I want a smaller house. I told my husband this the other night and he looked at me as if I had gone mad. Right now we live in a decent sized 4 bedroom house with a living room, dining room, recreation room, large laundry room, and two bathrooms. We live here with our 5 kids plus the one due in May. Our house is 100 years old and has great bones. I wouldn’t call it beautiful but it is very nice and does the job of sheltering us perfectly.
I still want a smaller house. My idea of a good sized house is a master bedroom, a room for the boys, a room for the girls, a dining room (only so that we can seat our family together at meals) a living room (big enough for our couch, table, sewing machine and computer), a laundry room, and one or two bathrooms. A nice sized storage area would be helpful, too. My store inventory does need a place to live.

Yes, this does sound big but we have more than this now and every room is completely full of furniture. It all just feels like too much. I would really love to downsize, get rid of stuff, and live in closer quarters so I can be closer to my children all day, everyday.
My dear husband tells me to get used to it, that this is the smallest house we will have from now on. YECK!

Why is it lately that I feel the need to simplify everything? Smaller house, pre-made frozen meals (homemade), and reduction of junk. Maybe this is just part of my nesting this time around or maybe I am just wanting a simpler, cheaper, easier life.
I want so badly just to throw stuff away. I look at something out of place and my first thought is “toss it”. I cannot exactly do that – it would end up costing us more money in the long run, but I am just tired of having so much stuff with no where to put it all. I feel like a smaller house would force us to get rid of those things we really don’t need. It would cause us to have to re-evaluate our “need” standard.
My husband is in the Navy so we will be selling this house in just over a year and shortly after we will be moving across the country again. Maybe our next house will be the house of my dreams, maybe not. I am satisfied that God will put us where He wants us and I will be happy with it.
I am not really complaining, just having some feelings about our material surroundings. God has blessed our family with so much and I don’t want to clutter and suffocate that with stuff we don’t need.

Has this ever happened to you?
You are sitting with your family, young children and all, watching a new classic that you remember loving as a child, when suddenly you burst out making crazy noises drawing much confused attention to yourself. While doing this you are up searching for the remote, simply trying to turn the screen off, but you can’t do it fast enough so you continue screeching and dancing around like a crazy person until you can get to the TV’s power button.
Yes, I have done this. Many of you with children already know why.
It has come to my attention in the last year or so that not all movies I remember watching as a child are appropriate for my children. I also have learned that my memory is horrible as I don’t really recall much about these movies, only that I like them. My parents were somewhat sheltering so I have been completely surprised at what I was allowed to watch and even more surprised that my husband saw these flicks as a child as well.
I have come to the conclusion that my memory isn’t enough and I have to go back to screening everything that I haven’t seen in the last few years, that or perfect my attention diverting dance of lunacy.
And, just a tip here, “Short Circuit” and “Spaceballs”, both which I saw around age 11, are NOT appropriate for children, no matter how fond a memory you have of them.

I LOVE Frugal Fridays on Biblical Womanhood’s awesome blog. This one may not be popular. For years it wasn’t a popular idea in our family either. Over time, and with more children filling our house and better ideas of how we wanted to spend our days, the idea of no TV became much more ideal for us.

I wrote a blog on no TV a while back. It talked about our turning point when it came to television which had little, if nothing, to do with saving money. We have noticed since then how much money we actually save – and not just on cable alone! Let me explain.

Cable and satellite subscriptions aren’t cheap ($30 – $60 is average from what we have seen). You end up getting roped in to channels you didn’t know you had to have and when you miss a good show on a station that you don’t subscribe to you feel jipped.
Set aside the cost of the actual subscription. What about the commercials? You didn’t know you needed all that stuff to make your life more pleasant, did you? That special spatuala, that neat juicer that promises to make you 50 lbs lighter in 3 weeks, and the duster sent down from heaven itself so you could sit back and watch Opera while it cleans your house for you.
The truth is that the spatula broke the third time you used it, the juicer is covered with cobwebs on top of your refrigerator and the magic duster is in the babies toy box, collecting dust with all those other toys you saw on TV and just had to get him.

Turning off your TV can literally save you thousands a year.

If you are struggling with turning off your TV try this website. Trash Your TV can help you in your decision to cut those thick TV strings. They offer information and statistics to help you make the right choice for your family and tips to help families overcome TV’s addictive effects. Just give it a try!

Co-ops are groups of people who get together to buy bulk from manufacturers to get a discounted price. Sometimes the discount isn’t great but much of the time you can get great items for close to wholesale pricing!

