What's New?!

Good Morning!  I am sitting in the quiet of my living room looking out on a rainy morning with a cup of Earl Gray tea.  I love this time of quiet.  It is so unusual that both of my children would be asleep at 9:00am!  Usually we have already completed a class for school by now, but I couldn't bring myself to wake them up!  Actually, my daughter has been up, but cuddled up in my bed with the Kindle and is now drifting in and out of sleep.  My daughter, Grace, gets up, fixes her own breakfast, reads her Bible and prays, usually before my eyes open!  She is 8 years old and very indepedent!  She cleaned the kitchen last night for me.  I love that!  This morning, I was up before anyone, so I made pancakes with fresh peach syrup.  I have all of these peaches, so I grabbed a few, peeled them, put them in a pot, added a little bit of water, some honey, cinnamon and 2 glucomannan capsules to thicken it. Then I cooked it until bubbly.  Yummy!!  The Glucomannan is used to thicken sauces, puddings, etc.  This is a Trim Healthy Mama ingredient!

What is new in my shop?  LOTS!  I have added headbands made from my wire yarn, mostly.  These are so cute!  I love them.  My daughter, Grace, was my model and she kept saying, "Don't list this one.  I want it."  to about all of them!  It is a great use of the wire yarn.  I have a customer who said she was going to use the wire yarn she purchased for hat toppers instead of pom poms.  I had a gentleman buy some from me last year at a craft show I did.  I wondered what he was going to do with it!  Something creative, I bet.  Anyway, the headbands were listed with the hope of bringing a little fun into your hair!  

I also added a monthly Fiber Box Club.  You will get a box of mixed types of fiber each month for however long your subscription is - 1, 3, 6 or 12 months.  There is a minimum of 4 oz. in each box.  It will be a mix of wool and exotics and maybe a little bit of sparkle!  Gift wrapping is available!  I am trying to come up with some fresh ideas.  My shop is doing well, but just want to take it to the next level.  Any ideas are being accepted!  What would you like to see?

School is going great!  I think I have hit upon a winner for curriculum!  Finally!  Ben is enjoying school and so is Grace.  I am using Tapestry of Grace with Ben and Rod and Staff with Grace.  Ben is using Singapore Math and Apologia science.  It is great to see happy faces every day!  (well nearly every day! lol).  In the summer, we are finishing up right after lunch, then head to the lake for swimming and fun!  It is a great incentive to focus and get the lessons done.  

Take care and God bless you!

Kim

Reminiscing

Today is a rainy day!  I love rainy days - the smell, the cleansing (especially of all the pollen), the freshness!  I am one of those moms who let their kids play in the rain as long as it is not thundering or lightening.  They love it!  I, myself, like to sit on my back porch and just enjoy the peace of it

It is also a perfect day for all things fiber!  I have a sequined yarn that I am working on.  I finished one skein, but have enough left over for another skein.  Urg..  It is very pretty, but spinning with sequins is not a lot of fun.  It is also very time consuming.  I spun a single out of Ashland Bay's Concord colorway - Tussah Silk and Merino.  It is beautiful and soft!

Before

After

I had a dye day last week, so I will have lots more yarn to spin!  I went through my beads, buttons and ribbons stash and matched some fiber to them.  

So, those are my Finished Objects and some of my Works in Progress.  I am still working on my messenger bag and my quilt, but not much progress there.  I am going to start my dad's Irish Clan Sweater next week!  Trying to decide whether to spin the yarn or just buy it  The Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool is really calling to me.  lol  I did find out the yardage today - 2100 yards.  That is a lot of spinning!  

We are taking a break from school.  We finished up the year and did a trial run of the coming year.  There is a lot to schedule for this coming year with both children.  The trial week went fairly well.  Both Ben and Grace like their curriculum, praise the Lord!  They are ready to begin, so we will probably start next week.  Ben will be using Tapestry of Grace Year One.  It is themed around the Ancients and he loves it!  Grace is using Rod and Staff.  She loves that!  She is my workbook child. My challenge is to be able to juggle both with teaching one on one.  Ben has more independent work, but Grace is a lot of hands on teaching  I am using Homeschool Skedtrack  for scheduling, grading and tracking days off.  I really love this program and it is FREE!  

