Disaster Area: My Desk

Hello, Friends! It's a chilly Monday here, on our hill and I have Wheels home with a cough and upset tummy.  My schedule is a bit off for today, but in a good way. I usually do my weekly shopping on Mondays, and then head into town for Women's Bible Study, but I did the shopping yesterday afternoon, so now I'm a free agent. (Well, sort of!) I've been busy getting some work done on the computer, printing out forms for Teddy Bear's school year next year and just generally trying to get myself a bit more organized.

Speaking of which, I had promised to share pictures of my before and after disaster area, a.k.a. my desk. It's not 100% where I would like it to be, but is a vast improvement, which I think you will agree to once you've seen the pictures. I weeded out 3 paper shopping bags worth of papers, not to mention some garbage and some organization bins, etc. that just weren't working for me.I was able to pass on the bins to a friend, who assured me that it was a blessing. I would hate to burden another Mama with stuff she doesn't really need! And so, with out further ado, I present Area 96, in photos!

Before:

I'm ashamed to admit that this is actually after an initial clean up. You couldn't even see the computer before. I hadn't used my desk since last April, before all of my surgeries.

Stacks and stacks! Very messy and disorganized. The desk had become a drop zone for papers and school supplies.

My desk was so bad, that I have our bill paying binder and other important papers around the corner, taking up the hutch, which has also become an Area 96. With my desk being cleared and getting better organized, I will be working on getting all the files, paper work and binders off of the hutch and in a proper place on my desk. Now, as you look at the After pictures, keep in mind I'm not completely finished with this project.

TAAADAAAA! Much better, no? I flipped some things around, got rid of TONS of papers, passed on what didn't work for me and made a few small purchases to achieve how I wanted my desk to look. I would really like a shelved top built for my desk so that things would look and fir better, but it's just not in my dear Hubby's time budget right now.

I took down the bulletin board that had been up on the wall. I bought some frames at the Dollar Tree and printed out some cute sayings. 

I bought the photo boxes at Michael's on sale, they were only $1.40 each! I was able to get 3 drawers cleaned out to use for things I need to get to more often. The wicker paper sorter was left over from the previous tenant of the building our church is currently leasing. We needed to get rid of some of the things left behind, so I snagged this baby. 

As I get more accomplished, I plan on sharing more. If you would like to see where I got the inspiration for my desk, you can follow me on Pinterest, where I have a board called "Home Office Organization & Printables". I'm working on setting up binders for home management, finances, homeschooling, emergency preparedness and homesteading. There are lots of pins for these on my board, and I'll share my binders once I'm done.

Well, I hope you all have a great day today!

Many Blessings,
Kelly

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Busy Mom's Lasagna

Hello, Friends! I just had to share this idea/recipe with you all, it is so amazing. Back a couple of weeks ago when our friend Chris came over to fix the computer, his sweet wife Mandy came with him. While Chris was working on the computer, we swapped recipes and talked about kids, cooking, school and husbands. Somehow we got on the topic of lasagna. My dear hubby and Teddy Bear really like lasagna, but I never really make it because I don't care for the ricotta cheese layer and I don't really want to fuss with the noodles. If we want pasta I just make spaghetti or baked ziti. Mandy said she didn't know why you couldn't just use cheese ravioli for the noodle and cheese layer. I agreed that that sounded like a good idea. And then I didn't think about it again, until this past Sunday when I saw the sales paper for one of our local grocery stores. They had cheese ravioli's on sale for buy one, get one free. And I remembered the lasagna conversation. So on Monday, which is my shopping day, I picked up some ravioli and also scored some sweet Italian sausage on sale.

I put down a little bit of sauce and then a layer of raviolis. Over this layer I added the Italian sausage  mixed with sauce and some sauteed onions.

This is the top of layer #1. After the sauce and meat mixture, I sprinkled some mozzarella on top. Repeat the process for layer #2, making the mozzarella thicker on top if you like. We like!

