{ The past week }

I am so glad to see Friday come around.  It's been one of those weeks that I have not enjoyed, but I will tell you more about it in a moment, along with a testimony that has left both Curt and I with open mouths. 

 

First though let me flood you with little snippets of my past few days.

 

We've had quite a few rainy days, with one specifically being so severe that it knocked out our power for 10 hours.  On days like that, there is not much I can do.  Everything is online, everything requires electricity or internet.  We have become so dependent on this that I wonder what we would do in the case that we ever lost power completely.  My word, can you imagine?

 

Thankfully for me, I love reading, so I took the day to catch up and finish the book I was on, and start the next one, which I have also finished.  I will show you below which one it was. 

 

We have a lot of stray cats on the property, that we feed.  One of the females had kittens a few weeks ago.  These sweet babies have decided to hang out on our front porch, and I couldn't be happier to see them laying there.  How adorable is this baby? 

 

One of the first things I do, is make my bed.  This sweet comforter set is one I got recently, for the summer season.  It's actually a duvet cover which I have started enjoying the past few years, because it makes doing the laundry much easier than having to lug huge comforters into the washer or the laundromat. 

 

I am a creature of habit, and I follow practically the same morning routine during the week.  Once the bed is made, I get ready for the day, then get started with all the homemaking chores.  

 

While I do this, I will turn on my audio Bible, it helps me to read the Bible every day and it makes it easier when I'm not having to find moments to sit with the physical book.  I am currently in Judges.  

 

I want to show you these two plants below and give you a tip that I recently learned, about 6 months ago and it's been life changing for me.

 

Anytime I try to grow anything in water, the water goes rancid and I'm constantly having to change it.  While watching a Mexican lady on Youtube one day, she showed how she keeps her water clear without having to constantly change it, and how the plants thrive as well.

 

I figured I would give it a try but honestly deep inside thinking, this is not going to work.  Well it did.  All you have to do is add about a 1/4 teaspoon of sugar and a splash of vinegar.  That's it.  Look how clear that water is, and this is 3 weeks down.  

 

Watering plants is a weekly chore, but in the summer months I do it twice a week, and I have a lot of plants growing now.  I'm quite the plant lady at this point, and very proud of it I must say.  hahaha

 

I also brought down all the curtains and washed them this week.  It's not a job I enjoy but it's so rewarding when it's done and looks and smells so fresh.  

 

I finished the Tessa Afshar book, then started and finished Wonderland Creek by Lynn Austin.  I had heard great things about it, but it was just ok for me.  There was nothing spectacular or special about, and definitely not a book that will stay with me.  

 

That is how books go though, right?  You get some that stay with you forever, change you, you can't stop thinking about them.  Then there are some that get set aside because you can't get into them at all, and then there's others like this one, that were ok, a quick read but nothing memorable.  

 

My next one however is a monster of a book.  Huge chunker that I have been wanting to read for a long time, and think now is the time.  

 

Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset.  It was originally written and published between 1920 and 1922, in Norway has since been translated.

 

Overall, a normal week you would think but something happened that really upset Curt and I.  I actually cried when it happened because I was so angry and so frustrated, I could not believe it.

 

Back on Wednesday Curt noticed a pending charge on our account for $437 at Sam's Club.  Now we do have Sam's club but we don't go often, and it's always in store, matter of fact last time we were there was beginning of May.

 

He asked me if I had bought something and obviously I said no, but we immediately went to check our account, and the day before a transaction of $498 had gone out of Sam's club as well.  We were shocked.  Both transactions had been done using my bank account, which I always have with me.  I got on the phone with Sam's Club and they looked into it and assured me that there was no transaction made from our account, if something had been done using our card at Sam's, it was online and not through our account.  They even sent me an email to send to the bank as proof.

 

After sitting on the phone with the bank for a while, my card was cancelled and I have to wait for a new card to arrive in the mail.  We were told that we had to dispute those transactions but it can only be done after it's cleared the bank, so at that time, the one for 498 could be disputed for fraud, the other pending one we can't do anything until it clears.  So basically $1000 stolen from our account.