With the help of a good friend, I have been able to make yogurt a bit more easily.  (Easily - is that right?  It is an adverb describing make? )  lol  To begin with, you don't have to have raw milk to make delicious yogurt!  Great news since my source dried up  You put 1 gallon of milk (I used whole, but my friend just used 2% and it turned out fine) in a crock pot.  Add 2 cups of dried milk and stir to dissolve.  Then turn it on and wait for it to reach 180 degrees.  It takes hours, so you can walk away and live your life  I heated mine on the stove which is much quicker.  Either way works.  Once it hits 180 degrees, you remove it from the heat and cool to 120 degrees.  Then add a little thing of yogurt.  I actually added 2  individual servings of Okios Vanilla to mine  Stir it in really well.  At this point, you could add a sweetner - sugar or stevia or sweetener of choice.  I didn't add any sweetener to mine  I did add some vanilla - about a teaspoon  You could add any flavoring - lemon, caramel, citrus, etc.  Walmart has an excellent selection of flavorings  Then you pour it into jars, cap it, and put it in your oven with the light on (I think I forgot to turn my light off yesterday!)  and leave in 12 hours  If you go longer it's ok.  Mine was due to come out at 11:30 at night.  I dozed off and woke up a 1:00am and put it in the fridge then  It was yummy!  There was some whey liquid, but I stirred it into the yogurt.  Great flavor  Another friend told me she stirs peanut butter into her plain yogurt and it tastes like peanut butter cheese cake!  It is good!  

I am off to Muddy Pond to visit my sisters!  Until next time...

Kim

P.S.  I did forget to turn off the light in the oven!  Oh my!

Change Without Leaving Your Bed

Change is inevitable, as we all know, however, I have found it is how you embrace change that really matters. This is about a different kind of change - an inner change of thoughts and attitudes.   I can be lying in bed and a little thought can whisper something negative, i.e. "I'm never going to have energy in the mornings because I'm so old", ...then..."What if I'm so old my husband doesn't want me anymore"....then..."What if he finds someone else?"....then....more ugly thoughts based on nothing!  Then I am mad at myself, mad at my husband and this has colored my whole day!  Yikes!  All before setting one foot out of bed!  Nothing has happened except that I opened my eyes!  Has this happened to you?  The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 10:5 that we must take EVERY thought captive - "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."  Now, instead of getting all upset, I work my way back though those ugly thoughts and see the truth.  My husband has never showed any sign of wanting anyone else and has actually always been pretty loving, and once I set one foot out of the bed, energy comes.  I pray and ask God to help me to take captive EVERY thought and bring it under His Word.  How quickly I can get on the roller coaster of life without anything in my world really changing except my thoughts!   So, I've ridden this roller coaster of emotions all from one little thought about not having energy as soon as my eyes pop open!  Now, I replace that one little negative thought with one positive one and, volia!  Now my day is colored with a positive outlook.  All from taking thoughts captive and not allowing the enemy to whisper his little lies to me.   Now on to more creative avenues...

I have started the Charlotte Mason method in my homeschool and it is working out beautifully.  I thought Ben, my 7 year old, and I were going to have to part ways, particularly in math.  I started this approach a week ago and it has made a HUGE difference!  I am having to unschool me!  We are spending lots of time outdoors and alternating subjects like math and language arts with Art Appreciation and Music and Dance.  Wonderful fun and he is enjoying school again!

We are getting settled in our new home and are enjoying being so close to church and Gene's work.  I planted flowers and have made a little outdoor room on our porch.  Home!  More coming, but it's a good start.  Vegetable gardening with our neighbors this year and it is going to be great!  There is also a small orchard here so looking forward to apples, peaches and, I think, pears.  Lots of canning in my future!   Cabbage is already planted and growing.  My neighbor is going to help me can sauerkraut.  I love sauerkraut! 

Our garden spot and apple trees

Our Front Porch

Swing

Living Room

Ben and Grace having school

Cafe Table for Lattes and Tea

Gracie

As part of our homeschool now, we are having lifeskills classes.  Ben just made muffins:
1 3/4 c. Flour
1/3 c. Sugar
2 t. baking powder
1t. ground cinnamon
1/4 t. salt
1/2 t. ground nutmeg
1/4 t. ground allspice
1/8 t. ground ginger
1 egg lightly beaten
1/4 c. milk
3/4 c. Almond Joy Coffee Creamer by Int'l Delights
1/4/ c. vegetable oil

Combine the first 8 ingredients.  Combine egg, milk and oil:  stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.  Fill greased muffin cups with batter.  Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes. This was based off of another recipe but we tweaked it and made it our own.  The original recipe called for 3/4 cups of milk and 1/2 t. cinnamon, 1/4 t. nutmeg, and 1/8 t. ground allspice.  We LOVE the Almond Joy creamer and it really gives the muffins a wonderful flavor!  The original also had you filling the muffin cups partially, adding apple butter filling, and covering with more batter.  However, I didn't have apple butter, so we are going a la carte!  You can also add the topping of 1/2 c. chopped pecans and 3 T. suger, but we left that off also.  No nuts!