This isn't a very pretty picture, but this is all that was left after Teddy Bear, Princess, Daddy and I were done with it. It was so yummy! And it was definitely way easier than futzing with lasagna noodles and ricotta cheese. 

Now, if you wanted to streamline the process even more, you could keep precooked hamburger or Italian sausage in the freezer. If you have a day where you do some kitchen prep or cook ahead, you could cook the frozen ravioli's a couple of days ahead of time, too. You could even assemble the whole thing a day or two ahead of time so you could just pop it in the oven to bake while you get a salad or other vegetable together for dinner.

This is definitely a keeper of a recipe at our house! Thank you so much, Mandy, for the awesome idea!!! And I hope that you, Friends, find this as much of a blessing as I did.

Many Blessings,
Kelly

Mid-April Update

Just because I haven't been blogging much doesn't mean I don't have a lot to share! Things have been hopping around here in so many ways. There's garden news to report, chicken news, emergency preparedness news, homemaking news and more! Unfortunately I don't have any pictures to share, but I will when I go into more detail later on in the month.

In the garden, I'm so excited to see the chives coming back, and I believe the catnip is starting again, too. Unfortunately that's it. I've been meaning to get peas and chard started in our raised beds, but my poor, dear hubby hurt his back nearly 3 weeks ago, so I had picked up some of his "chores". This means that my back is sore! So things have not been planted out there yet. In the green house, the Roma tomatoes are doing well, but I am so glad that I started so many, because I only have a fraction of what I started. I'm thinking I may still have to but a few transplants, but at least I have some of our own. The green peppers are ready to get put into newspaper pots, so that needs to be done soon. And we have 2 marigolds, an onion and some lettuce in there thanks to Princess, who is a member of on of our local gardening store's "Kid's Club". She was quite excited about the marigolds because she knows Mama uses them in the beds to keep pests away.

We may not be getting rid of as many of our hens as I had initially thought. It seems we have a hen that is eating eggs, so that is, in part, why we aren't getting as many as we should. I have no idea how to catch the offender without a video camera. But no one will be relocated until we can discover who it is and how many eggs she is dispatching. We've decided to nix the raising of our own meat birds, at least for now. It  is just is too much for this year, but we're looking at our options for obtaining healthy, pasture raised meat for our family.

I've been pretty bad in the emergency preparedness sector, though today I am taking a CPR/First Aid class through our church. I'm excited about this and perhaps it will get me back on track.

Our dear friend, Chris, was able to fix and update our old desk top computer. It is a huge blessing to have this computer, as next year I will be homeschooling Teddy Bear. I was thinking that we might need to purchase another laptop, but it's no longer necessary with the desktop up and running. I have already installed some of the educational games on it and the kids have been having a blast playing "Oregon Trail" and "Where In the World Is Carmen San Diego?". Having the desktop going has also gotten me inspired to get my home office area and desk cleaned up and organized. I have gotten quite a bit done and have been able to bless some other friends of ours with some organizing things because she will be homeschooling all of her children next school year. When I am done getting my desk organized, I will be sharing it in a post with pictures and links that I used for advice and inspiration.

The 2013 sugaring season is pretty much at a close for us. We just have to finish off about 3 gallons that is nearly syrup and we will be done with boiling. I believe my hubby has pulled all the taps and has to get the buckets cleaned and put away for the year. We have had a much better yield this year, so I've been able to bake with it this year!!!

That is all for now, Friends. Hope you have a lovely Saturday.

Many Blessings,
Kelly

Pinterest Inspiration Tuesday: In the Bathroom

O.k., confession time. If I spent nearly as much time actually making the things I pin on Pinterest, I'd be the envy of every crafter, baker, gardener, chicken keeper, mom, wife, homemaker, etc. But I spend too much time "pinning", so I'm the envy of exactly..... no one!

I have actually put some of my pins to good use, so I thought that I would share some of them on a regular basis. I have many boards dedicated to crafts (a mish-mash of sewing crocheting and just general crafts), gardening, chickens, home office organization/printables, recipes, holiday things, kid things, homeschooling, and some that are just funny and inspirational.