 

I won't even tell you how much I detest hackers and scammers and people who commit fraud.  It is the lowest kind of thing you can do to people, stealing their hard earned money.

 

Anyway, this was Wednesday around 5pm when we noticed all this.

 

Thursday morning, I went to our online bank account and disputed both transactions, because the pending one had cleared.  I was told by the bank that not only could they not tell us if this was done online, if it was the same state, or what or who, but that an investigation would be open with their fraud department but basically there is nothing we can do.  We were told it would most likely take months and there was no guarantee we would have those funds refunded.

 

I felt so deflated and so heartbroken over this.  Any money being stolen is horrible, but $1000 is a lot of money.  I put it in God's hands, prayed over it, and let it go, resigned to the fact that would be handled by God and determined that those funds would be returned to us, even if it took months.

 

So, money stolen Tuesday and Wednesday, disputes opened yesterday Thursday in the afternoon, and this morning, both transactions were fully refunded and returned to our account.  To say Curt and I are shocked is an understatement.

 

God has always provided and come through for us, through many difficult moments, but this is unheard of.  The bank itself was shocked that it was resolved that fast, because that is unheard of.

 

For us, it's just another testimony to add to the hundreds of others that God has given us through our lives.  

 

I needed to share that with you all, to give you hope, to serve as a testament of the power of God and what He does for his children.  We remain faithful to Him through all of our trials and He in turn continues to show up and show off.

 

What a mighty wonderful God we serve!!! 

 

 

 

The past week in pictures!

The past week, I have spent indoors.  I didn't have anything that required me to leave, or go out and face the heat, and so I chose to remain in the cool air conditioned home, bake, cook, do my housework and read.  I finished two books this week, which is incredible for me knowing that just two months ago, reading was the furthest thing from my mind, and I had neither the yearning nor patience to sit and read anything.

But as the temperatures have soared into the triple digits, and the heat advisories have flooded in daily, I have found myself turning to things that require less strenuous activities, therefore, reading and crochet have kicked into high gear.

My blanket is coming along nicely, though I did have to rip back two rows once I realized that somewhere along the way, I had miscounted my stitches and nothing was making sense.  Having to redo a crochet row is usually not a big deal when you're working on a small project but when it is a full sized blanket, it means another full day of playing catch up.  But it was done, and I'm on the next row.

Also, speaking of crochet, remember I mentioned not finding the right color and then seemingly finding it online?  Well guess what?  It WASN'T the right color.  I almost gave up on it, but then managed to find it on Amazon (I think), it is on the way and we will only know when it's actually in my hand.  I'm praying it's right, if it isn't, I will just have to move on with the blanket, leaving out that specific yarn.  Not what I want to do, but I am not going to lose a whole project over one yarn color.  

Lesson learned though, from now, I have to keep track of the yarns, their names, their brands and so on.  No more aimlessly crocheting in the dark.

The two books I finished were A Court of Thorn and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, and Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier.  I am now starting Spindle's End by Robin McKinley.

Have you read any good books lately?

This week, I also made a big batch of Refrigerator Pickles, to use up a ton of cucumbers that I had.  It's one of our favorite pickle recipes and they're super easy to make.  These are not canned pickles, they are kept in the refrigerator and I don't worry about them going bad, because they usually don't last long enough for that to happen.

I do have the recipe on my food blog, since I've been making them for many years.  You can find the recipe here.  I also have a recipe for some Freezer Pickles which are divine as well.

I baked some Whole Wheat bread for us, mainly for me.  Though I do eat a lower carb diet, whole wheat bread or multi grain bread is quite healthy, and is my go to, and when you make these breads at home, it's even better for you.  

I made a plain Whole Wheat Loaf and a Cinnamon and Raising Whole Wheat Loaf.  They both turned out amazing.

I am still getting in my daily workouts and weekend gym sessions with my husband, and in between I'm keeping up with healthy eating.  I have however started incorporating some things back into my diet, just to see how I do, and I must say, the immediate reaction my body has to certain things is crazy. 

I will never be able to full go back to eating full on carbs, or as much sugar as I used to.  It's just not good for my overall health and my body immediately lets me know.

