Let's go back in time!

Source

What do you say?

Now don't get all excited because I do not have a Time Machine sitting in my back yard, not that I wish I didn't, I think it would be so much fun to travel back to times gone by.

I mean more along the lines of traveling back in time through our TV's.  You with me?

Source

I've mentioned before, well a lot time ago, that I am a huge fan of the BBC and PBS shows that take a group of individuals and places them back in time for a year or so.  It's always fun watching them adapt from a full busy technologically packed life to simpler times with no indoor plumbing.

As I was visiting my Happy Homemaker Monday participants, I saw that Schotzy over at Wings of Eagles was talking about how she just started watching The Manor House and how much she was enjoying it.  I immediately smiled because that has to be one of my favorites from all the different series.

Which got me thinking about all the other related programs and really got me in the mood to watch them again.  Since I know that many of my readers love Period shows, I thought it would be fun to list them here for your viewing pleasure.  Now, I've seen most of these, some I plan on rewatching, but others I didn't even know existed and I'm super excited to give them a try.

I think today should be my *take it easy and watch old shows while crocheting* day. 

But enough talking, let's get down to business.....here is my list of faves when it comes to this genre.

1. 1900 House
2. Coal House
3. Manor House
4. 1940's House
5. Texas Ranch House
6. Edwardian Country House
7. Regency House Party
8. Colonial House
9. Frontier House
10. Victorian Farm
11. Edwardian Farm
12. Victorian Pharmacy
13. Wartime Farm
14. Tudor Monastery Farm
15. Tales from the Green Valley
16. Pioneer Quest:  A Year in the Real West
17. BBC's Turn Back Time Series
18. The Wartime Kitchen and Garden
19. The Victorian Kitchen
20. Time Warp Wives
21. The Edwardian Larder
22. The Victorians

I've given you some links, but most of these can be found on Youtube.  This is nowhere near the full list of documentaries and series out there that pertain to this era, but I think it's a pretty good starting place for some fascinating and educational shows.  :)

If I've missed any that you think are fantastic and should be on the *must watch* list, please feel free to leave them in the comments and I'll add them to the list above.

My kiddos have finished all their schooling for today, so I am off to relax, work on my crochet blanket and immerse myself in days gone by.  Nothing better in my book.

Happy Homemaker Monday - 04/07/2014

Happy Monday friends, here we are again at the beginning of a new week.  I had a very busy one last week and I know that this one will be equally crazy, but I'm looking forward to the school year winding down and relaxing.

Let's get on with our Happy Homemaker Monday!!!!

As I look outside my window:::
The sun is shining so brightly, I had to close my blinds.  The birds are flying around and in the distance I see sprinklers going on the field. 


Right now I am:::
Saying goodbye to my husband, he is walking out the door to work.  I am also typing up this post and enjoying my morning coffee.....and I'm in my PJ's still, won't get out of those for about another hour.

Thinking and pondering:::
On life.  There are some family issues back home that just don't seem to get resolved, and when we think they are, they rear their ugly head again.   

On my bedside table:::
My Bible
My Kindle
My Cath Kidston Bluebell Hand Cream

On my tv tonight:::
Monday:
Granite Flats
Turn
Star Crossed
Tuesday:
The Little Couple
Supernatural
Cosmos
Wednesday:
The 100
Thursday:
Reign
Here comes Honey Boo Boo
Friday:
Hangar 1:  The UFO Files
Ancient Aliens
Saturday:

Ghost Adventures
The Universe
Sunday:

Long Island Medium
Granite Flat

Listening to:::
The radio, Lola playing with one of her toys, birds chirping outside

On the menu for this week:::

Monday - Brittany and Jonah's Yummy Pizza Pasta
Tuesday - Pork Chops and Potatoes
Wednesday - Pat's King of Steaks Philly Cheese Steak
Thursday - Homemade Pizza
Friday - Chicken Fried Steak, Garlic mashed potatoes
Saturday - Wahooz for Nic's Birthday
Sunday -  Soda Pork Chops, Salad