My ETSY shop is doing great!  Not sure if I'm opening a physical shop here yet or not.  There is a really cute shop here, but right now it's full of stuff!  I'm now on Pinterest so you can follow me there also.

Until we meet again, may God bless you richly in all you do!
Kim

Change

Good Morning!  My husband, Gene, left on a medical missions trip to Guatemala this morning at 2:30.  He will be gone for 10 days!  I am very happy for him, but Ben, Gracie and I already miss him!  They will be working in various villages bringing medical help where needed.  He was very excited about going.  I think it will probably remind him of his Army days.  I'm praying he will come back all refreshed, because....

WE ARE MOVING!  We are moving closer into the town of Crossville, TN.  Our church is there and Gene's work is there.  We live about 30 - 40 minutes away, depending on if you get behind a tractor or not on the way in.  It will save us a lot of money on gas as well as give us a lot more time with each other.  We are moving, not into a tiny house, as we had planned, but a small mobile home, a bit bigger than our proposed tiny house!  It will give us a good idea, though, of life in a smaller space.  We will have awesome neighbors and a lot of property to have a garden and for the kids to play.  It is still somewhat in the country and it has a little shop already there, just waiting to be filled with yarn and spinning wheels and looms and bunches of fiber!  Speaking of yarn...

Valentine's Day is coming up.  Here is my first Valentine yarn of the year!  There is more coming! I call it Candy Hearts.
My shop is doing great!  I just need more time to spin!  I'm spending a lot of - too much - time on the computer marketing.  I would like to eventually hire someone to take that part over.  Perhaps I can talk my hubby into it after our move and things settle down a bit.  I am working with a wonderful lady, Heather a.k.a. "The Buzz" to help me with some improvements to Simply Homespun, so I'm looking for some good things from this.  She is wonderful to work with. 

I am moving along on the goals I set up in the last blog.  However, exercise is still lacking!  I have GOT to get on the stick!  Although, I wonder if packing and lifting boxes could be considered exercise??? hmmm.....  We are moving across from Cumberland Mountain State Park.  Lots of trails there.  Gene wants us to start riding bikes as a family over there.  That should be fun, right???  There is also a pool, so we can go swimming.  Now, I know that will be fun exercise.  No wait, I have kids!  I can't be swimming laps and watch kids!  Oh, well.  I guess I will just have to have fun with them.  Splashing is good arm exercise.  Pray for me in this area!

Homeschool is going great!  Gracie is learning to write her letters.  She is very good with numbers.  She also is doing very well in Spanish class.  Ben does great in everything but math.  He hates it.  We are finishing up subtraction with 3 numbers this week and moving on to measurement next week.  That should be more fun!  He loves to cook and build stuff.  So, I see projects...

I published this, then realized that I hand titled this "Change" and never really mentioned it again.  I feel like my life is going through change.  For one thing, I'm approaching the big "change" - menopause. Then we are moving - for the better, I believe.  My husband has been nominated for the board at our church.  If elected that will be a change in my church role.  I'm facing 2012 for the first time without my sister.  In packing, I've come across a lot of Karen's stuff and it brings with it both happiness and melancholy.  But one thing to remember, in the midst of change, both bad and good, God never changes.  He is always there and always the same.  He always loves me no matter what.  His love, His rules for living, His faithfulness never, ever changes.  I praise God for His strength in the midst of our changes.  His consistency is so comforting.  I love You, Lord!

Until next time!  Take care and may God bless you richly!

Kim

Oh my gosh, it's NOVEMBER!!!

Only 51 days til Christmas!!!  Where does the time go???  I declare every year time is faster and faster.   Why is that?  When you are a child and teenager, time creeps..then BAM!  What happened?  Kids, life, busyness?  Oh well, I don't care for the speeded up version of life very much.

