Fog, snow and a surprise visit!

This Texas weather doesn't quite know which one to stick with.

The past few days have been quite chilly around here, not as bad as Idaho at all, but definitely cold.

Woke up yesterday morning to rain and a lot of fog and as I went out to get the mail, I snapped a few photos to show you.

I've always thought that there is something hauntingly beautiful about foggy mornings and I've often photographed them and shared them with you all.

Just a small reminder that everything around us is beautiful, no matter what season.  Kind of like our lives to an extent, if we just learn to enjoy each moment and each season, things won't seem so bad.

I want to thank you all for the sweet comments on yesterday's post, they mean the world, and I'm also glad that I'm not the only one out there feeling this disconnect and wanting to rekindle that homemaking over.  I'll try to keep motivating you all, we can motivate each other to do it, right?

Ok so the fog is out of the way, now let me tell you about the surprise visit.

I have to start by saying that I feel so incredibly happy and blessed to be a part of my husband's family.  From the very first moment they welcomed me with open arms and made me feel like I belong, and that meant everything, considering I had left everyone and everything behind me in South Africa and move here to the States without anyone but my husband.  It was overwhelming and scary at first, so their love and support helped me more than they will ever know.

Alright so anyone, ever since we moved to Texas, we have been closer to a big part of my husband's family, and with that come a lot of activities, places to be and get togethers, most of which have been at our house because it's so big.

We love entertaining, we love having family over, I love cooking and hosting, but we went from just the 4 of us, hubby, kids and I, to 20 plus people at any given time.  Our belongings aren't exactly ready for such a huge influx and one of the biggest obstacles has always been the seating for dinners. 

We have a table and chairs but nowhere near enough, so everyone pitches in and brings card tables and chairs etc.  I've been wanting to get a bigger table and more chairs for a while, but as we try to get back on our feet financially, it's not exactly something we can afford.

I had a message from my husband's cousin telling me that her mom was on the way to us dropping something off, or rather, dropping parts of something off for us.

Yep, a new table with two leaves, and 10 chairs.  That is what they surprised us with.  I'm beyond shocked, apart from needing to be re-stained, it is exactly what we wanted.

Now we have two chairs, the one above and one exactly like it, the other 8 chairs will be brought to us next weekend.  I didn't even know what to say.

So extremely thankful :)

But now I have two tables, so I moved one into the green living room and am actually really liking it in there.  Nevermind the card game chairs, those are temporary, as soon as the other 8 chairs come in I will put 4 at the new table and 4 at the other.

Here's the best part, it came at such a perfect time, right after I had made my post about needing to get back on track and wanting to get back into homemaking with a purpose and doing little things for the house.

I have a gunny sack laying around that I had no idea what to make with, so I cut out a quick strip and added it to the table.  Nevermind the curling on it, I will get it ironed out and such, but I love it so much.

After a few little things added, it looks so homey and cosy and just what I want my house to be.  What a blessing.

Woke up this morning and noticed that we had snow coming down, of course nothing major like the snow I'm used to in Idaho.  However, I've always been the kind of person who loves the snow even with the cold and the driving annoyance.

It was the first snow I've seen for a year and I was thrilled to witness it coming down.  Just slowly, tiny little specks, floating down and sticking to the ground.

It didn't last long and within an hour it had stopped and everything had melted.  I was hoping it was sticking around but I guess it had other plans.

The cold however, that didn't leave, it stayed right here making sure I knew who was boss.  HA!!!

I got all my housework done early this morning so the rest of the day I was able to relax in bed with my warm blankets, make a crochet pillow which I shared on Instagram and will show you all tomorrow.

I also spent the whole day watching Making a Murderer.  Oh my gosh, I don't know if any of you watched it but it left me so incredibly infuriated.  I'm not going to say anything else in case someone out there hasn't watched yet, but I think of all the documentaries I have ever watched, and they are many, it was the first one to make me so angry and sad and annoyed and so on and so forth.

Yeah I'm not going to say anything else, if you've watched you will know what I'm referring to, if you haven't I think you should.

Anyway, I've finally gotten around to visiting some of you, I'm sorry my visits are so sporadic, but I am trying to be more consistent with the visits.

Well it's just after 10pm here and I fear I may not be able to stay awake much longer.  Our Bella has been keeping hubby and I up the past 2 nights and we are dead on our feet.

