Soap and Soup

As much as I have wanted to stay on top of my blogging, I have not been able to do so.  Aside from the hustle and bustle of the holidays, I have also been busy with schooling and trying to work on getting my little business off of the ground.  Planning and preparations take up a lot of time.

I have been soaping like a crazy woman, trying out different fats and fragrances all leading up to the launch of my line of soaps, lotions and salves.  I am hoping to be able to set up at the local farmer's market.  I have already set up my web page and will be gong live with it in a couple of months, but I want to be more active with my community.

I wanted to leave you with a new recipe.  I made this today after dental work so I would have soft food to eat.  I served it with broiled garlic bread.

Creamy Tomato Soup

1 stick butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1 red, yellow or orange bell pepper, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
6 tablespoons flour
3 cups milk
3 cups vegetable or chicken broth (I used chicken)
4 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon basil
2 cans stewed tomatoes, undrained and pureed in a blender

Melt butter and add all chopped veggies.  Cook until veggies are soft.  Add flour to veggies and mix.  Cook for about a minute.  Add broth and cook, bringing to a low boil, to thicken a bit.  Add sugar, spices, basil and milk.  Cook, again, to thicken, bringing back to simmer.  Add tomato puree and heat through.

Serve each bowl with Monteray Jack and/or Parmesan cheese.  Add crusty bread and raw broccoli as sides.

Long time, no write.

Dear readers, if you are still following me after all of this time, I thank you so much.  I have all but abandoned my blogs.  I have had little to no time for blogging.

Our home school has settled into a sweet little routine and the kids are doing beautifully.  Last I updated, we had just pulled the kids out of public school.  That was an adjustment and a half, but we got there.  It's been wonderful getting to know my babies all over again.  They are each so unique and interesting.  I feel lucky to have this time with them.

I am also working on getting my soaping business going.  I am building up a stock to take to the farmer's market in the spring.  We want to sell soap and our garden veggies.

Speaking of our garden, it did not do well this year.  Two summers worth of failure is starting to wear on us, but we will try again next year.  We think we know what the problem is.  We had no rain this summer, like much of the country.  We used the water hose and I am pretty sure that the water is killing our plants.  Our local municipalities add a lot of chlorine to our tap water.  We don't drink it for this reason.  I am hoping to get rain barrels put out next year so we do not have this problem again.  We did put in a fall garden and got a great yield of mustard, kale and collard greens.  We tried lettuce, kohlrabi, swiss chard, broccoli and cauliflower.  They did not do as well.

I have been working on our food stockpile this summer.  It's not anything like what I want right now, but it has us about a month ahead of the game.  I fear the food prices will increase soon because of the drought.  I don't want to be caught without enough food.  I have also been dehydrating some of the fruits I catch on sale.  I have dehydrated strawberries just waiting to dive into some tea.  

As a peace offering for my extended absence, I would like to share a recipe with you.  

Sausage Cheese Breakfast Biscuits

2 cups flour
¼ cup shortening
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp  baking powder

1 lb. sausage

2/3 C of milk

1 1/2 C of cheddar cheese, shredded

Preheat to 400 degrees.  Combine all ingredients until blended.  I put the ingredients into my food processor.  Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto an ungreased baking sheet.  Bake for 18 minutes, until light golden brown.  These freeze very well, too.  Serve with eggs and fruit.  My kids love them.  The taste like sausage balls.  Mmmmm.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and I hope to be back here soon.

Kids Corner Time!!!

I have been working like a mad woman over the past couple of months. I have been looking for just the right way to educate my kids. So many people use so many different things that it can become hugely overwhelming. I did decide on a prepackaged curriculum. It is a wonderful package, but I am finding difficulty in using it because of it being spring and the syllabus starts with the fall. I may just put it away and go back to what I was using before I bought the curriculum.

The web is full of wonderful resources. One that I found was created by a homeschooling mom for her boys. She shares everything from her lesson plans in hopes that you can use it to meet your children's needs as well. In looking over it, I found that I could use several aspects of it, most of which was the literature and history/geography.

The books you can download from her site are now in free domains so you can download these books, print them, read them online, whatever you wish. I save them as PDF as often as possible and download them to my Kindle. Many of the books are formatted for Kindle. She uses Project Gutenberg for her books and a few of them are on blogs and other websites. I looked on Google books and found a few of them for free there. It's all in how much work you are willing to do.

Either way, if you are growing weary of the selection offered to today's youth, hop on over to Miss Maggie's site. I am sure you will not be disappointed.

Old Fashioned Education

Wanting to start sewing again.

I really do enjoy sewing. I did a bit over the Christmas holidays, making gifts for my children. I find it difficult to get inspired. I don't want to only sew at the holidays, so I decided on something to do that will hone my skills and help out other people.