I am in the process of spinning dog hair for a customer.  It is so beautiful.  It's from a Huskie and, while it is short, it is making beautiful yarn.  Unlike the matted mess I had been working on and am now expecting back from the fiber mill any day now. 

Homeschooling is going great...now.  Ben and I were having some attitude issues in math, but it's amazing what 2 superhero figures and a scrabble can do to boost enthusiasm!  I was the bad guy in one corner, and Iron Man was Ben's figure in the opposite corner.  The star square in the middle was the city I was trying to take over.  Iron Man had to beat me to it, or doom and gloom.  We are working on addition and subtraction with 3 digit numbers.  Everytime he answered a problem in his workbook correctly, he got to move the number of ones.  For instance, 100 + 209 = 309, so he got to move 9.  If he missed it, I got to move 9.  If he took longer than 1 minute to answer, I got to move a square.  It was great.  He made it to the city first and I had only advanced 4 squares!  Thank the good Lord for the inspiration!

We are doing pretty great on our budget.  I would still like to cut the food cost back some more.  I spent 64 last week and 46 this week.  I would like to make it to 25 or 30/week.  If I would sit down and do a plan, that would probably do the trick!  I need to get back into that. 

Next week, after I get my special orders done, is going to be dedicated to decluttering in a major way!  I'm going to document our progress.  We have wayyyyyyyy to much stuff!  Especially toys and kid's clothes.  Yikes!

Well, back to spinning!  Take care!

Kim

Hace Mucho Friooooooooooooooooooooooo!

We just had Spanish class, Can you tell?? 
It is very cold outside!!!  Yikes!  I opened the door to hand Ben and Grace the pig food and was smacked by Jack Frost!
Sitting inside with the heat cranked up and sipping on some Chai tea.  Yummy.  Ben, Gracie and I made Pumpkin Muffins this morning.  I had some leftover brown sugar and cinnamon topping.  So, I put it in my Chai Tea with some fresh cream.  Yummy!

Pumpkin Muffin recipe was very good and very easy!

God has sent me the sweetest gift in the form of a customer.  Her name is Kelli and she is an awesome photographer!  She happened upon my shop in ETSY and voila!   She is a source of encouragement for me right now.  Thank You, Lord, for sending her my way!

Speaking of my shop, I have created some great holiday yarns, and have sold most of them!  This one, will be a particular challenge for someone, but I can't wait to see something knitted from it!

I also had some really great customers come into my shop last weekend.  I am working on a baby bootie and hat set for a little boy.  I need to get started spinning this alpaca I have had for 3 months also!  She should have never told me she didn't need it until Christmas!  I also have some llama from this same customer that smelled like stinky socks, but with a few months of being left outside, I think it's much better now.  I'm considering rinsing it in a lavendar rinse, but then it may smell like stinky feet soaked in lavender!  I also want to delve into that box of Shetland that my mom sent to me and I have a box of Angora goat fiber that my cousin sent!  Wow!  I am so blessed!!!!!!!!!!

I am taking the Fall challenge present by Courtney at Women Living Well.  I have my candle lit to remind us, particularly me, to be peaceful in word and deed.  I have cleared off my clutter area - a countertop in the kitchen, and am working on a filling a big box for donation to Habitat for Humanity!  I hate clutter, but I have so much of it!  Clutter = Chaos and that produces stress and no peace!  So, check out the challenge.  This is a great blog, too.

Grace and Ben are doing great in homeschool.  Grace, in particular, really enjoys it and doesn't want to stop!  UI am using Rod and Staff with her - the ABC series.  She gets to start speech therapy in 4 more weeks!  She told me the other day when we were practicing saying a word, "I can hear it, but I can't say it!"  She is doing much better though.  
Ben is doing his final project in the Thomas Kincaid art class he's been taking.  He put together a still life that says something about him.  Here it is:

Well, I need to get back to homeschool and back to spinning!! 

May God rain down His incredible blessings on each of you!