We use cloth diapers (Fuzzi Bunz, Rumpsters, and a few others thrown in here and there). These newer cloth diapers are so easy – no rinsing or soaking needed. Our first cloth diaper stash was over $200 but we made up that cost in just a few months of not having to buy disposables! Also, many modern cloth diapers have an excellent resale value and can be resold on eBay for just a small bit under what they cost new!
We also use cloth wipes in a wipes warmer with a really great wipes solution that I make here at home. I use cloth feminine pads (preggers now so I don’t need them). There are also other reusable feminine protection products if you don’t like pads. The keeper, I think, is one of them. You can find many different options if you Google “reusable feminine products”.

We use the same kind of baby cloth wipes as our swiffer refills. I mix water with whatever cheap cleaning formula we can get and we soak the wipes in a Gladware container until they are needed ~ very convenient!

When I need them I use cloth nursing pads, too. I have some by Mother Eve that are contoured to fit in a bra so they don’t bunch up and show funny shapes through my shirt. They are so much more comfortable than paper.

We have saved thousands of dollars by using cloth over the years. I am SO VERY lazy but the switch wasn’t tough like I thought it would be!

Every so often I get the feeling that I need to tell my story. I don’t know where the feeling comes from or who it is, if anybody, that may need to hear an encouraging story of somebody who made it out of the miry clay. Maybe it is for me, so I don’t forget. Maybe you have a similar story, or your child is going through something much like what I put myself through.
Either way, here it is in its abridged form.

My daughter, Kait, is 11. We had an amazing talk the other night (we always have amazing talks) and I was impressed, as always, at her ability to grasp and understand tough subjects. She has a heart for God and a love for Jesus. The talk we had was of our past, of where we have come from and how we got where we are now. Kait doesn’t remember, but I do. She and I were in it together and how close we are now is a reflection of the path she and I have shared, even though she has no recall of it. I have, over the years, given her the age appropriate details so that she can see the truth about sin, redemption, and God’s faithful promise of forgiveness.

Up until the weeks preceding my marriage to my dear husband my life was in disarray. I was 22 then and I already had a 2 year old child out of the sanctity of marriage, a very low paying job, absolutely no ambition, trouble to get into, parties to go to, an eviction and loss of almost everything (much of what didn’t belong to me), and many other things that my non-Christian life called for.
By the time Ryan and I married I was ready for a break from my sinful, painful past. Like Hosea, my husband swept me and my lovely 2 year old daughter away from our path to eternal death but unlike Hosea’s wife, I stuck around out of sheer desperation. Ryan was my rock. I felt no need for anything but the gift of him. It was only months before I followed my husband as he led me to Christ. A year later I was baptized. That is when I found true contentment.

My dear daughter will be 12 in January. She is a beautiful picture of a Christian girl. I feel I can honestly say that the sins of my past will not fall on her head and I give all thanks and glory to the Lord for her firm grasp of His word and her desire to live it everyday. Ryan loved her as a daughter from the get go and he adopted her when she was 3. All of her memories are of a completely united family. She knows the truth about our past (or as much as she can understand at her age) and although she is appalled at my behavior, she loves seeing how much God loves us and how he pulled her dear mother out of the depths of death even after such horrible sin. Kait sees what God’s grace has done for her. She understands that she was not the sin, it was my sin that got us in trouble; however, Kait knows that her life would be much different if it weren’t for God’s saving grace.

Changes are possible. Complete 180’s happen. If I can change anybody can.

I will warn you that the following story may not be suitable for all readers. I did my best to condense it and keep it as safe as possible, but the nature of these events may lead a child to ask questions you may not be ready to answer. Please review it before allowing young eyes to read it.

Last week I had the awesome privilege of hearing a dear young friend give her testimony at a Care Net fund raiser. Her motivation behind giving her tear jerking story was to help draw people closer to Christ, help motivate people to donate money to this wonderful Christian organization, to let others out there know that God can make beauty out of the most horrific events and circumstances, and that, yes, you do have a choice!

Shortly after graduating high school, my friend, who we will call Faith, left home to start a life on her own. A new Christian, she found herself easily drawn into a not so Christian crowd. She was having fun, making friends, and feeling free.
After an evening of watching movies with a new girl friend, Faith decided it wouldn’t hurt to crash on the couch of her new friend’s home. This small decision would forever change her life.

In the middle of the night she awoke to an intruder attacking her in the worst way, stealing her innocence, opening her eyes to true evil.
She ran away immediately and left all of the new friends she was making and the new life she was living. She never wanted to see them again.
Denial gripped her. She told nobody and pretended nothing happened. She turned away from Jesus, and struggled day by day to make the pain go away.
Months later Faith could deny it no longer because she was with child. She had to deal with what had happened and she had a choice to make.

In spite of all of the pain, the memories, and the knowledge that few would blame her if she decided to do the unthinkable, SHE CHOSE LIFE, and life did happen in a most glorious way.