Today I thought I would share some things I've done to spruce up our bathroom. I've had the same framed prints in there for a loooong time, and I saw a cute idea for keeping the kids' toothbrushes neat & tidy.

from On the Banks of Squaw Creek

I thought this was just so cute, and a nice reminder for the kiddos (and Mama & Daddy) that we aren't alone, even when we're washing our hands! Now, you can use the link above to go right to the post a download the PDF to print, or you can make your own. I went with the make it yourself option, it's just how I roll!

Now on to more practical matters. My kiddos toothbrush/toothpaste mess on the counter. It seems like every morning and evening I'm hearing "So-and-so used too much toothpaste, so there isn't any more!" or "Hey, that's where MY toothbrush goes!" I saw this lovely solution while perusing the Pinterest boards.

from Ugly Duckling Transformations

I loved how each kiddo has a holder for their own toothbrush and paste. I liked the idea of using mason jars, but I don't really like the look of the pipe fitting metal band thingy, plus I don't have the wall space to mount them to anyway. But I still made it work for my kiddos.

That is SO much better then before! Each child has their own toothpaste, so no more squabbles over who is using too much or what flavor to have. And I can just wash the mason jars out if (when) they get yucky. And they are placed in order of oldest to youngest, so no arguments over which spot is "theirs"!

If you are on Pinterest, you can follow me. Just search for Kelly Boynton and look for the picture of the sap bucket, that's me!

I gotta go now and check on my maple almond granola in the oven. Have a wonderful day, Friends!

Many Blessings,
Kelly

February Updates

Hello, Friends! Since it's been a while since I've posted, I thought I'd include some kitteny cuteness! (Plus I don't really have any pictures to go with my updates!) Here is Oreo and Miller, napping together. Oreo is on vacation up at my mothers, visiting her kitty cousins. Unfortunately her vacation was a necessity, as both her and her brother have reached maturity in a certain area of their lives (nudge, nudge, wink, wink!) and their appointments for "fixing" are not until next week. The kiddos and I really miss her, but Miller seems rather lost without her. He has taken to being my shadow, especially around bedtime. He cuddles with me and follows me around until I'm settled in bed for the night.

Last Sunday our friends from church came over so that the man of the family, Chris, could fix my Internet. Once again he proved to be an absolute wizard!!!! He has also offered to fix up my ancient desktop computer, which has sat over in our mudroom/office for about a year, untouched. I would really like to be able to use the old computer, especially since in all likely hood, I will be homeschooling Teddy Bear next year. Having 2 computers would be wonderful.

There isn't much to really report on the homesteading front, at least not anything happening now. We getting ready to gear up for sugaring season, which we are ramping up this year. We asked some friends that live up the road from us if we could tap their trees, and they very graciously agreed. The trees are easy to get to and there are lots of them! The kiddos and I will be collecting the sap from these trees so that Daddy will only have to worry about the trees down on the road. He doesn't want us collecting those because traffic is heavy down there. 

I've been really lax on planning the garden this year, except for knowing that it's going to be bigger this year! Last fall we expanded the garden plot, so that will need some attention before it's time to plant. I'm thinking of planting our corn their. Tomatoes will be going in containers on the deck this year. I'm hoping this will discourage the horn worms and I know it will keep my chickens away.

I'm planning on starting my herbs, tomatoes and green peppers sometime during this week. I have a plan for starting the tomatoes and green peppers, so that I'll have a better yield from the green peppers and won't have to buy seedlings for the tomatoes. 

My goals for the garden are to grow as many of our own veggies and herbs as I can. Without having a planned surgery this summer, I will be taking over the garden again. I'm a bit nervous, but more excited to get going. 

Miller is applying for some undercover spy work in the Middle East. He's got the head wrap down, but I'm thinking  that he might want to forgo the red, white & blue color scheme. I'm thinking earth tones might be more appropriate.

