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Sunday, June 24, 2018

Challenging Myself to Be a Good Steward of Our Blessings -- Homemade Home

The littles visiting the sno-cone truck at the library summer reading program party!
Hi Friends!

Hope everyone is enjoying a happy and relaxing weekend. It's a bit overcast today and a lot cooler than normal and that always puts me in the mood for cozy living! Jamie and I are very close to being able to purchase our home and are super excited! We've been having a lot of money management talks lately, trying to figure out how to make the best use of our resources. We'll be married twenty years next month and it's interesting how things have changed.

As you can imagine, raising nine children is a challenge in many ways---no matter how deep one's pool of resources is. However, we've really struggled financially over the years---mainly because of our own poor decision making skills. What we're finding lately is that now that Jamie is bringing in more income than we actually need for survival, we're not being as careful as we once were about managing that income in a responsible way. We eat out a lot, purchase things on impulse--often without actually using them right away, and haven't increased our giving at church in a long time.

This past week, we've had some great talks about being better stewards of the blessings God's given us and one way we want to do that is by going back to keeping our kitchen stocked so we can cook and bake from scratch. I'm excited to go out shopping this week and fill up those cupboards and freezers again!

In the meantime, we've been busy in the kitchen! This morning I made banana bread and last night I made some molasses cookies for the freezer. Here's a look at some other fruits of our weekend labor:


Saturday morning I made these pretty blueberry muffins and received several sweet compliments.


Then I made some bread for the first time in several months. Isn't it gorgeous? I made more this morning. Everyone's loving the fresh homemade bread!


After that, Jamie made TWO lovely blackberry pies with berries the kids have been gathering from all over our hills.

Unfortunately, the kids have also been gathering ticks from our hills! Yikes! I mixed up a repellent spray using Young Living's Purification and Peppermint oils and tested it on Selah and Cainan. They had ticks on them when they came back from picking, but none had bitten. I read recently that Arkansas has the highest tick population. GAG! They are everywhere!


Friday night we picked up an order from Bountiful Baskets. Do you have that in your area? We are trying it out for a bit to see what we think. The prices are comparable to Aldi for what you get, but the quality is much fresher. I love Aldi but I often find that their produce goes bad too quickly. We got a good mix of nice fruits and vegetables---bok choy being something new to us! I made a simple stir fry at dinner, combining it with chicken, garlic, plenty of salt and pepper, and sesame oil. It was delicious!

I'm on the hunt for blogs with frugal tips and recipes. Let me know your favorites in the comments below!

7 comments:

  1. Your home is always so cozy. The homemade food looks great and I can almost smell it! Sorry about the ticks!

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  2. My husband thanks you for inspiring me to get back to old fashioned meals! I really enjoy this blog (reading all the archived posts!), and your literature blog. Thank you so much for sharing the books! The feel of both of your blogs is so comfortable and inviting. Have a blessed day! Donna in North Carolina

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  3. Your blackberry pie is such a pretty color and is generously filled with more fruit than any berry pie I've ever seen. Scrumptious. These loaves of bread probably quickly disappeared and made a satisfying sandwich. One of my married daughters shops at Aldi and even followed some of their meal plans for the freezer. I admire your cozy living. We've gotten Lyme Disease from those tiny red and black deer ticks and so when one gets attached we remove it carefully and mail it to a lab in our state that tests for the top 3 diseases they carry here. Karen in Pennsylvania

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  4. I was so happy to have you drop by. I read your blog all the time, but may not leave a commit. I enjoy hearing and seeing how the kiddos are doing. They all growing much too fast. Thank you for thinking of me.

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  5. Great to read a new post from you. I love frugal tips and my favorite is this one: https://www.onehundreddollarsamonth.com/meal-planning-and-grocery-shopping-trips-week-25-of-52/ . I'm excited to hear about your upcoming home purchase and pray all goes well. Blessings to you and yours.

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  6. Glad to see you posting again. Since my diagnosis, I haven't been very frugal. Things are about to change around here. I need to get the kitchen stocked and get busy, too.
    Hugs,
    Laura

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Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment! I read each one of them and love to respond back to those who visit! Please consider signing up for EMAIL NOTICES so you'll have a reminder of our weekly HOMEMAKING PARTY---and more! Have a wonderful day!

Mrs. Sarah Coller

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