Oh Fall, how I love thee, let me count the ways

Goodbye Summer

(this photo is borrowed from THIS website)

Hello fall

(this was taken in our front yard, of my favorite little tree that sits right in front of our house)

Man, I love fall food. Way better than summer food. Yes, I love a good cookout, grilling steaks, cold drinks and all that, but there's something about fall food. It's warm, its filling, its just plain yummy. 

I have found so many awesome fall recipes lately, I don't know when I'll have time to try them all. I will certainly try, though! Here are a few of my favorites...

(PW's Pumpkin Smoothie looks DELISH, can't wait to try this)

(PW's carrot-thyme soup, never thought of this before!)

(PW's Caveman Pops, I am trying these this week!)

(this skillet recipe looks yummy!)

(these stuffed peppers look amazing! I would substitute the sausage for ground turkey to make it a bit healthier, though) 

To celebrate Halloween, we carved a pumpkin the other night, well Ross did. This is his favorite part of Halloween and I enjoy watching him show the kids how to do it right. Its a great Halloween tradition we have and I was glad we did it, but things do not always go as planned. There was lots of whining and some time-outs in the midst of the carving, but there was fun mixed in too. And they love looking at it now that its carved and sitting out front! And I'll have to remember to tell Jude next year that he did not like the pumpkin seeds he tried to eat, and they were promptly spit out! :)

Tonight we will be Halloween parading with our small group and tons of others in a nearby neighborhood, having chili afterward and making smores with friends. The boys are excited about being pirates, saying "ARRGGHHHHH Me Maties, trick or treat!" and getting lots of candy. Hope you all have a safe, fabulous and fun Halloween! 

Christmas morning

Today's worship gathering was awesome today. When I leave a great service like today, it honestly feels like Christmas morning to me. It's sort of like opening a present. There's mystery, excitement, joy. And I feel like I have received a great gift every time I learn something new and wonderful about our great God.  

It astounds me every time. 

Speaking of Christmas morning, I was looking at Pinterest (of course), and came across a site that lists little gifts ideas for people, and I thought it might be helpful to share some of my own ideas, and maybe a few borrowed ones as well. Most of the time we have a hard time buying for other people, or we just don't have that kind of money to dish out for every single family member. So we end up doing nothing, or way too much. There are ways to make people feel loved on Christmas, and not have to spend a lot of money. Here are a few things you can do to put together sweet care packages for your family members and friends:

(you know I love bullet points)

• knit each family a dishrag with their last name initial on it (I tried this one year and it was time consuming. It is a sweet, neat idea, and people usually love them, but unless you are a quick knitter, and I am not, or you have a lot of time, you might only want to do a few of these)
• bake yummy homemade treats for everyone (cookies, loaves of bread, muffins, whatever. People love to eat Christmas goodies!)
• buy and decorate dollar store frames; put a family picture in it for them, or just give it to them empty
• $5 giftcards (Starbucks, Amazon, Tropical Smoothie, etc)
• A favorite magazine
• packets of flower or herb seeds for planting (not my idea, but I love it!)
• nail polishes
• lip glosses
• wine stopper
• measuring spoons or cups
• cooking extracts (love this idea too!)
• nice cooking spoons
• ticket to see a movie
• specialty coffee
• family Christmas ornament (or you could make one if you're crafty)
• helpful kitchen gadgets (Bed. Bath and Beyond has TONS of awesome stuff to make life in the kitchen more easy and fun)
• homemade hot chocolate mix recipe in jars (like THIS ONE, although I've never used it, that's just an example)

I'm sure there are tons more out there. But don't think you've got to spend a ton of money on everyone this year. Get a few small things and make them personal. Make the effort to show your loved ones how much they are loved.

I am currently reading...

I will probably give this a more proper, thorough review when I am done, but I have to admit, I am loving this book so far. Its so different from what I expected. I love that! 

DtD Challenge #3 - Laundry!

I think I may have to stop reading the Crunchy Betty site. She makes me want to do crazy things like give up using shampoo, start using food to clean my face, use less chemical-filled products and stop shaving......just kidding on that last one. I don't think I will ever go that far, I happen to like hairless armpits and legs. 

But really, I do love her site for the most part. How else would I have learned about how witch hazel is good for people with acne, or how apple cider vinegar is a great toner for your face AND a great detangler for your hair? And I never knew that white vinegar is probably the best (and cheapest) cleaner there is out there, especially when you throw some baking soda on it. 

The latest thing I wanted to try was making and using my own laundry detergent. I know that sounds weird, but when I read how easy it was and how much better it was for your clothes (not to mention cheaper than commercial laundry detergent), I wanted to try it. 

There are tons of recipes out there, but you know I wanted to use CB's because, well, it was easy and the first one I saw. HERE is her link, but I will post the basic recipe also. I wish I had taken some photos of this process to show you, but honestly, I didn't think about it. Bummer.

2 cups finely grated Zote, *Fels Naptha (what I use), or Ivory soap

1 cup Washing Soda 

1 cup Borax

*I looked EVERYWHERE for Zote soap, but couldn't find it. I was bummed, until I went to Kroger and found Fels Naptha...Walmart has it too, and its cheaper there. It's right there in the laundry section.