I think it's probably a good idea for me to just head to bed and get some sleep......yes, I'm going to do that.

Falling off the homemaking wagon

It happened, last year.

One thing I've always been so proud of, was the fact that I love homemaking and love doing those tasks that so many others seem to find annoying, frustrating, useless.  I won't lie, there are certain aspects of homemaking that I like less than others, but overall, I love being a homemaker.

With the move last year and everything that was going on, I kind of fell off the happy homemaking wagon.  It's as if one minute I was trotting along quite happily and the next we hit a huge rock on the path and everything went willy nilly all over the place.

Since then, my homemaking has been mediocre at best, just being done because it has to be and often times tackled with the same inspiration and motivation of someone walking the green mile.  Truly!!!

I've let it slide, always with the excuse that there was so much going on, this is temporary, you'll pick it right back up soon.  But folks, it's been a half a year and now that things have finally calmed down, it's time to get my butt in gear, hop right back on that wagon and continue plodding down the path.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that even I, have my days, or in this case, months.

It's ok to not always enjoy being the homemaker, to not always approach it all with a big smile on our faces, we're human and sometimes as moms and wives and homemakers we feel so much pressure to please and to have everything so perfect, that we forget about ourselves and what we need.

The trick here, for me at least, has been to sit back and allow this process to work itself through.

First it all happened because of the move, 4 months separation from my hubby, followed by the cross country move with a broken down car on the side of the road somewhere in Colorado, the influx of family activities and places we needed to be, family reunion, trips here and there, and my body trying to catch up with it all.

Then I just told myself that I needed time to relax and calm down and de-stress, so to speak.

What followed then were the past two months where the holidays kicked in and as much as I wanted to jump back on that wagon I told myself "why bother, there's too much going on, just let it slide".

Let me quickly explain something though, I hope I'm not confusing anyone by making them think when I say I let it slide or fell off the wagon, that it means I stopped cleaning my house or homemaking in general.  No, no, no.....it means, I stopped caring about the little details, about making things for my home, about trying my best to keep it all cozy and warm and cute.  I just did what was necessary for that day, dishes and cooking etc.

Didn't go the extra mile, so to speak!!!

Beginning of this year, about a week ago, I started feeling this overwhelming need to go back to my roots.  It didn't help that I've been going back on my blog and reading posts from prior years where I was like the perfect little homemaker, always on top of everything.  It made me feel good to read these posts but it also made me feel somewhat like a failure?  Like what is wrong with me that I stopped caring, stopped doing little things for the house.

The more I read, the more I realized how much I miss that structure and routine, and the more it became apparent to me that I have got to get my butt in gear and jump back on that wagon STAT.

Not because it's what is expected of me, or what others may want, but because it's what feels right and because it's what I love, and because I miss putting on my apron every morning and going about my chores, and making homemade bread, and preparing lunches for my children, and crocheting pillows for the couches and little doilies or jar cozies.

I miss plants in my house, I had so many back in Idaho and couldn't bring them with me and the house feels so empty without them.  I miss my herb garden back in Arizona, and my vegetables too.

I miss doing the dishes by hand and seeing all the pretty dishes drying.

I miss setting the table all pretty and sitting down for a meal with my family.  Oh we still have meals together but it's usually a quick hit and run, plates and forks and knives, a napkin and there ya have it.

I miss lighting candles and sitting down on the couch after a long day with my crochet.

I miss a house that is fully finished, not having to worry about moving boxes that have yet to be unpacked (I always unpacked everything within a few days of moving, not this time).

I miss being organized and staying organized.

I miss me.

The me that had time for everything, the me that would do laundry almost daily and not leave it for the weekend, the me that had a spotless kitchen and not dinner dishes in the sink in the morning, the me that made the phone calls that needed to be made and the appointments that needed to be set. 

We can be our biggest critics, that is for sure.  I know I am, but instead of going on about this, I had a nice long talk with myself. 

But now the talking is done, and I am sitting down today to work out a plan of action, a routine, a way to get me back on track without feeling overwhelmed. 

Truth is, and I'm sure you all know this already, but when you fall of the wagon with regards to anything, it's mighty hard to get back on, and mighty hard to not feel completely overwhelmed in the beginning.  Trick is to get past that, to push through.

So, I'm saying this in here because I need to be held accountable, and what better what for me to do that than to put it down on my blog where I will see it, and read it, and know what needs to be done.