Kim

Fried Pies

What a great treat - Homemade Fried Pies!  It seems like I have made 100 over the past few days - not really 100, but a lot.  Tonight, I made some for dessert - peaches from my canning efforts from a month ago.  Yummy!  Here is the recipe I use.  It's quick and easy and the dough will keep in the fridge for days!  Good for breakfast and snacks, too!
http://www.grouprecipes.com/53270/southern-fried-pies-the-best.html

So, we had an adventure and I have no pics, for which you may be glad!  My husband and our great neighbor and best friend, Mike, butchered our first pig!  I had been praying for a freezer to put the meat in, as ours has been broken just about ever since we gave our spare one away!  Anyway, butchering day came and no freezer, so I got rid of almost everything from our freezer - the kids loved eating the ice cream!  I filled it with sausage, which I made with a food processor!  It was yummy!  Then we canned about 8 jars of meat.  I happened to check facebook and a message from a dear friend, who knew nothing about my freezer prayers, asking me if I needed a freezer!  Praise the Lord!  He is good!  So, I now have roasts, ribs and bacon in my new freezer!!!!!  I'm ready for piggy number 2 in the winter. 

This is Gracie and Pork Chop, the one who got away! 

Can you tell I'm about to turn 50!?

I can be an official Red Hat!

Shop news: Got in lots of Christmas yarns!  I'm trying to finish my entrelac scarf and it's coming along beautifully.  Also has spun 2 skeins of Red Hat Yarn.  Jessica, my oldest daughter, was up yesterday with all of her knitting projects.  She has a renewed interest!  Yea!!!  She's also one of my best customers! 
Check out our new products at Simply Homespun!



We are still finding ourselves financially challenged, but in a way, it is the best thing that has happened!  We are depending on God for our daily needs and He is providing!  Gene and I are both working hard and God is faithful to His word!  It is so awesome to experience His generosity and love daily.  I am really watching our electricity and water usage and we haven't thrown our food like we used to do.  We are eating leftovers and I'm creating new dishes from leftovers.  It is really fun and challenging.  The kids are getting on board.  Ben is really thinking about ways to save and is learning at a very early age to be content whether abased or abounding.  What an incredible thing  for kids to learn!  I'm learning it at 49 and it's not near as easy!    We are using the online library for Tennessee called R.E.A.D.S.  to save on gas.  Going to our library costs us about $7.00 in gas!  We used to go once a week!   You can check out digital books and audio for up to 28 days.  They have a wonderful selection of children's books.  Also, this is StoryLine Online is a wonderful website.  Celebrities read children's books.  One thing I have learned is that $20.00 here and $20.00 there soon add up to $100.00!  How wasteful and not a good steward of God's money I have been!  Another good thing that has come from our challenges.  In case my family reads this - WE ARE NOT STARVING AND WE HAVE HEAT, LIGHTS, PHONE AND GAS!!  SO DON'T WORRY!  I love you!!

Ben is learning keyboarding.  I found a really good course for him online.  It is free!  Peter's Online Typing Course is the name of the site. 

Gracie is sick, so I will be staying home again from church.  Last week it was Ben.  So far, no sickness for mama!  Thank You, Lord! 

Take care and may God bless you all richly!

Kim

Hi All!  Gracie slept all night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Which means I DID TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Thank you, Lord!

Just finished my first winter yarn, Hot Chocolate on a Snowy Day http://www.etsy.com/listing/82464489/hot-chocolate-on-a-snowy-day-handspun .  It was great fun to do.  This will make an awesome scarf.  I may do it myself if it doesn't sell by the time I am finished with all my other projects!  Still working on my Enterlac scarf.  Hope to have that done in the next couple of weeks.  Going to spin a new winter yarn, Winter Bliss, today.

My oldest daughter, Jessica, was up Sunday.  She started 2 knitting projects while here!  I'm going to create a super knitter yet!  She is working on a Waterfall Scarf and a sweater.  I can't wait to see them finished!

I read recently that the biggest budget buster for families is wasted food.  How much food do you throw out every week, or in my case, every month.  UCK.  Stuff gets shoved back to the depths of the fridge and stays there until it liquifies.  I am a huge food waster.  So, this is something that is going to end now.  I believe that wasting our food is a sin.  Everytime I throw something out, I feel conviction.  I ask the Lord to provide and He does, then I pitch it!  Yikes!  I'm so sorry, Lord!  Help me to be a better steward of all the blessings you have given to me. 

I was reading a favorite blog of mine -  Raising Homemakers .  She had lots of good info on preparing frugal meals.  During the Depression Era, the US Food Administration came up with these guidelines which still apply, or should apply, today:

The US Food Administration advised about food:

1. Buy it with thought
2. Cook it with care
3. Serve just enough
4. Save what will keep
5. Eat what will spoil
6. Home grown is best

Here are a few Depression Era recipes.  These were in public pamphlets so are in the public domain. 

