Week 47 & 48

                I'm trying to get the last little bit of Christmas shopping done. I HATE shopping after thanksgiving. I go into a panic if I still have gifts to purchase. 24 days until Christmas! It's so exciting I'm totally feeling the spirit this year! 

The Girls decided they wanted a small tree in their room this year!!! 


Adyson is purple.                                                     Brittanys is Blue & Silver! 

             

I must admit I'm very proud of my self and all the goals I have accomplished this year! I had 13 of them. I have accomplished I think 10!  Which is more then I thought I would get done honestly, but when you write down everything you do and share it with the world it gives you that extra push you need! 

The family has been a little scattered this last week. We are helping Aunt  Nancy pack for her trips over the holidays!  Aunt Nancy had a few appointments to get through, Kids with dentist appointments, grocery shopping, etc! Hopefully now that Thanksgiving is over it will calm down. 

I know its still a few weeks off but has anyone started working on their 2014 goals? I have a few that might surprise you for next year! I'm getting excited for it! Gives me something to look forward to! 




FARM HAPPENINGS-  Very sad on the farm Tuesday morning. I went out to make sure everyone was OK because it was so cold Monday night. I found that my pigs had gone out in the middle of the field and made themselves a hay pile instead of going in their stall to stay warm. Many of you remember these cute little guys when we brought them over here in June. So Rest in Peace Hammy and Bacon. 

 HOMEMADE-   Well I have come to the conclusion after MANY DAYS of research and blog searches that my water is VERY HARD.  After a few weeks of using homemade dishwasher powder my dishes had a film that would not come off. I used vinegar as my rinse aid. I also can not make a dish soap for washing dishes in the sink that is tough enough because of my hard water. So I have gone back and researched some more natural dish soaps/detergents and found Ecos at SAMS Club  and this is my new dish soap, for a really good price! I bought some generic tabs to try until I find some natural/better ones. 




READING-   I know I promised to have Angels & Demons read but I'm about 40 pages in, and just can't stay interested. Sorry guys! Makes me mad that its looking like I won't make my goal of a book a week!! But I found a wonderful E-book box set titled Six Times a Charm and from the set I'm reading Haunted on Bourbon Street by Deanna Chase from Barnes and Noble. I have busted out my my long lost friend Nook Simple Touch from www.bn.com. My wonderful husband bought this for me while we were on vacation over the summer so I could read on the beach! I love this better than anything else. I can read in direct light/sunlight with no problems. Best of all Adyson doesn't want to play with it because its black and white. So its all MINE!!! 


EATING HEALTHY-  Well all the Halloween candy is just about gone.  I have been using my little crockpot (1.5 qt) like crazy for breakfast lately. Its just so nice to wake up and your house smells wonderful from breakfast that is already cooked! I am loving my Breakfast board on Pinterest. I have made a few different oatmeals and breakfast casseroles. They were all great!!!  I'm going to post more meals as I make them! 

I think I told you guys about Chickens in the Road she has a fabulous website about the "noodles and sauce" pouches you buy & how to turn them into homemade. So far everyone I have tried has been great! She gives me lots of inspiration! Thank you very much Suzanne! 

 FAMILY TIME-  It was great this passed week with Thanksgiving and going to the in-laws and spending time with extended family! We all had a great a time! Then Daddy and Adyson decided to play TMNT. Daddy was a Foot Soldier, Adyson was Donnatello

Can't wait to post pictures of the house decorated on my next post! Until next week see ya later!!! 

Week 45 & 46 Winter Prep!

                  Its been a slow 2 weeks. I have not done anything really exciting. I am preparing for the winter months. I know Tennessee doesn't have "rough" winters but it never hurts to be prepared.  What have you been doing the last 2 weeks? I know I have been slacking! I am sorry! 

I'm sitting here watching The Brady Bunch the  T.V. show as I am writing the blog today. I am remembering a simpler time. No computers, internet. People took pride in their families, jobs, in themselves. Crime wasn't as bad or crazy. Everyone appreciated what they had. I think I will make a goal about this for 2014. 



Prepare for Winter- I guess you can say I have been playing squirrel. Going around and making sure everything is secure for winter. I have been making sure I have plenty of canned veggies/fruit in case we need them. Making sure there is propane in the tanks of the grill/BBQ. I put 5 jugs of water in the garage for the toilets in case we lose water. Some people say I am paranoid. All I can say is at least I'm prepared! I also try very hard to keep my pantry really stocked over the winter so I am not the one running out at the sound of the word "storm" or "blizzard". 

I make lots of meals in the crockpot over the winter. I always have left overs that get put in the freezer.