There will be no more tackling household chores with a sense of dread.  
There will be no more rushed meals to get on the table.
There will be no more boxes in closets waiting to be dealt with.
There will be no more lists of things to do collecting dust.
There will be no more dragging myself through the day, counting down the hours until bedtime because I feel exhausted.
There will be no more skipping blog posts just because it's too much effort to get on and write something, it's not that I don't have things to blog about, it's that I didn't have the patience.

There WILL be the old me, back on it, back being the homemaker that I always took so much pride in.  I miss her, so very much and am thrilled to have reached this moment where I'm ready to make a change.

Past year has been absolutely miserable for me, I haven't been very happy to be honest, and not because of anything outside of myself, but because I wasn't being true to myself or my family or my house.

I know this post is long and I apologize, but I needed to vent and get my ideas in order, and if this in any way helps other homemakers out there, then even better.

I guess ultimately what I'm trying to convey here is that we all go through these moments and just as easy as it is to fall off that wagon, it's not impossible to get back on.

So if you've been feeling as I have, just know that it's normal and that you can start to enjoy your role as a homemaker, and when you do, taking care of the family and the house won't seem like such a difficult, frustrating task to do.

If you've made it to the end of this post, thank you, thank you for listening and reading, I so appreciate it :)

How to embed Flickr photos on Blogger - Tutorial

The new Flickr has been frustrating a lot of people, me included.

I've always been of the belief that if something is not broken, then LEAVE it alone.  It's quite annoying when people constantly feel the need to change things, mess with them, remove them or update them if nothing is wrong in the first place.

I've been on Flickr since 2006, it is actually the only online site that I pay a subscription for yearly, and I will continue to do so because I've used it for my blogging photos since the beginning.

A few months ago I noticed that Flickr had decided to change the way we embed the photos on our posts or online in general. What went from being a simple html code pasted into the posts, became an embedded html code which includes our account names and the title of the photo etc.....and worse for me, no way of centering the darn thing which I like doing with my photos.

To say that I hated it is an understatement.



Above is the example of a photo taken directly from my Flickr account and using their new embed html code.  I am not able to center it, it has that white border on the top with my account name on it and Flickr on the right side.....and if you hover over it, you will see that it brings up sharing buttons and the name of the file etc.

For some this may be perfect and exactly what they're looking for, but for blogging purposes, and speaking strictly for myself, I don't like it one bit.

It took me a few weeks of messing around with it and finding a way around it, and I did, so I thought I would come in today and share it, for those who are not happy with this new format and would like to be able to post the old photos with no borders, information, and the ability to center.

First things first, I'm sure you all know how to do this part, but nonetheless, when you select a photo to share in Flickr, this menu will come up.  Choose the size photo you want, I usually have it on Medium as you see.

Now, before it would just say HTML, now it says HTML embed.  Copy that code and paste it into the HTML tab of your new post.

It will look like this. 

If I were to just publish the post now, it would show up like the photo above, with the white border and all the other unnecessary stuff.

So let's work around it, and it's still a little annoying just because I have to do this for every photo I post, but I like the ability to work around it.

First thing you are going to do, see the highlighted portion of code?  You are going to delete it, so delete data-flickr-embed="true"

Once that is deleted, you are also going to delete the following portion from the code....

Now go ahead and finish your post and then publish.

Here is the new photo without all the added embed code from Flickr. See the difference? Back to how it used to be and centered.

I do hope that this has helped you all, I've had a few friends ask me for help with this because they've also struggled to get the photos on since Flickr made the change.

Let me know if you still have any issues, I will try to help as much as I can :)

Happy posting!!!!

Little bits of home!

As the new year is before us, I've decided that I really need to get cracking with some projects around the house.  Some things I want to get done, some decorating I want to finish in some of the rooms and a few bits and pieces that I still want to buy.

This weekend I went to Family Dollar and grabbed just a few things.  My bedroom still didn't have curtains so I got some really cheap sheer white curtains, I have always loved sheer soft looking curtains for the bedrooms.



This basket was so cheap and I just fell in love with it.  The color, the lettering, just all of it.  It sits in Jasmine's bathroom now and holds toilet paper.



I found this iron trivet on sale at Hobby Lobby, it was 50% marked down to like $3.  I use it in my bathroom to hold my lotions.



Since the move I lost my dish drying rack, so picked this one up, another really cheap item but it looks great in my kitchen.