POTATO AND CHEESE SOUP

2 cups cooked diced potatoes
2 cups water in which potatoes were cooked
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons onion juice
2 tablespoons fat
3 tablespoons flour
1½ teaspoons salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
2 tablespoons of finely chopped parsley
¼ cup grated cheese

Dice potatoes and cook slowly until very tender. Rub through strainer, using potato and the 2 cups of water. Melt fat, add dry ingredients and gradually add the liquids and onion juice. When ready to serve, sprinkle parsley and cheese over top.

This is a favorite of ours.  I add broccoli a lot of the time, along with lots of grated cheese added to the soup to make it cheesy and delicious!  All of our family love this!

RICE WITH CORN AND CHEESE IN BROWN SAUCE

½ cup rice
1 cup cheese
1 cup corn
1½ cup milk
¼ cup fat
¼ cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne

Melt fat until brown. Add flour and seasonings. Heat until brown. Add milk gradually. When at boiling point add other ingredients. Place in baking dish and bake 45 minutes.

Serve with fruit or a dessert and bread and butter.

We haven't tried this one, but it sounds good!  This may just be dinner tonight!

Soups are always good for frugal meals.  The challenge is preparing healthy meals in addition to being cost conscious.  I will post some more of these recipes in later posts.

Now, I've got to get Ben going,  We are going to spend the day at the park.  One of the advantages of homeschooling is that you can have school anywhere!  And what better incentive for doing good work and having good attitudes than the knowledge that a wonderful playground is in your future!  So, today we will have "parkschool", a picnic, and get some spinning and knitting in also!

Have a blessed Tuesday!

Kim

Life Is Not Settled Just Yet!

Getting back in the groove of homeschool after a couple of hetic weeks after the passing of my sister, Karen.  Her service was Sunday and was absolutely beautiful, thanks in no small part to Rhonda Treaster and Pastor Warren.  2 hours before service, none of the videos or slide show would work.  Pastor Warren to the rescue!!  He's my hero!!!  

I'm preparing to leave for Vanderbilt Children's hospital tomorrow morning for Gracie's surgery.  I am preparing the special orders I have received and tying up loose ends.  I'm taking my Joy wheel with me to make some new yarn for my shop and 3 knitting projects, perhaps 4.  So, I will be keeping busy.  Gracie and I will be by ourselves a lot of the time as Gene is going to be working and visiting along.  I will be stuck in the hospital with nothing to do but spin, knit, read and play with my precious daughter!  I am looking forward to it, I have to say.   That is provided, of course, all goes well with Grace's surgery.  I have no reason to think that it won't.   God has her in His hand, that is for certain.

I sold my Mardi Gras Madness yarn over the weekend!  That was the yarn from you know where that I spun with beads.  Am I going to do that again???  Probably, but not now.  It was pretty, when all was said and done.

                 
My sweet inlaws are going to be here taking care of Ben while I am gone and will be holding down Simply Homespun!  So, come on out and visit.  Sorghum season is in full swing in Muddy Pond - lots to do in addition to visiting our shop.

Keep prayers coming for Gracie!

Kim

Good Morning from Muddy Pond!

We sort of started school today!  I have been wanting to create a lapbook for some time now, so, I found a website that is excellent for this.  It is based on unit studies, so we are doing Stellaluna and learning all about bats!  http://www.homeschoolshare.com/stellaluna.php

I have such a long to do list today!  I want to warp my knitter's loom for my rug, make homemade granola, make bread, clean house, catch up laundry and ...
Creating a blog - not on my list!  

Ashford Knitter's Loom

Soon to be a rug!

I found an excellent recipe for homemade granola that doesn't use dry milk!  I will let you know how it goes.    http://familyfun.go.com/christmas/christmas-recipes/gifts-from-the-kitchen/christmas-mixes/crunchy-homemade-granola-684950   I am also leaving out the wheat germ as I don't have any right now!  The kids love cereal, but as we are cutting back, I am going to attempt and make our own all natural cereal.  I spent 28.00 yesterday on groceries for the week.  And we should be eating pretty well.  Of course, I will be utilizing the 1000 potatoes we dug from the garden!  Tonight - Shepherd's Pie.  


God is good and we are going to rejoice and be glad in this day!


Kim