A Cold, Misty Morning

A misty, cold morning on the Cumberland Plateau! 

Yesterday, I got my 400th sale on ETSY!!!  A milestone that took 4 years!  My goal is to make 500 by the end of this year.  Can I do it??  Yes, I can!  With God all things are possible!  I also hit 200 items in my shop, another goal!  Well, it is now 199, as I sold something yesterday ( my 400th)!  So, not complaining.  I am going to dye some wool today and spin away.  I also have some cashmere, mohair and angora I could create with!  Hmmmm. 

I am running an idea around in my head - Yarn Home Parties.  I don't know exactly what that would entail, but with some creativity - who knows??  Any ideas from my readers???

I am still doing the THM S plan.  Last night, I had spaghetti squash with tomato sauce (which isn't really on plan).  But, the good news is, my family loved it!  I am so happy about this!  So, for lunch today, I am going to have spaghetti squash with a white sauce and salmon.  It sounds good, so I will let you know!  Also, after about 2 weeks of just using Stevia, I am developing a taste for it.  Yea!!!!

I am still participating in the Good Morning Girls reading the Bible through in 3 years!  Today, we read Exodus 28.  I want to share my SOAK with you today.  Remember SOAK is Scripture, Observation, Application and Kneeling in prayer.

 S: v.35 "Aaron will wear this robe wheneer he ministers before the Lord, and the bells will tinkle as he goes in and out of the Lord's presence in the Holy Place. If he wears it, he will not die." O: When the God tells us to do something, He means business! We, too, need to heed God's commands and obey. I think we have lost the reverence we should have for God. We, as a Christian society, have dumbed Him down to our level. To think that you can appraoch God in any way but in fear and trembling is a lie from Satan. God has not changed. The God that killed Aaron's sons, is the same God we worship today. He is Holy, Holy, Holy!! Just because we do not approach Him in that manner, does not change the fact that He commands our respect. In Mal. 1:6 God says "A son honors his father, and a servant respects his master. If I am your father and master, where are the honor and respect I deserve?" Do you know everytime we use God's name flippantly, it is blasphemy? There is a whole marketing campaign, complete with products, using OMG. This is the way the devil works. It it socially acceptable to say "Oh my God" and not give God a thought. Christians do this all the time. I do it! I caught myself yesterday doing it, but thankfully, the Holy Spirit gave me a huge whack upside my head and I immediately repented out loud in front of my children. God is Holy. Do we really want anything less? Rev. 4's picture of God is tremendous. This is the God we serve. There is so much comfort in knowing that He is in control. A: I am praying daily, that I have a Holy reverence for God. I have the Holy Spirit in me and I can talk to Him and just be the messed up me. The Holly Spirit is God's Spirit, but it is not God Himself. God Himself sits on the throne in Heaven and is worshipped by angels who cannot even look at Him He is so Holy. Wow! And this God - this Holy, Holy, Holy God - loves me! He knows my name! He knows my thoughts. He knows me through and through and He desires a relationship with me! Unbelievable! Yet, through Jesus' sacrifice, I can approach His Throne. But I must have a reverential fear and respect. He is Holy. I must never think less. K: Father God, may I never, ever use Your Name in a flippant manner again. I want to always, always remember Your Holiness and treat you with respect and awe. I thank You that I can approach Your throne and that the veil was torn that seperated me from You, but that did not make You less Holy. You are the same yesterday, today and forever. I find great comfort in that. Thank You for Your Word, thank You for loving me and caring about the smallest details of my life, and for giving me the Holy Spirit to guide and direct my every step. In Jesus ' Name!

Well, time to dress, get my son up and begin a great day of school, fiber and food! 

Until next time!
Kim

Autumn is Officially Here and So Are All Things Apple and Pumpkin!

I cannot stress enough how much I love the Fall!!  Especially for one suffering from hot flashes, the cool, crisp air is a blessing from my precious Lord!  On that note, I am enjoying a cuppa of my homemade pumpkin coffee.  Yummy!  I simply put my favorite coffee, Chock Full Of Nuts, into my brewing basket.  To that I add about a teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/4 t. cloves, nutmeg, and ginger, with just a pinch of allspice.  I mix that around and voila!  Pumpkin Coffee!  Once that is poured into my favorite mug, I will often add sweetened condensed milk.  Wow!  So delicious!  This is to be savored sitting in a comfy chair, curled up under an afghan, with a good book in the peace and quiet.  Nice!