You will need to read her site to get the details. She has some great tips on how to grate the soap, how much to use with each load, etc. She's very thorough, and I love that about her posts!

My opinion on the whole laundry detergent deal - I have been turned, I absolutely LOVE it. I had some hard-to-get-out stains in some clothes and this homemade detergent got it right out. I didn't have to soak the stain or Shout it out or anything. It was awesome. And it makes our clothes smell so lovely! I highly recommend this. Its frugal, its healthier, its fabulous. (Note, CB uses an alternative solution to fabric softener dryer sheets, I do not. I still use dryer sheets, I only use a half of one with every load instead of a whole one...except with towels. I use no dryer sheets with towels as it makes the towels lose their ability to dry properly.)

All these little household tips are really helpful to this mama...and I'd like to learn more so share some with me!

Up next week - watching my spending...refraining from spending on anything we don't NEED. As a whole, I think we Americans spend waaaaaay too much money, and its something I absolutely love to do. So, I'm going to try not do to any extra spending for a week, and maybe longer, depending on how that week goes. I'm a little nervous! Come back to see how it went!

Pumpkins!

It's no secret that I love pumpkin, and since pumpkin comes from, well, pumpkins (how in the world did I figure that out?), I thought we'd study a little bit about them. They're so autumn-y and I love autumny things! So today, we learned about the life cycle of a pumpkin. On Monday we learned that red and yellow mixed together makes orange, so we painted our paper plate pumpkin orange on Monday, and today, we read a pumpkin book and did this "life-cycle" picture. I printed this out from the website Making Learning Fun, which is an great resource for crafts and homepreschool things. 

Trying to teach an almost 4 year old how to cut something out correctly is not the easiest thing ever, but, I was really proud of him for trying. Even though this isn't really how the finished product is supposed to look, they're in the right order at least...which he did need help with. (and since he discovered the bag of future halloween costumes that was given to me by a friend, he hasn't been able to part with those skeleton gloves)

I'm a bread making fool today, rolls and loaves, and I'm catching up on my Biggest Loser watching while folding laundry. I'm all about the multitasking. My house smells delish and my laundry baskets are finally empty. Life is good again. ...Except my kitchen is now a floury mess. Darn it!

Get started, and care!

These last ten pounds have been the hardest to lose. I'm on the home stretch, only 5 more to go, but it feels like I've been in the same place for 6 months...and I have. Thankfully I'm starting to see some results, but its taken awhile. I've been discouraged, I've wondered what the point of all of it the was, I've wanted to quit many times. But I'm starting to see that persevering really does pay off, and so does caring about my health.

Caring about our health is so important for everyone, but I'm mainly speaking to the wives and mamas out there. We need energy to do the things we've been called to, what ever that may be, working at our jobs, taking care of our little ones, caring for our husbands and homes. We need to be clear headed and alert, not sluggish and tired. I've seen so many women fill themselves up with junk and then wonder why they feel bad all the time, heck, I've BEEN that woman. I know it takes a lot to get off the couch and work up a sweat, but your body will thank you, and so will the other people in your life...even if they don't say it.

Some things that have helped me: (I'm all about the bullet points)

• set small goals to reach your ultimate goal 
• find the middle ground in eating things you love, but also incorporating healthier foods into your diet; 
• incorporate one new vegetable into your diet every other week to broaden your pallet (I cooked eggplant for the first time last night!)
• do a workout dvd at home (I started out doing this and it worked great)
• buy more locally produced vegetables and meats (they tend to be way less processed and way yummier than grocery store meats and veggies)

Even making the smallest choices for the better will make a difference. Exercising, losing weight and feeling great are things you will never regret. Sitting on your bootay eating bon bons on the other hand, you might find yourself wishing you'd never done that... :)

Being the church

I love this quote. I only recently learned this not too long ago myself. For many years I thought that church was the place where we went to worship, to hear the Word taught and to be with other believers. I didn't realize that we are to go out and be the church every day, as we go about our lives. Now, that makes so much more sense to me. Why should church be confined to a building? What would make that place any more special than any other place? Worship gatherings are important, but the building itself is nothing more than a building. As I think about being the church, I want to share a site that I came across recently that I really love. 

Take Them A Meal

I haven't thoroughly looked at this site, but from what I've seen of it, I love it. It helps you coordinate meals to needy friends/people, and they give recipe ideas, schedule help/ideas...I think the idea is fabulous. If you need some help with getting meals to someone, consider this site. What an awesome way to be the church to someone who really needs it!

Here's the RECIPES & TIPS page.

I've been reflecting, how can I go out and be the church this week. I have to admit, I'm not very good at this. Sometimes I feel like my schedule is so consumed with my own things, that I don't have time for anyone/anything else. That's just an excuse for me to be lazy about it. I believe we were meant to be a blessing to others, and I really do want to be....so I'm going to pray and think of a way to bless someone this week. Will anyone do it with me? Will anyone go be the church and bless someone this week?

I'll end this post with a pic of Jude and I on the hayride we went on a few weekends ago. He really was happy, although he's got on his fake smile-for-a-picture face.

Love me some sun flare!