On my to do list:::
Iron all my laundry
Homeschooling

Call to make eye appointments

Happening this week:::
Monday - Laundry (ironing), Tae Kwon Do
Tuesday - Laundry (ironing, putting away), bathrooms
Wednesday - Tae Kwon Do
Thursday -  Tae Kwon Do
Friday - Nicholas Birthday
Saturday - Boise for the day

What I am creating:::
Finished the crochet mood blanket, and am now on another blanket.  I also have Tae Kwon Do patches to sew on 3 uniforms today.
My quilt is still waiting to be worked on, and I am thinking that this week I'm going to set aside some time and get sewing.  Speaking of quilts, where do you go for cheap fabric?  I would love to get some new one but I can't spend a lot of money on it. 
  
My simple pleasure:::
Watching old western movies

Homemaking tips:::
One of the simplest tips I can give is to do your dishes right after dinner.  Many years ago, I was the one who would leave them soaking in the sink overnight and then deal with them in the morning.  It seemed like a great idea at the time, but then I would wake up each morning to a disaster of a kitchen and a sink full of dishes, which in turn set the mood for my day.  It wasn't a good one.
So now I just wash right away, put all the leftovers in the fridge and tidy up the kitchen, so when I get up in the morning I actually like going in there.

Looking around the house:::
It's clean and tidy.  I did all my major cleaning yesterday so now I get to sit back and enjoy a day that I don't have to clean anything.....well aside from the usual breakfast, lunch, dinner dishes etc.  Pugs are asleep on the couch, kids are still in bed and it's just me and the morning sun. 
 
From the camera:::

Prayer List:::
My family back in South Africa, more specifically my father and stepmother. 

Bible verse, Devotional:::
"I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them."
John 17:13
PLEASE, don't add links to this list that are not part of the Happy Homemaker Monday. I've asked numerous times, and I'm frankly quite tired of having to remove links to other posts that shouldn't be in this list. Please be respectful of my request!

Granite Flats!

Oh goodness, I have spent all day catching up, or rather, watching the first Season of Granite Flats, after hearing about it from Deb.  Thank you Deb :)

It's the kind of show I enjoy, set in the 1960's on an Army base in Colorado, during the cold war.  Great family show.  Lord knows we need more like that.

The second season premiered tonight, and that is why I've been watching the first all day.  Even though it's only 8 episodes, between the cooking and cleaning and piles of laundry, it takes me all day long to get through them.  I actually just finished watching the 8th episode a few minutes ago.  By the way, you can watch the whole first season on the BYUtv website by clicking this link.

Not sure if I will watch the first of the new season tonight, or tomorrow.  I'm a little tired so I don't know.

It's been a quiet Sunday.  Usually we have my family come over for dinner and Walking Dead, but since the show is over, we are taking a break as well so it was just us tonight. 

My husband had to work for a few hours today, so while he was gone I got the kitchen cleaned up, the laundry done, picked up the living room and then sat down with my laptop and my crochet.

I wasn't planning on a certain amount of squares to crochet today, I was just enjoying my quiet time and the show and my hands seemed to have a mind of their own.

That's the best part of a blanket when I'm using a pattern that I know so well, because I don't have to stop and look and count stitches etc, I can just go for it.

Ever so often I had to stop to change laundry or pick something up, or help one of the kids. You know as a mom that even on those days that we have nothing planned and are just sitting down to relax, we are constantly being interrupted and there are things that need our attention. We are never really just sitting down doing nothing, or at least, I'm not.

So I got up and did what I had to do, then sat back down on the couch and my hands kept going.

I took a little break to get my chicken in the oven, and I have to show you my baker which I think if I am not mistaken, I've done before. It was part of my Christmas present two years ago, from my husband. I love it.

The chicken even seems to taste better, though I know that's completely ridiculous, but humor me.

My hubby made it back home around 3:30pm and hung out with the kids until dinnertime.

I went back to my laundry and snippets of the show here and there. Did get all the laundry finished though, so tomorrow I just have to iron everything and put it away, which will keep me busy for a big chunk of the morning.

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner of Roast chicken, Basmati rice and Green Beans sauted with garlic and bacon. Yum!