Locally, we have a pregnancy crisis center. They do great work making sure that low income women have the help they need to take care of their babies. We all know how expensive it is to raise children, especially just starting out with basics for babies. Diapers alone can cost a small fortune and with as quickly as they grow out of their clothes you can find yourself coming up short if you are without a job or not making much money.

I thought I would make burp cloths, bibs and blankets. Sewing a blanket is much easier than you might think. I made my youngest a security blanket for Christmas and it was very simple. I also crochet and have made a blanket. I don't do fancy, just functional, so while I think my work is still pretty, it definitely does the job. So, this is my plan and I hope to be able to share pictures with you in the future. Do you sew and donate your wares?

Kids Corner Time!!!

In the spirit of trying to keep my promises, I am posting a link for another fantastic site.

Do you remember Highlights? I do, although most memories consist of my reading these magazines while at the doctor. I can remember the magazine pretty vividly and that one of my favorite things about it was the hidden picture puzzles. I remember looking for every Highlights I could find and "solving" all of those puzzles.

Well, Highlights now offers a bunch of the puzzles on a website free for the printing. These would be a great thing to have on a long car ride. You could make a whole book of them if you wanted and give it out when the kids start crying, "Are we there yet?". So, here you go. Enjoy!!!

Highlights Hidden Pictures Printables

Kids Corner Time!!!

As I have mentioned in the past, I am home schooling my kids. It is an endeavor that keeps me busy not only educating my children, but also researching for fun and/or educational resources that cost little to no money. I prefer the latter, especially in this economy.

I am also of the mindset that most of the entertainment geared toward children is simply too mature in content, especially if you have an advanced reader like my oldest child. I keep looking for old, classic reading material and activities that are appropriate for my children and sometimes that can prove to be difficult.

Yesterday, while doing one of my searches, I came across a site that offers recordings for children. Most of them date back to the 50s or before. I felt like I hit the jack pot for auditory entertainment. There are things the kids recognize (like Looney Tunes) and many things the kids (and I) have never heard of. Some come with pictures that are scannings of the book pages, some have words to the music and some just have the album cover picture. Look for the link at the end of this post.

I am going to try to post a new resource on Mondays so you can use them in your own home classroom through the week or with your babes in the evenings after dinner. Hopefully, you will find these resources as useful as I do.

Kiddie Records Weekly

I promised I'd write more, but...

My life has been a little crazy. Between the holidays that were so wonderful and starting our homeschooling, I have been running around like mad. Please accept my apologies for being absent.

I really don't have any tips or tricks for today's blog. My house has been neglected as of late. I need to kick it in gear and get cleaning. We pulled the kids out of school in January. I was going to give them a few weeks to decompress before I started with them and I needed the time to get an idea of what they needed. Well, the little munchkins decided they wanted to get started and between that and everyone gtting sick at different times, it threw my schedule off.

In the state of Indiana, you have to have 180 days of instruction. The days they were in public or private schools count toward that goal. The state doesn't really check, but I am an honest person, so I keep my day to day attendance log. I decided we would do a six week on two week off schedule. It will give us more than the state's requirement and the children and I will not experience the burnout that I so desperately want to avoid. Since they wanted to start early, I was able to end early and we get a month off. Yay!!!

I need this time to get my house spring cleaned and to get better aquainted with the new curriculum I purchased. I am very excited about both. For one, my house has been closed up all winter and I am ready to air it out. Second, the curriculum is so artsy and full of nature, it can't help but be enjoyable.

We have also started gearing up for spring, but you'll have to hop over to my other blog, The Good Little Housewife's Homesteading Adventures. There are many interesting things going on in our backyard.

I will be back soon. I am going to try (I really mean it this time) to keep one or both of my blogs updated. If you can't find me here, try the other one.

Talk to you soon!!!

Deck the Halls!!! Craft Ideas, Traditions and a Recipe

Seasons greetings, fellow bloggers!!! I hope you are having a wonderful beginning to the holiday season. The Good Little Housewife's home is overflowing with excitement and anticipation.

With Thanksgiving barely behind me, I have turned my thoughts to creating the loveliest of Christmases this year. I plan to put my fall decorations away and slowly dot Christmas around my home. I have taken this suggestion from one of my favorite blogs on the web, Brocante Home. If you have not had the opportunity to check out Alison May, then you don't know what you're missing. Anyway, on to my post.

I started yesterday, since it IS the official kickoff to the Christmas season. I added fragrance to my home in the way of Scentsy's Christmas Cottage. I have it warming in the living room and sprayed the room spray throughout my house. It is very Christmasy and adds to the ambiance I plan to create.