It's taken me some time, but I've reached the stage where I'm seriously considering raising our own meat birds this year. We will have to have help when it comes time to butcher, but I'm pretty sure we can do it. I'm also realizing that it may be time to cull our flock. We have some ladies that just aren't pulling their weight. We can't afford to feed hens that aren't laying. This means having to say goodbye to some sweet feathered friends, but it needs to be done. I have 2 girls that I know for sure may need to go, as they are the only 2 "Big Girls" that lay blue eggs. We've only gotten 2 eggs from these ladies since early in the fall. I'm giving them until late March or early April to pick it up.

Well, it's time to get going. I hope you all have a great day!

Many Blessings,
Kelly

Homemade Peppermint Mocha Syrup

Peppermint Mocha seems to be THE flavor this winter. And for good reason, too; it's yummy! I was seriously mourning when the last of my half pound of peppermint mocha coffee dribbled into my mug last week. It had been a gift and I'm just too cheap thrifty to buy more. What's a Mama to do? After a couple days of bumming, I came up with a solution. I made my own syrup to flavor coffee, hot chocolate and even milk. Peppermint Mocha Syrup is soooo good and easy to make.

Peppermint Mocha Syrup

1 Cup of cocoa powder

1 C. sugar

2 C. brewed coffee (I used decaf)

4 candy canes, crushed

In a medium sauce pan combine all ingredients with a whisk over medium-high heat. 

Stir occasionally until it comes to a boil. Turn down heat and let simmer until all of the candy pieces have dissolved. Store in the fridge until needed!

See, simple to make and great to enjoy. It would also be great over ice cream or in milk shakes. Hope you like this and have a great day!

Many Blessings,

Kelly

Thrifty Thursday: Recycling Last Year's Calendar

Due to technical difficulties, this is very late in posting!

I know this is a bit late, considering that this is the 10th of January, but don't they say "Better late then never."?

These days, calendars can be expensive. Yes, some businesses and organizations give out free ones and if you are lucky, you just might like the free one! Or you might find that you hate to toss last years calendar just because the year has changed. That was the case for me. Last year's calendar had handy pockets and it fit in just the right spot on the fridge. I really didn't want to get rid of it, and I like the art work, too. So I decided to give it a face lift for 2013.

Last year's calendar. Love the illustrations on the pocket at the bottom!

Blank calendar page that I made using Microsoft Word. I printed the calendars
out on card stock, both for durability and so that last year's calendar wouldn't
show through.

Using double stick tape on the corners, I carefully lined up the new page and VOILA!!!! 2013 rolls in all thrifty and good looking!

Have a great day, Friends!
Many Blessings,
Kelly

Thrifty Thursday: Christmas Decor & More!

I know it's Friday! I meant to write this yesterday, but my trip into town lasted much longer than I had planned, so I ran out of time. It's been a while since I have done a "Thrifty Thursday" post, not for lack of things to share though! I just don't know how these ladies that blog daily have the time on top of everything else!

Anywho, I thought I would share a few tips for Christmas decor and my latest sewing project that will help with both our budget and our goal to be better stewards of this planet.

TAA DAAAA! Cloth "paper" towels! I've seen this idea before online, but the last time I saw it was a post that was linked up to Homestead Revival's Barn Hop. So Saturday I used the last of the paper towels, and thought that I hated to have to buy more. We're rather crunched for money this month and I'm cutting as many things from our budget as I can. So I looked at my dear hubby and said "What would you think of using cloth paper towels? I'm pretty sure I have all the material I need to make them." He thought for a moment and, to my surprise and joy, answered, "Sure. Can we keep a roll of regular paper towels for in case the cats get sick, though?" I agreed that that was a good idea, but they have to stay under the kitchen sink. And then I got busy hunting down some terry cloth I was pretty sure I had squirreled away.

Now, the terry cloth is not my choice of colors, but it was what I have, and I have YARDS of it! I decided to make some Christmas ones because I also have about 3 yards of that as well from years ago. I used the tutorial from My Healthy Green Family. I didn't do snaps, nor do I plan to. I just re purposed a small basket to hold them and set it right where the paper towel holder sat on the counter.