I have been busy dyeing roving and knitting swatches of my yarns for my shop.  Getting ready for the fall/winter selling season.  You never know what a yarn will look like when it's knit or crocheted.  Hopefully this will help.

Last evening, I discovered, what I think, is a wonderful Science website, Physics4kids .  They also have Geography4kids, Biology4kids, Chemistry4kids, and a link to a really good math site - Rader's NUMBERNUT.  My sweet hubby wants me to start teaching some serious science to our 4th grader, Ben.  So, we are going to start Physics.  Just a basic class - nothing too involved, but he wants Ben to have a general knowledge of motion, matter, speed of light, etc.  I am pretty convinced , right now, that I am definitely am going to go for DVD courses in science when he gets older.  I was pretty good in Biology, Earth Science and basic Physics, but to get an in depth education in Chemistry and Physics will require DVD teaching!

As far a our organic, healthy way of eating, it's coming along.  The trouble is leaving home.  When we go to anyone's home or church for meals, it's tough, mentally, to stay the course!  However, we are doing much better than we were a year ago.  Now,I am going to be forced to stick within my $60.00/week budget!  I will post my menu for this coming week, along with my grocery list.  Then, I'll let you know how I did staying in my budget.  I love the challenge!

Going Natural!

Hello everyone!  Well, it's been 5 months since I last posted.  That seems to be a recurrent theme!  Let's see...

We started our new homeschooling year using the Charlotte Mason method.  We began our new school year the first of June and my kids are loving it so far!  So do I.  It is so exciting to see them anxious to do school.  We are using living books for science, history, literature and grammar. Ben and Grace are remembering things much better using the living books.  Message me if you want details about what we are doing.  I'm happy to share but don't want to bore those who have no interest!  We also started French using a YouTube course with 72 lessons!  My children have taken Spanish for 3 years and I thought I would let them experience French for 2 or 3 years and see what they like.  We have school at the park, at home, outside under a tree - really nice to break it up.

My yarn shop, Simply Homespun, is doing great!  I am introducing mini skeins this month.  I didn't even know they were in demand!  People are using them to make "hexipuffs" that are then joined into a Beekeepers Quilt.


So, I decided to take the mini skeins and do a little twist (no pun intended) - I made them energized!  These should make quite a show in a quilt.  Look for more of these coming soon!

The Hines family has also gone all natural!  We haven't had sugar in the house in about 2 months - well, there is a little bit left in the canister, but it is about 3 months old.   We are using honey and stevia in place of sugar.  I still haven't mastered making a cake with stevia, but I'm working on it.  I did make some lemon lavendar muffins and they did rise, so that was a major victory!  I used yougart as a bulking agent in place of the sugar.  When you use stevia, you have to replace the bulk that the sugar would have given you as it only takes 1/4 t. Stevia to every 1 cup of sugar!  Sugar really contributes a lot to a recipe - sweetness as well as texture and bulkiness!  It is fun experimenting though.  I am using Stevita.  It doesn't have any after taste.  It is expensive, but using so little of it, it is probably going to wind up being less than sugar per serving.  I am trying really hard to use only food without chemicals or hormones.  It is really expensive - about double our $50.00/week grocery budget, but it is worth it.  My little 6 year old was starting to develop early thanks to the hormones added in meat and milk!  That was my motivation in switching our life style to an all natural one.  I made my own laundry detergent, am making our own bread from chemical free flour, and have gone back to raw milk from hormone free cows!  We are making our own butter from the milk so that has helped us save on butter as well as cutting down our usage of butter significantly.  All in all it has been fun, but I'm going to have to be more diligent in sticking to a budget and planning a detailed meal plan each week.  I will be posting our menus here so that anyone interested can take advantage.  Also, I will put the food cost up for you.  I wish I had this now from an experienced "naturalist"!

We are getting ready to go to our small group Bible study this evening!  So, until next time...

May God bless you and yours!
Kim