The biggest reaction for me, is the loss of energy and the midday sleep slumps.  It's just insane.

I am almost down 40 pounds, I started at 165 and am now 128, so just 3 pounds shy of 40 pounds weight loss.  It's been crazy seeing myself lose this weight and just by making small adjustments to what I was eating, and making sure that I'm getting those 10 000 steps a day, and at least the minimum of 10 minutes walking workouts or 20 minute cardio full body workouts.  

Anyway, that has been my past week, I apologize for the lack of posts, to be honest when it's this hot,  my energy goes down tremendously and I don't want to do anything.  It feels like the slightest of effort in anything, makes me hotter and sweatier and annoyed.  I can not wait for the fall temperatures to arrive.  I'm over the 115 degree weather, it's like living back in Phoenix, Arizona.  Yuck!

Have a blessed weekend friends, and I will be back next week with more posts, and as things cool down, no doubt more active posting.

Oh and before I forget.....craziest thing.  Remember the little baby chicken our hen Puffy hatched in April?  Remember we thought it was a hen?  Well said hen started crowing yesterday, meaning it's not a hen but another rooster.  Lord help me!!! 

My week in review

 

It's been a bit of a.....I don't even know how to put it week?  I've felt a bit unmotivated and frustrated with my new diet.  Let me say, that is completely normal, when you're used to eating a certain way, with no restraints, for almost 50 years, and then have to change dramatically, it takes a bit of getting used to.

 

For the most part I've been fine, but I won't lie and say that every day is great.  There are days that my rebellious body starts craving things I know I can't have, and then I feel miserable, and then  I'm frustrated, and then I'm hungry and frustrated and angry and miserable.  You get the picture.

 

I merely want to be completely honest here on the blog.  If you're on the same health journey that I am, you will no doubt understand the ups and downs.

 

It's often hard to get out of that slump, but I've pushed myself to do it, and I find that when I need to break out of a slump, I gravitate towards something that I really enjoy doing.  It lifts my mood and helps me feel better.

 

For me, it's been reading.  I have this crazy love and hate relationship with reading, not books in themselves, I adore books and am always buying booking even if they sit on my shelves for months waiting to be picked up again.  But the reading, I go through phases where I devour books and phases where I don't touch a single page.  Crazy!!!

 

 

If you're stuck in a reading slump, the best advice I can give you from my own experience, is to get yourself some favorites, and create a little reading pile of maybe 4 or 5 books that you've been wanting to ready for a long time, then go from there.  

I am currently reading, and almost finished, with Trials of the Earth.  It reminds me a bit of my all time favorite book These is my Words by Nancy E. Turner, so I'm enjoying it.

Next on the list will probably be Anne of Green Gables, to welcome in Spring.

 

 

 

So this week I finished organizing and cleaning up the bookshelves, and have made a little pile to post on Paperbackswap (if you don't know what it is, and you love books, you need to check it out). I also grabbed one of my baskets to pop in a few books that will potentially be in my Spring reading list. We will see! 

 

 

 

Crocheting has also kept me sane this week.  I don't think I've enjoyed crocheting a blanket as much as I'm enjoying this one.  Don't get me wrong, I love all my crochet blankets, and some were quite fun to make, but they did require a lot of stitch counting and pulling apart and redoing and sometimes, I felt like the project was never ending.

This one works up so quick and every section is a new design I have never done, plus I'm learning and getting better at reading and following a crochet chart.  It's just been a lovely experience all around.

 

I've also been preparing for Spring in the garden, and inside.  My house plants are loving my bedroom windows, and so it's become an area for them to converge, and also a little nursery.  I recently purchased a Basil plant from the store, and I will tell you immediately that I have zero luck with keeping Basil alive in my house.  It just doesn't want to live, no matter what.

That is until I decided to put it on my bedroom windowsill, and wouldn't you know it, it is loving this spot.  It's ready to be planted in a bigger pot, and moved out to the patio with the rosemary and mint, which also were brought to my bedroom first to grow and thrive, before being moved to a bigger planter.

Guess that will be what I do from now on.  Whatever, if it works, it works right?

