Easy Peasy Blouse

Well you all know I like to do things where it costs the least amount of money or no money at all. Now this doesn't mean I am the best at doing things right financially I have and do make mistakes. But this one was a fun, easy, and cheap thing I wanted to share. The directions for this blouse are here. I don't want to repeat what she wrote since her tutorial is easy to follow and it would be redundant for me to repeat

Start out with a men's dress shirt, we found several at our YW/YM yard sale a few weeks ago. The kids help out at the sale and this helps pay for their camps over the summer. Towards the end of the sale we start selling the clothing for as much as you can stuff in a walmart bag, 2 bucks. So I usually start going through the clothes as that point and start filling a bag or two. By then most of the good stuff is gone which is a good thing and what is left at the end we donate since we don't want to store them till the next year.

But this year we found some dress shirts that were perfect for what we wanted to try.

Ashley wanted to keep the sleeves long so we didn't do anything to them. This top I did and it is really cute on her she has another shirt shes going to sew now that I know what to do and can answer her questions.

I also found instructions on turning a dress shirt into an apron. Hubby has today off so I going to enjoy the day with him.

Love,

Erika

at the cottage....

Yesterday was a dreary day, it being overcast and rainy. Poor hubby had to work in it and came home cold and wet.  Over the weekend we went to Baton Rouge and the kiddos went to grandma's they are old enough to stay on their own, but love to visit with grandma so off they went. Soon they won't want to anymore so grandma enjoy it while you can, they are growing up to fast and in just a couple of months I will have an 18 year old. She deparately wants to stay a child.

Her and her 2 kids are having fun bonding one has taken to the bottle very nicely the other still fights it some but is eating. She introduced them to science fiction last night or at least the TV she said they weren't inpressed. To the barn they go in the next day or two though.

 

With the dark and dreary day we had oil lamps and candles burning all afternoon. Very cozy almost like having a woodstove or fireplace.

Algebra is still a chore no matter what you have on though. Well that is Wyatt's opinion, he and I have started doing it together to make it a competition to see who finishes first and who gets the most right. Whatever it takes!

All the animals enjoyed their little places to nap. Mary loves the couch along with the cats. For family home evening we talked about our favorite scriptures, we all had new ones since the last night we shared them so it was fun.

I ordered coconut flour from the health food store and it came in last week. So yesterday I made brownies with it...
Fudgy Coconut Flour Brownies
1 cup butter (I used coconut oil)
1 c cocoa powder
9 eggs (yes you read that right 9)
1 c honey
3/4 tsp sea salt
3/4 c coconut flour

butter 9x13 pan and preheat oven to 350
-melt butter, remove from heat add cocoa set aside
-in separate bowl beat eggs add honey, vanilla, salt, and whisk well.
-add coconut flour a little at a time to avoid lumps whisk well to keep it from clumping.
-add cocoa powder mix and whisk well again to avoid clumps.
Bake 20 to 30 minutes.

You don't need as much coconut flour because it is absorbant and expands...a lot! This filled the 9x13 pan I used, not to the top but they were nice brownies.

I like the fact that they have honey instead of white sugar. I have been trying to avoid white sugar and lessen our use of it and other sweetners it takes time since we all have a sweet tooth.

I saw a sign the other day that read, "You can't climb a hill by staring at it, you take it one step at a time." So true it goes along with how you eat an elephant, one bite at a time. Slow and steady wins the race.

Ashley working on her quilt yesterday. She is doing great on it and only has needed my help to get her started. She is my late bloomer most people think she is the younger of my two, and she would gladly change places with Wyatt.

But she is coming into her own these last few months and I think she blooming late is just right for her.

I worked on my cross-stitch project in the cool breeze.

And here is a dark, blurry picture of most of the     
top finished.                                                                   Today Wyatt is peeling a few dozen quail eggs to sell at the health food store. And Ashley mixed up a double batch of Buttermilk Sprouted Wheat dough for rolls for dinner.

 

And the brothers, Buster and Lucky, are sleeping on the cat blanket on our bed. It is the cat blanket because they love it so much and Pippin sucks on it while he kneads it.

I hope your day is as relaxing as theirs is...

Love, Erika

End of....Beginning of....

A brand new year...again...didn't we just celebrate a new year yesterday? Well it seems like it, it all is going so fast the older I get.

I am sitting on our little front porch listening to the birds, we've had a wonderful last day of the year. Though this is posting on the first day I am writing it the last day. Right now as this posts I am getting ready for church, or at church, etc etc. 

Our weather was sunny and in the 70's absolutely lovely, Ashley and I walked the trail, Wyatt stayed home he has finished with his cycling, hubby is working, we cleaned the duck house, put an area together in our other poultry house for our new babies, little ducklings. They are the offspring of our ducks now, a friend hatched some of the eggs in his new incubator and gave us some of the babes for payment instead of paying for the 4 dozen eggs. They are cuties, and were born on Christmas day.

The sun is getting closer and closer to the horizon of the trees and the sun oven was outside all afternoon cooking part of dinner. I refurbished a blouse for Ashley she found at the thrift store this week, her and I had the week to ourselves while Wyatt was at winter camp for scouts, he had fun and so did we. This morning I had oatmeal with fermented cranberry, apple, and orange relish it was yummy and full of good probiotics. I found the recipe on Gnowfglins last week and had to try it since all those items are in season, and that is another goal this year eating in season and more back to the basics of food.

As I think of the coming year I plan on working on many projects and work on things inside and out, me and the house. Hubby and I bought ourselves a new dining room table for Christmas, new to us, it is an antique farm house table that I just love. And with our Christmas money from my dad hubby let me buy a 1940's Hoosier cabinet from a friend it needs TLC and work but it was a steal and I am really happy with it. So this spring while not working in the garden and the many other things we need to do I will be working on refurbishing it and will show you as I do. It has been a treat researching them and learning more about ours.

We are going to put in an outside kitchen on an existing concrete pad, install 2 homes for bees, setup and garden in a new 50x75 foot area this goes along with the one we already have, and the kids and I are looking for goats. Since I have had them before I am looking for a certain kind, breed, etc. And Wyatt wants another horse that is something I doubt we will be doing but ya never know. Oh and the kids and I want to put in a cottage garden for our herbs and some flowers, we want to put in a gold fish pond as well.

I also am going to work on me, I have survived this depression/anxiety/panic attack thing for over a year and have learned so much about myself. I have been reading a wonderful book that has taught me a lot and I am working on the 6 steps it teaches, The Depression Cure; The 6-step Program to Beat Depression without Drugs. 

So much is happening in the world, but I can control what happens within our home and that includes our little paradise in the woods. So that is another goal to work on this year working and keeping the enviroment within our home a paradise and truly loving it.

We can go on and on with what we want and plan on doing this year but in the end it is continuing on way we have been, tweeking where we have faltered, adding or discontinuing, and striving daily to stick to the path we have chosen.

I hope your year is one of mystery and joy as you step through your days, yes they are speeding up it seems, dark clouds seem to be on the horizon, the future in blank, and there are so many what ifs. But I want to see today for today and let tomorrow wait to be dealt with tomorrow, I want to relearn to savor today and let the worries for an unknown future go and trust in the Lord.

"See" you throughout the coming year, hopefully with the fruits of our labors to show you....but that is for tomorrow and I want to savor today.

Love,

Erika