While I went to Family Dollar, my husband decided to surprise me, and I returned home to find that he had done all the laundry, washed, dried, hung up, and put away. How did I get so lucky?



I also worked on getting down the Christmas decorations outside.



I have to say, I spent two days of real homemaking and enjoyed every second of it.  Do I enjoy washing dishes all the time?  No.  Do I like doing laundry all the time?  No.  But it is what it is, and it has to be done and is my job and so I just tackle it with the best attitude I can and try to get it done as quick as I can.

This week I'm hoping to work on a new homemaking and cleaning schedule/routine.  For the most part I don't follow a set day for doing things, I just go about my day and do whatever needs to be done, but I have had routines and schedules before and enjoyed having that list to follow. 

It's easier when you know what needs to be done on certain days.

I also have some ideas for some window treatments, some letters to paint that will go above my bed, lots of sewing to be done and crochet to get cracking on.

This year I need to concentrate on homemaking and spending more time on myself too, doing the things that I love, crafting and creating and just spending my energy on those things that matter.  I need it so badly.

I actually wanted to ask you all, for the crocheters out there, send me some ideas on what to make with my new cotton yarn, I'm drawing quite a blank at the moment but really want to get started with something.

Alrighty, I am going to call it a night, trying to get back into the normal early morning routine is proving to be a problem already haha

Happy Homemaker Monday - 01/04/2016

Hello, Hello!!!

I am so late in posting this today, I apologize for that, it's just been a weird morning for me.

But let's get right into it.

The weather outside is::::

Beautiful morning, bright blue skies and 37 degrees.  

On the breakfast plate this morning::::

Cup of coffee with Hazelnut creamer, and a sandwich on wheat bread, with cheddar cheese and pimento loaf.

As I look outside my window:::

It's such a pretty day, the birds are flying around from tree to tree, there is no wind at all and the skies are a beautiful gorgeous blue.    

Right now I am::::

Sitting in bed, still, at 10:15am.  I don't know if I'm quite ready to get back to a normal schedule quite yet, it's always so hard coming off the holidays into a new year. 
 

As I look around the house::::

I have a bit of cleaning to do but not much.  I'm glad that all remnants of the holidays are now gone and we can start fresh on a clean slate.

On today's to do list::::

Laundry....My wonderful husband did all of my laundry, and I didn't even ask him to, he just did it on his own.  I'm one lucky woman.    
Cleaning....In the kitchen.... Unload the dishwasher and reload with breakfast dishes. 
In the living rooms....Tidy up, vacuum, open curtains.
In the bedrooms....Make beds, open curtains.
In the bathrooms....clean the toilets, sinks and mirrors.
Homeschooling....It's back to school today but there is no much this week, the semester ends on the 12th, so we have until then to get caught up and no new lessons. 
 

Happening this week::::

Nothing really going on, just trying to get back into the normal swing of things

Currently reading::::

A Pioneer Christmas, and A Prairie Christmas. 

On the TV today::::

General Hospital....ok so here's the deal, I've always been a huge Jason and Sam fan and when they killed of Jason, I stopped watching.  I couldn't stomach watching Sam with that idiot Silas or with Patrick, it just wasn't right for me.  Yesterday, I accidentally came across an article on Kelly Monaco and Billy Miller and I was floored to find out that not only had Jason been recast but Jason and Sam were working their way back together.  So guess what I've been doing since last night?  Yep, catching up on the past 2 years of General Hospital...and I'm happy to say that I did and can now watch from today on and be caught up.  

Lockup
When the Heart Calls Season 2

On the menu this week::::

Monday - Beans and Ham
Tuesday - Kielbasa Skillet Beans and Rice
Wednesday - Humble chicken stew & dumplings
Thursday - Sausage Pappardele
Friday - Freddy's Burgers with Ono Hawaiian Macaroni Salad
Saturday - Slow cooker taco soup 
Sunday -Beef Curry

What I am creating at the moment::::

This week I'm making some Patchwork Potholders, also plan on starting something with my new cotton yarn.

New recipe I tried or want to try this week::::

I've now made two things in my pressure cooker, rice and also made some chili and both were amazing.  I just realized that I didn't get to share the Chipotle Style Burrito Bowls, oh my word, I'm so sorry.  

Favorite photo from past few days::::

Prayers, Inspirational Quotes or Devotionals::::