 

I've also gone through my current works in progress, to know exactly what I am working on.  The bag above was part of my Advent Calendar, and it contains all the projects that came with it.  I did post a bit on it back in December, so be sure to go back and see that if you're wondering what I got each day.

The bag itself makes me smile so big, it's beautiful, and I love the whole Woodland animal vibe.

Of course mixed in between all those fun things, is the continuous homemaking that a woman has to contend with, on a daily basis. 

A lot of washing, folding and ironing.  Good thing I love ironing and find it calming and relaxing, or I would have been in a bit of a pickle, and no doubt adding to my unmotivated, frustrating mood of a week.

I just pop in a movie and go for it. 

Last week's movies were Damsel from Netflix, which was just a sweet movie with dragons and princesses and such.  The kind of fantasy movie I always enjoy.

I also started watching (haven't yet finished) Roald and Beatrix: The Tale of the curious mouse.  Beatrix Potter and anything related just screams Spring to me, so that was a must.  

I am compiling a blog post with the Spring books I will be reading, and also suggestions for movies and tv shows to help welcome in the Spring season.  

For now though, I am going to sign off, watch a homemaking vlog or two and then get started with yard work, because we are expecting quite heavy rain for the rest of the day.  It's best to get this all mowed and taken care of before the rain comes down, and grows it all back up another inch or two.

I hope you all have a blessed Saturday, and I'll see you back tomorrow with that Spring post.

 

{ Week in review - Marley pulled a muscle }

Happy Sunday my friends, how has your weekend been going so far?

 

Mine is going pretty well, thankfully.  I am just sitting down to type up this post.  So far today, hubby and I have gone to church, then came home and he went to pick up some lunch for us from Braums.  Not really meals, but just some chicken sandwiches.

 

In the meantime, while he did that with Marley, I started the dishwasher, cleaned and picked up the kitchen and living rooms, cleaned the bathroom counters and got some laundry put away.

 

It's been a bit of a nutty week around here.

As you can see from the photos, Marley hurt his leg last week.  I don't even know how he did this, but he pulled his leg muscle.  I'm assuming either while playing or chasing squirrels out back, or it might have been when he was jumping into bed, because sometimes he lands weird.

 

Anyway, I called the vet and they asked a bunch of questions.  The first night, he wouldn't put his leg down, and when he walked he wobbled on 3 legs.  I actually had to pick him up off the bed and put him on the floor so he would go to the bathroom.....all 90 pounds of him.  Yikes!

But within a few hours, he was walking on the leg, he let us touch it and move it, so the vet said it obviously wasn't broken and it didn't sound like he had torn anything either since he wasn't in visible pain.

We were told to keep an eye on him, make sure he is off that leg and resting as much as possible.  We gave him dog aspirin and bandaged the leg to give it a bit more stability.  He was not a happy camper but I think he was sore and knew it would help.

Thankfully this only lasted 1 full day, and by the second day he was moving better, trying to jump on and off the bed, running around and so on.  It was so difficult to keep him from running and acting crazy on that leg, but I'm so thankful to God that he is now all better.  

Friday I got my grocery shopping done.  I went to the base commissary and got everything I needed for the next two weeks.  If you're wondering what my meal plan is, I posted it in my previous blog post. 

 

Not much else happened last week, just the usual homemaking and homeschooling, work, driving back and forth and taking care of Marley.

 

We did watch a movie yesterday afternoon, Curt and I sat down and actually ended up watching the new Lion King, which was so sweet.  It's funny but there are times that we are not in the mood for big people movies LOL    We still enjoy kid movies, to this day!

 

Well friends, I don't really have much else to say about this past week, but I did want to come in and do a quick week review.  I like knowing what went on in our lives, and it's always fun to go back in the future and read these things.

 

Sometimes we get so caught up in the moment, or if something goes wrong we tend to have that split moment thought that we've never had hard situations before.  It's good to have these moments to look back on and to remind us that it's not always roses and tulips, there are days that we are sick or one of our pets is not well, but like always, we get through them.

 

Anyway, hope you all have a wonderful rest of your weekend.

 

I'll be back bright and early, with our Happy Homemaker Monday. 

