then hopefully over the winter that can be a project I can start on!!

I also forgot to post about Week 3 "Making Your Home a Haven"

Here’s week #3′s Challenge: List a few of the spots in your home that make you visually stressed. Now go buy something for that spot – like a basket to put it all in! Work on cleaning up clutter. Throw things away.

While you’re at it – clean up some clutter in your spiritual life. What gets in the way of your peace spiritually?

I am working at clutter so this fit. I am also working at spiritual clutter and it is a painful, growing experience.

I (we) sure could use prayer in this area. Thanks~

31 Days to Clean ~Day 9

So all the challenges this week (and the one I was supposed to do on Friday) have to do with the picture below.....

I am not going to follow the day by day exactly, because it just doesn't work well that way. I am organizing the whole thing as I go.

So the picture above is taken from a door in our kitchen. When we moved here, this was part of the apartment on the back of the house, but the man living there didn't have much in it and we needed more storage room (so we thought-no really, we did!!) ;) so they put a wall and a door to the left of the picture that is the new entrance to the apartment. (He does also have an outside entrance!!)

So, to the right is a coat/game closet. I was able to get that all cleaned out and organized (no pic yet) I do think my hubby has a few too many jackets/sweatshirts/coats though, but that will be saved for another day when he is around. 

Straight in is a nice big walk in closet with the below shelves to the left. Filing cabinet and junk to the right.

(Love all the shelving in there!!)

I made a lot of progress but it is an ongoing work. I will show before and after pics later!

THIS, my friends, is only a small part of the trash that came out so far!! I forgot to take a picture of the huge stack of cardboard boxes sitting out for the garbage man in the morning!! :) Maybe if I sneak out early, early, I can do that! 

I feel like I have a long ways to go, and there are things I keep thinking...."I really should save that, I might need it". But, it WILL get done and it WILL feel good!!! :)

We keep loving all the other area's that are organized and I am working hard at keeping them clean on a regular basis! :) It's so worth it!!

If you are also working at organizing, don't give up, keep plugging away little by little!! :)

25th Annual Goat Day

Saturday was the 25th Annual Goat Day event in Blountstown. You pay $5 to get in and then all the kids stuff is free. (The first couple years you got in free but had to pay for everything. Not sure which is better!?? 

 The kids look forward to it every year.

Tamara's favorite part was the pony rides.

Yes, they have goats there! :)

Look who I spotted climbing the rock wall!! :)

We took a horse & buggy ride.....

and walked through lots of vendors stands!

The Panhandle Pioneer Settlement is just through the woods from the park and they also have an event during the same time~ Pioneer Days

Mrs. Alma and her two daughters were in the Frink gym quilting...

and a few ladies were knotting a comfort.

I always love to stop and listen to the musicians on the porch of the gym. This year there were more than normal. It was usually just women playing!

Singing and playing~

A pretty display by the smokehouse.

Ms. Lawanna making her famous pork cracklin's! :) Mmmmm!!

A view of the pines while I was waiting on my sweet hubby to bring me a drink! :)

More of the grounds~

The kids and a kid! ;)

Making corn cob flyers~

More pickin' and singing on the porch of the Wells Cabin.

An interesting stand....the kids got to type out their name in Morse code and then got a certificate for it! :) They had all sorts of old communication tools....

Brewing coffee 

Dan bought a cup of boiled peanuts. They were HUGE!!! 

Back to the park.....Zoo World was doing an animal show.

The kids didn't participate in the greased pig or the chicken chase this year. Or the coin dig. 

After we left, we still had an anniversary drop in to attend and then a night in Panama.....pics coming later. Time to get school started and begin my 31 Days to Clean challenge!! :)