 If you are wiping up something that might stain and you want to keep them looking as nice as possible, rinse them in cool water immediately! Our first major spill was pizza sauce, and I figured that I'd have a stained one, but after wiping up the initial mess, I rinsed it out will cool water to finish cleaning up and there was hardly any discoloration. I was also surprised at the whole incident because it was Wheels that spilled the sauce and as he reached for a paper towel and realized it was a cloth one, I thought he'd sputter about it, but he just went with it without a complaint. I think it helps that they are on the same spot as the paper ones! Now I just need to make a wet bag for the dirties!

Here is another thrifty tip; tie your cupboards shut so your hubby and kiddos can't get to the food!!! Just kidding! This is a bow on the cabinet door that I made from some homespun fabric. This was a curtain that I had made years ago and haven't used in a long time, so I just cut a little notch and tore the hems off, then continued to tear strips off of. I've always wanted to do the bows on the cabinet doors, but have always been too cheap thrifty to buy the amount of ribbon I would need. Even if I hadn't re purposed this material and had bought it new, 1 yard would have cost less than a spool of ribbon and have been more than enough to do the job!

All of the cupboards along one wall. I think it looks so pretty and festive!

A bow in the middle of my DIY lighted garland in the living room. Our living room, dining room and kitchen are all open to one another, so using the same material through each "room" helps tie things together.



I used another strip of cloth around my canning jar caddy, which is also my utensil caddy. You can use what you have to add some festive flare to your home, too! The cream colored bowl is the usual bowl I use to hold our fresh fruit in, but I put it on top of the red cake stand to add some zip. And the egg basket is in it's usual place on the counter. I had the food processor on the counter, but decided to move it to clear some of the counter.

This isn't the best picture thanks to the glare, but this is a Christmas hymn/carol subway art. I've seen some on Pinterest, and there are some free printable ones, but I wanted to make my own. I used the Word Art in Microsoft Works on my laptop and added a bit of clip art as well. I printed it on some off white card stock. I made 2 subway art prints for our bedroom with the names of Jesus. They came out beautiful, if I may say so myself. And I made yet one more, in the living room.

The dinner menu board even got a Christmas makeover! This is just some computer paper I have. I was going to do a subway art print with all of the Christmas goodies we like and I make, but I didn't want to spend the time. And believe me, you can waste spend lots of time on this project. Of course, it wasn't until after I made the prints that I thought to look up free fonts in Pinterest. And I found many, but then I hit the mother load! Dafont.com has TONS of free fonts!! I even found fonts that look like the writing in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Ring series!! My geeky heart swelled with joy at the thought of making my own nerd subway art. (I totally admit to being a huge fan of the Tolkien books and movies. I even named one of our chickens Arwen and I dressed up as Frodo this past Halloween for the kids Book Character Parade at school. Never would have figured me for suck a wacko, huh?)

I hope this gives you some ideas!

Many Blessings,
Kelly

 

Christ Centered Crafts and Decorating for Christmas

This is our Advent wreath for this year. I know the candles aren't the traditional purple and pink, but I couldn't find them this year without running all over town and then spending a small fortune on a set. I have the colors in the table runner, so I'm not going to stress about having the "right" candles!

I added some twine to the gold ribbon, after removing the cardinals and red berries from last year. I like the juxtaposition between the earthy, humble twine and the shiny gold ribbon. It reminds me of the fact that my Lord and King humbled himself by becoming human and was born in a stable.

After scraping candle wax off the plate I use to set the wreath on, I decided to put some tin foil down to catch drips, and I thought it might help reflect some of the candle light.

I put down the Nativity table runner and put out our Christmas books. The kiddos are getting older, but I thought they might still want to look at them, and maybe they just might let me read one or two to them!

I wanted something Christmas-y for our living room art work. So using some scrap booking paper that I have had for a while, I put this together. I'm pretty pleased with it, even if my daughter thought it was a picture of a tipi at first glance!