I got the dishes done and the kitchen cleaned up and then finished off the crochet square I was working on. Quite a pile as you can see.

Those were all done today so I'm quite chuffed with myself.

I think I WILL go ahead and watch the new episode of Granite Flats real quick while hubby gets ready for bed.

I know this blog post is all over the place and quite short and not really very interesting, but being a homemaker not every day is exciting or filled with fun stuff, some days are just normal and quiet and simple, and I'm ok with that.

Just wanted to come in and do my daily post, because even though it may seem like a boring day, when I do go back and read through my blog, it's always fun to see what I was doing, what I was eating, what I was watching and enjoying. My tastes seem to change as I get older, so it's interesting to see where I was and where I am now.

And with that, I am signing off for the night. I will be back in the morning with my Happy Homemaker Monday and I hope you will join me.

Blessings,
Sandra

Pretty flowers!

Good afternoon friends, it's a beautiful sunny Saturday.  It's a little windy right now, but it seems to have only picked up early afternoon and now it seems to be getting stronger.  I'm just glad I'm in the house and not going anywhere else, because this wind kicks up the pollen and it completely messes with my allergies.

We've had a very easy going day.  As usual, our mornings are filled with errands for my husband and I, we've actually come to really enjoy Saturday mornings because it's our time to just be by ourselves and talk and shop and so on.  I adore my children, but alone time with my husband is crucial to our marriage.

When we arrived home, I had the pretties flowers waiting for me. They were sent by Lucky Leaf Pie Fillings as part of their Spring Promotion, which I will be reviewing and doing a giveaway on sometime next week.

So pretty!!!

Yesterday I finally got around to washing my finished blanket and taking some pics to show you.  I am so happy with it, it's like an over sized lap blanket and perfect for sitting on the couch watching TV.

I was a little unsure on the edging, not knowing which way I wanted to go. But seeing that it's so colorful and it already has the beautiful flat braid joining method, I decided that it was best to keep it simple. White double crochet edging it is. What do you think?

Lovely colors in this one, and it's become one of the favorites in my house, so it's been added to the blanket basket.

I've now moved on to my next blanket.  Oh goodness folks, this one has been a bit of a pain, not because of the pattern which is very easy to do, but because for some unknown reason, I can't for the life of me remember what size hook I was using.

I've gone back and looked through my photos, hoping that by some chance I had snapped one which showed me the hook I was using, but nope.

I've been trying different sizes, I thought for sure I was using the 5mm but it seems to be very small compared to the first 4, so I changed my size to a slightly bigger one and then it was TOO big.  Good grief!!!

So, my solution?  Just use different size hooks thereby creating different sized squares and then joining them all in the end.  Who knows, it may look great, it may not, we will have to wait and see.

But I love pattern and I love the colors and I'm determined to see it through.

In the meantime, I have another blanket in mind which I'm itching to get into, but I keep telling myself not to jump in, to just make something smaller. I don't know though, I really want to try the other one and I have so much yarn in my stash that I may just cave and go for it.

Please remind me, AGAIN, that I do have a blanket in progress, my colorful zig zag which was started back in Arizona and is still just sitting there. UGH!!!! The life of a hooker! LOL

That's what I've been busy messing with today, and now I'm sitting down writing this post and enjoying a cup of coffee before deciding what I'm going to watch tonight.

We love days like today where we all just sit around and do whatever we feel like.  Jasmine is watching a movie on her laptop, Nicholas is playing a game on his laptop, my hubby finished all his school homework and is now playing a game on the Xbox and I was sitting here trying to decide what to do with the crochet, while watching some of my favorite Youtubers and their vlogs.

I do have Winter's Tale loading on the computer right now, that is one of the movies I plan on enjoying tonight, but I also want to watch Vikings, catch up on Revolution (think hubby and I need half a season to be caught up), and then Black Sails and Da Vinci's Demons.

If you have any suggestions for a good movie or series, please leave them down below, I'm always looking for good ones to watch.

Not sure if I'll do a movie night or series night, still undecided, but I am sure that I am about to get into the shower, put on my warm comfy pj's, grab my crochet basket and then on the couch with this laptop to decide what to watch.