I also have all my animals to think about. So I make sure to keep extra feed bags in the garage just in case. 

So I have been making sure the kids are up to date on doctor appointments. I have been reading up healthier foods to eat in the winter that gives us the booster for our immune systems. 



Reading-  I have not been reading the last couple weeks. I am still working on Angels & Demons by Dan Brown. 

Updated Reading List

I promise by next blog post I will have read the book and hopefully watched the movie! 



Family Time & Crafts - With a teenager in the house its hard to get family time. So me and the hubby puts some rules in place for our teenager. My favorite is the Sunday rule, so everyone is home on Sundays to spend time and recoup together. No one is allowed to come over, no one goes anywhere. Its great!  We did crafts last week. They turned out great! I can not wait to decorate the Christmas tree Thanksgiving weekend!!! 

We did the snowflakes and snowman ornaments and glitter ornaments

REVIEW TIME-  So I am still LOVING my Shark Rotator Lift-Away Vacuum. Its works great! Its sucks everything up! 

Dishwasher soap- So I have given this a try for a few weeks and I am not quite happy with this. Its starting to leave a residue on the dishes. I guess it needs to be stronger.  It does NOT get the greasy stuff off at all. Here's the recipe that I started with. I'm going to do more research and tweak it a bit! I'll let you know in a couple weeks. 

So PhotoStream is still not working quite right. I have been on the phone over 5 hours in the last month with Apple. My issue in October and September still has not been fixed. This is why this blog post and others in the past don't have as many pictures! 



GOALS-  I have been looking over the goals I set in week 1. I am very proud that most of them have been accomplished. Especially my number 1 goal, quitting smoking!!!!  There is only 1 that has been put to the side. Which I am not going beat myself up over it, but it will be in the top 5 goals for 2014. MUSIC... I keep forgetting to make time. 



PROUD MOMMA MOMENT-  Brittany is getting 2A's and 2B's in school!!!! So proud of her! 

Adyson used her ALLOWANCE, (yes my 4 year old gets an allowance, she EARNS every penny) to buy herself something. TMNT pillow! 

Until next week!!! Have a great weekend! 

Week 44

                    So I hope everyone had a great Halloween. Had a great time at the Fall Festival last week in Franklin TN. I am trying to get out in the community more. So if any of you hear of  anything in middle Tennessee feel free to comment below! I would like to have a better grasp of what my communities around me have to offer. So I went to a craft fair and looked around and got several different magazines from the community. I got on Facebook and liked all the pages I could find. I also found a local farm that sells HONEY!!! I have been looking for someone who sells local honey for a long time.

Its been a slow week here. Resting after the crud from last week. Preparing for Halloween this week. Adyson decided she wanted to be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle- Donnatello again. The rest of us didn't dress up this year. Which is a little odd for us, because we LOVE Halloween. This year the weather was not very good. Getting cold this year quick! I have already gotten out my winter woolies, and had to turn on the heat once.

                REVIEW- So I am so far pleased to announce I made my decision about vacuums. After watching the infomercial about the Shark Rotator Lift-Away (red & white in color) I did pay extra for the caddy and home/car detail kit. I got the vacuum and put it together. Everything snapped together, no screws! I had to use it but I used my old Hoover first, then used my new Shark! Look at what the Shark picked up AFTER I had already vacuumed with the old (new as of January so its only 10 months old).
I like all the features and accessories. I LOVE being able to lift-away and take it to the cars to detail them. Set the canister on the seat and vacuum the inside of the cars. Its great! My favorite part is 5 YEAR WARRANTY!!!

On the left is the Shark, on the right is Hoover. Look at how much the Shark picked up AFTER I had vacuumed with my Hoover.

So last week I started trying a homemade dishwasher soap. So far its ok, but it doesn't do well on greasy/nasty stuff. So I am going to tweak it and let you know about the revised version in a couple weeks.


Oh guess what else I bought this week and LOVE??? I did go buy a little 2 qt slow cooker to make breakfasts!!! You can slow cook oatmeal, breakfast casseroles, etc!!! I loved being able to wake up to a HOT & COOKED breakfast. It was fabulous!!!

Its so cute and little! 

CRAFTS & FAMILY TIME- We started our Christmas crafts this week. We did the SNOWMAN  ornaments  and snowflakes. The whole family enjoyed it!

                              

BUGS- So in Tennessee this time of the year we get over whelmed with Asian Lady Beetles. I went to town and ran my errands and came home to the invasion. So they invaded within a few hours.

The outside of my house near the garage

These ladies decided to come INSIDE my backdoor

Inside my backdoor

So I hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween. I will see everyone next week!