A pocket chart about Advent. I realized that we have been celebrating Advent for a couple of years now, but I don't know as though I have really shared what it is all about with the kids. I purchased the pocket chart at the Dollar Tree. I just used scrap booking paper to make the candles and flames. the white strips came with the chart, so I just used those to write on. We'll attach the flames in correspondence to when we light the candles on out wreath. I'm going to add Scripture verses to go with each week's theme.

This morning after I finished baking and the kiddos had had a wonderful time playing together in the snow, they came in to hot cocoa and crafts!

This is a "Colors of Faith" Christmas tree. I've had the glittery foam trees for years, bought at Michael's when the value packs were 40% off. I purchased a package of  rhinestones at Jo Ann's to be used as "ornaments" on the trees. I just typed out what the colors represented. We used hot glue to attach the gems and a ribbon hanger.

I used a heart shaped cookie cutter to trace heart shapes onto red and white card stock. The kids used double stick tape to attach the hearts together and then added the candy cane sticker. I have to print out the "Legend of the Candy Cane" to go with these ornaments.

I admit to shamelessly copying this word for word from an ornament I saw in a catalog. It was a pre-made one, not one that you craft, so I used scrap booking paper to make this. The dark blue is actually a glittery paper, and the lighter blue is standard size card stock. I used Microsoft Word on my computer to type this up and used the clip art for the Baby Jesus picture. The star is a glittery foam sticker. I put 2 back to back over the twine hanger. Just a note, if you use the glittery card stock, you really need to use double stick tape to attach the other paper, a glue stick doesn't hold.

This year, after much inner debate, I finally decided to do a Jesse Tree again. Last year I printed out ornaments that we colored, and we used a poster tree. This year I used the same devotional so I knew what symbols to have and used Microsoft Word clip art for the ornaments. We'll hang them on a little evergreen tree that I have already. One of these days I would love to make some felt ornaments, but I just don't have the time (or energy!) for this year!

I hope that these gave you some ideas to use in your own homes, Friends! Have a lovely day.
Many Blessings,
Kelly

Planning for Christmas and Advent

I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving, Friends. We had three lovely Thanksgivings, and now I am thankful it is Monday! All joking aside, we did have a wonderful holiday weekend filled with family and food. But I am truly thankful to get back into the swing of things today.

I usually do the weekly shopping on Mondays, but this week is a bit different. So I spent the time I am usually in town on other domestic pursuits. I ran the dishwasher and got a jump start on laundry day, which is tomorrow. Then I got out the sewing machine and made 2 lovely double sided table runners. See:

A beautiful Nativity print. I'm going to use it for a family altar, as soon
as I figure out where I want it!

St. Nicholas on the other side. The runner will be on this side for only a few
days before St. Nicholas Day, Dec. 6.

Advent table runner. I knew I wanted a purple table runner for the dining room
table for Advent, since that is where we have our Advent wreath out. But do you think I
could find a purple Christmas print that did not have snowmen, etc. on it? Of course not!
But I found this lovely homespun fabric in purple, with bit of pink in it, and it has
pink and purple glittery threads running through it. It's absolutely perfect!

The flip side, for Valentine's Day, but I'm thinking I might flip it to this side on the 3rd week
of Advent, when we light the pink candle. We'll see!

I also started a notebook for Advent and Christmas ideas. I cut some pictures from a catalog of craft items because they gave me great ideas on somethings to make with the kids.

This way I don't have to keep the whole catalog, and I can write notes about any changes I'd make or materials I'd use. I plan on sketching some ideas for ornaments, too.

I have been working on my holiday planner, as well.

I had to add a new cover, and I'm working on the inside, too.When I have more done, I'll share.

Thanks to Joybilee Farm blog, I have gotten some new Kindle books on Advent and Christmas for FREE!! So far the ones that I have read have given me some ideas on how to celebrate and focus our family on the true reason for the season: Jesus. I'm still working on whether or not I want to try to do a Jesse Tree again this year, and looking to add other meaningful activities.

I'd love to hear from you and how you celebrate Advent and Christmas. You can leave a comment below, or "like" Homespun Inspirations on facebook.

Hope you have a lovely evening.

Many Blessings,
Kelly