Hopefully your Saturday night is not as indecisive as mine Hahahah

Have a good night friends!!!

Spring has sprung and the end of school is nearing!

Though not with some lingering cold weather.  Brrrrr!!!

So, how are you doing my friends?  I have missed everyone, I've missed my posts, I've missed having time to come around here and visit everyone.

This past week just flew by without me even noticing.  I've been so busy and I know you're probably sick of hearing that, but it's the plain and simple truth.  Just crazy life around here. Did I tell you that laundry is the main culprit? It sucks away chunks of my day, like nothing else. Never.ending!!!

It's always like this when we near the end of the school year, there are tests and projects, and work to be finalized and kids who are soooooo ready for their summer break.  Makes everything a little harder but we push through like every year.

Right now I have an 11th grader (my niece) who is in the middle of finishing up this year, doing her SAT's next week and also doing a bunch of dance competitions this month.  It's busy and she's nervous but we are doing our best to help her.

My daughter who is in 9th grade is also plodding along as well as can be.  She is a straight A student, which brings us pride like nothing else, and she's also doing great in her Tae Kwon Do.

Then I have the two 5th graders, my son and nephew, and well......let's just say that boys will be boys right?  They are not particularly fond of school and some days go better than others but we're getting there.  They're also doing really well in Tae Kwon Do.

In the middle of all this, we have now started the process of house hunting, yet again, and hoping that this time we can actually buy our first home so we never have to move again.  I'm quite ready to put down some roots, and really settle in to a house without having to worry about nail holes on the wall, or passing an inspection when I move out.

My husband is working two jobs, and going to school full time with an actual in class course, Chemistry.  It's long hours, it's exhausting for him but he is so determined and such a hard worker that I can't but feel proud of having him as a husband.

And then there's me, holding it all together and trying my very best to be a good wife and mother and aunt and sister and homemaker.  It's tiring and there's days that I want to just crawl into bed and take a super long nap, but that is not allowed.

I love it though, I love my crazy busy hectic always on the go life.  I honestly don't know how I would do things otherwise.

So yes, this past week has been filled with paperwork and house hunting and realtors, and retired military related stuff, like medical.  Groceries, and bill paying, the finishing off of spring cleaning, homeschooling, cooking and washing and driving kids around.

I feel like I woke up Monday morning and went full speed until this morning.  Nuts!!!

But now that I've told you what has kept me so busy this week, I can also tell you that there have been moments of quiet and self reflection.....I try to steal a few of those moments to myself every day, even if for just a few minutes of stepping out on the deck and watching and listening to nature around me.  It's so good for the soul, really it is.

Just look at that green grass? Oh the joy it brings me.

And if it's been raining the night before??? Even prettier. Those dew drops look like diamonds shining in the sun.

Spring has definitely sprung and you can't help but smile when you see how nature continues with it's cycle of life. Sometimes I sit and wonder how it knows when to lose it's leaves, how it knows when to grow new ones.

We don't need to say or do anything, it just does it all on it's own. It's so easy to ignore it and to forget that God has created such an amazing planet for us to inhabit, and he's created every single thing to the last minute detail.

As much as I love watching the trees and bushes come back to life, I take just as much joy in watching the animals around me. My neighbor just got two beautiful little goats, a few days ago, and I am besotted with them.

I've always wanted goats and chickens and little pigs. I think this is the closest I can get to any of these things, for the moment. Those dreams are still very much in my plan for the future.

So yes my friends, I've been busy but I've also stolen a few moments here and there to just be. It's imperative for our well being to find a balance in our lives.

I'm hoping that as things wind down, that I can start posting more. I feel like I am bursting at the seams with things to tell you about and share, maybe I should just write it all down so that when I do get the time I can have plenty of posts going up.

Well, it's almost time for school, I need to give the kids some lunch. I also have to clean out the turtle tank because it's starting to smell, gross. I have an agenda that needs updating, I have some paperwork to scan and email and some reviews to go over for the blog.

Another busy day in my house. I am hoping your Friday is going well so far, and if I don't see you here this weekend, then I hope you have an amazing one with your family.

God Bless,
Sandra