{ Week in review }

𝑨𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒚

Curt and I love taking walks around our property.  As you know we have 3 acres, and there is always grass to mow, trees to prune, property lines to clear and keep clean.  It is an ongoing job, it never ends but we love it so much and are eternally grateful to God for this blessing.

Last week we took a walk to check on some of the fences and I grabbed my camera, as we headed out the door.

I used to have my camera at my side, we were stuck at the hip so to say.  But that was back when I was daily blogging.  To tell you the truth, I miss that.  Everyone has their cellphones lately and just uses those to take photos, which is fine in a way, but I am old fashioned and there is nothing like holding a proper camera in your hand.





Have you ever just stopped to look at nature?

I mean really stop and take time to look.  Every detail, every color, every texture, it's so incredible.











We have a lot of deer walking through our property, and deer tracks are a constant around here.  They seem to enjoy walking right up against the house.

Funny story, when we first moved in, our kids were a little scared of the noises they were hearing outside their windows.  They would often say it sounded like someone walking around etc.  Curt and I always told them it was just nature, or the tree branches scratching the window, or the barn cats and so on.

Little did we know there were actual deer walking around.





The plans we have for our house and our property, are many.  Plans for crops, for turning the field into rows of blackberries and raspberry bushes.

More fruit trees, a bigger vegetable garden, a greenhouse, a potting shed and all sorts of other things.

If we could just snap our fingers and see it all come to life, would be great, but things take time and dreams move slowly.  And they do so in order for us to appreciate them the more when they finally stand before our eyes.

So we will get there one day, one little dream at a time.


 𝓐𝓻𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓭 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓱𝓸𝓶𝓮

Sometimes we need to face certain situations, go through the desert and trials to go back to our roots.  I've often talked about feeling like I've changed, fallen off the wagon, not quite the same I used to be when it comes to homemaking or doing the things I love.

Take crochet for example, I stopped crocheting about a year and a half ago.  For not specific reason, other than getting caught up in other things going on in my life.  The past few weeks, I have taken up crochet again, in an effort to calm my soul, to help me not focus on what is happening around us.





It is a way to relax and calm me, and I had missed the feel of they yarn, seeing the stitches and rows of crochet coming together to form a beautiful pattern.



This is my newest blanket, with a completely new color combination.  I thought about just making something quicker and smaller, but I've always had a huge love for these intricate blankets, and with summer coming to an end, I start thinking about warm blankets and feeling the weight on my lap, of the crocheted work I'm busy working on.







Being a homemaker is who I am.  I don't just do the chores I have around the house, because they need doing.  I do them with love and because they make me happy.

Much like crocheting or cooking or baking, homemaking keeps me grounded.





This past week was a bit of a strange one, in the sense that I wasn't quite feeling well.  Blech, I didn't want to say that again, it's like every other day I mention I'm not feeling great, you must be sick of hearing about it.  Truth be told, I'm sick of saying it hahaha

But I think it's just something I have to deal with during this time of my life.

Thankfully by Friday I was starting to feel better and more like myself.  I spent more time in the kitchen, made another of my grandfather's vanilla cakes, baked some homemade hotdog buns for one dinner and still managed to put home cooked meals on the table.

My family appreciates it and I much prefer home cooked food too.  On days that I'm not feeling too good, things take longer to do, dinner is slower getting on the table, but that is perfectly ok.

Last week I also finished a book and started another.  Approved a whole bunch more for Fall and Winter Book Tours, and am now looking forward to more books filling my shelves.  Is there such a thing as too many books?






Elliott is growing quickly.  He is such a joy in our lives and I will be the first to admit, that even though I didn't want to keep him in the beginning, and wanted to find him a different home, I am so glad that we couldn't find anyone to take him.  He has brought humor and laughter to our home during difficult times.

Who would have guessed that I would have ended up loving a cat and that he would love me back just as much?

But I do, and can't imagine him not being in our lives.

Well dear friends, I would love to pour another cup of coffee, sit and talk to you for a while longer, but I need to get ready to go and pick up Jasmine from work.

I hope you are all having a restful weekend.  I will see you all tomorrow morning for our Happy Homemaker Monday.

♥♥♥♥