I met her when she moved to our town to stay with a friend, have the baby, and bless another family with a child. In those months my family became dear friends with this amazing young lady. She did ultimately turn back to God and has gone through this whole process with such grace and a peace that only comes from Him. She has an unbelievable spirit and has touched and changed my and so many others lives during her ordeal.

During her trial Faith managed to turn her horror, with God’s hand, into something so beautiful and right. Her positive outlook has been a blessing to everybody around her and her selfless decision has warmed the hearts of countless people, even if she never realizes it.

She has gone back home now and lives hundreds of miles away. I miss her dearly. She had a beautiful baby who is now an amazing blessing to a once childless family.
Faith is a testimony to the true nature of God and His ultimate saving grace. She is and has given birth to living proof that God can and will make anything beautiful, no matter how ugly, if only we let Him.

I will never forget Faith for as long as I live. She has changed my life forever.

Today was my first official day of having morning sickness. It wasn’t too bad. Light nausea has plagued me since the moment I woke up this morning but I was able to eat and that is good. I feel bad but I also feel good at the same time. Morning sickness has always been a relief for me. I usually know I am having a baby before that but when the morning sickness hits it becomes real to me and I feel like I can get excited about it. I know, I am weird.

Still looking for that Zucchini Soup recipe!
I know you have one – GIVE IT UP ALREADY!!!

Tomorrow is Friday! I love Friday because it is my nothing day. I have nothing to do, nothing on the schedule, and nowhere to go. I really enjoy Fridays!

Cute baby clipart provided by A Baby Resource

I have never been a very organized or tidy person. This has been a struggle for me for as long as I can remember. I was a saver of everything that *might* hold significance and that meant clutter and junk in every available space.

My mother was a saver. She found sentimental meaning in everything we touched as children. That is not bad, but it did teach me that it was completely normal to hold onto everything. Storage boxes filled with keepsakes filled every closet and corner. I remember, after marrying my born organized husband, hearing him me that my stuff was driving him crazy. Every time we moved (a lot – he is in the navy) we had to go through everything again, reorganize my many storage containers, and then he had to lug them and stack them in creative ways to make them all fit in whatever space we could find. The more my family grew the more I had to hold on to.

My saver mother decided to declutter – I can remember her starting this when I was still in high school but it didn’t really take hold until I was out of the house. She still couldn’t get rid of all those sentimental items so she gave them to me saying “this isn’t something you sell on eBay”.
I would bring these things home and my husband would say “no!”, we have too much stuff. Trying to give it back to my mother would be impossible so I just went out and purchased a rubbermade and added it to our every growing stack of storage containers.

A few years ago the Navy moved us from a 5 bedroom house in SC and gave my family of 6, plus one on the way, a 850 sq. ft., 3 bedroom house in RI. This house was SMALL and either we lived in it like a 2 bedroom or we got rid of my beloved stuff.

It took 2 full weeks of working about 5 or 6 hours everyday to go through all our stuff. I probably rid my family of more than 10 big boxes of junk, a closet full of old clothes, and more old books than I could count. I felt so guilty at first, sure I would need this or that, or I would end up regretting trashing my favorite something or other (see, I cannot even remember what I got rid of!) After a while it got easier and the more I trashed and gave away the lighter I began to feel.

So here we are now, 5 kids and one on the way and I have less junk than I did 5 years ago. I am still not very organized, and I struggle with a schedule and keeping my home in order, but I don’t have the junk to wade through that I used to have which makes training myself much easier.

The gal over at Rocks In My Dryer has this great little thing called Works-For-Me Wednesdays. I actually went hoping to gather some tips but I got a little excited and decided to add one to the mix.

One thing that works for me is having a greeting card stash. I have never been good at remembering anything and doing things last minute has become impossible with my five kids in tow.
So, I ended up purchasing a nice colorful card box from a neighbor kid doing a fund raiser. It has categories for all different kinds of cards and was ready to be filled. My problem was that greeting cards have gotten a bit pricey and to fill it was impossible without taking out a loan. Trying my best to make use of my pretty new card box, I walked down to our local Grandma Shop (a garage sale type thrift store). Sure enough they had a ton of un-used greeting cards for sale on their front counter at only $.10 each!

Now I have greeting cards available all the time and I actually use them! Notes of encouragement are my favorite to give and I try to keep blank on the inside and Christian themed cards in my box at all times to give to friends and family who are feeling down for one reason or another. I also love having thank you cards ready. When somebody does something nice, even if it is small, I can whip out a card and drop it in the mail right away!
Not only has it kept me from forgetting to say thank you but it has helped my kids to have a more thankful attitude towards others. They see me making the effort to get a card out and it raises its level of importance in their minds.

Greeting cards:
Good for my friends
Good for my family
Good for my kids
Good for me