The Good Little Husband and I celebrated our wedding anniversary a couple of weeks ago and have not had an opportunity to go anywhere to officially celebrate, especially with kids and his work schedule, so we have plans for Tuesday. I live in a historic town that is on the National Historic Registry. There are beautiful buildings in our downtown area chock full of antique shops that speak to my very soul. We plan to scour the shops in search of one particular item, an antique key. We had a commercial version of the Santa key and it disappeared. My children ask how Santa will get into our home. Since the key is missing, this really bothers them, as you can well imagine. So, I am in search for the perfect key that Santa's elf can deliver in the night for the kids to leave on the front door. Oh, how I long for a fireplace so that we can use a traditional story for the Santa invasion, but alas, that is a dream that will not be soon fulfilled.

I have also been working heavily on my crafts trying to complete projects that are going to be used as Christmas gifts for my children. I have made a doll blanket, a security blanket for my three year old and an art bag for the back of a chair. I am going to put a journal in the art bag with subject ideas for each day of the year in a jar. When I get it all done, I will show pics, but in the mean time here is the link for the journal subjects. Adult and Child.

This year is going to go at a slower pace and we have many activities planned around town that we will be able to enjoy without feeling rushed. We are going on a train ride with Santa like we did last year, going to the winery for the tree festival and a few other things. I tire of the rushed feelings of the holiday. It leaves you with such a let down feeling. You wake up the day after and you wonder where it went. I don't want that to happen this year.

Keep an eye on my blog for crafts, decorating ideas and, of course, recipes. I am going to leave you with one today. I just made this fudge and I must praise it, even if it isn't lady like to pat yourself on the back.

White Chocolate Covered Almond Cherry Fudge

3 cups sugar
3/4 cup margarine
2/3 cup evaporated milk
12 oz bag white chocolate chips
1 jar (7 oz.) marshmallow creme
10 ounce jar maraschino cherries, drained and chopped
2 tablespoons almond extract

Grease a 10x13 pan.

Place sugar, butter and evaporated milk in large heavy saucepan. Bring to full rolling boil on medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil 4 min. or until candy thermometer reaches 234°F, stirring constantly to prevent scorching. Remove from heat.
Add white chocolate chips and marshmallow creme; stir until completely melted. Add cherries and almond extract; mix well.
Pour immediately into prepared pan; spread to form even layer in pan. Let stand at room temperature 4 hours or until completely cooled; cut into 1-inch squares. Store in tightly covered container at room temperature.

You could add 1 cup chopped almonds to the mixture or sprinkled on top. My children do not like nuts, so I can't add them.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do.

A Different Kind of Sweet Potato Casserole

Growing up, I had a favorite dish on Thanksgiving. It was a sweet potato casserole like no other. I wanted to share this recipe with everyone as my wish for all to have a happy and safe Thanksgiving.

Stacy's Half Cup Sweet Potato Casserole

½c flour
½c brown sugar, packed
½c quick oats
1 tsp cinnamon
½c butter, softened
1 40oz can yams, drained
½c cooked cranberries (buy fresh and cook until they pop)
1c small marshmallows

In a bowl, mix flour, sugar, oats and cinnamon. Cut in butter.
Toss in 1 cup of mixture with yams and berries.
Place in baking dish and top with remaining mix.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Top with marshmallows and bake about 10 minutes more or until marshmallows are browned.

Yummy brunch idea

Since yesterday was Halloween and we did our Trick or Treating the day before, I wanted to mark the holiday with something fun and traditional. I did some research on Samhain and came up with some great things to do with my family and some great recipes to boot. The meal would be excellent for brunch.

I made both things (recipes below) and opened up a couple of jars of fried apples I put up last fall. The meal was delicious and I wanted to share the recipes for the Sausage Egg Bake and Pumpkin Bread.

Sausage Egg Bake

This was a recipe from Ann Burrell of Food Network. I changed it around a bit due to ingredient availability, personal tastes, holiday traditions and expense.

Ingredients
Extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 pound Mild breakfast sausage
Kosher salt
1 tablespoon rosemary, crushed
1/2 cup dry white wine
8 eggs
6 ounces Swiss cheese, grated

Directions
Special equipment: 8 (6-ounce) ramekins
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Coat a large saute pan with olive oil, add the garlic cloves and bring to a medium heat. When the garlic has become golden brown and very aromatic, add the sausage and brown. Drain.
Once, nicely browned, season with kosher salt then add in the rosemary and white wine. Cook until the wine has almost been absorbed. Turn off the heat and reserve.
Brush 8 individual ramekins with olive oil. Divide the sausage mixture equally among the ramekins and press gently into the bottom. Top each with an egg. Sprinkle each egg with a couple drops of olive oil and arrange on a baking sheet. Bake for 8 minutes. Sprinkle each egg lightly with Swiss cheese and bake until the cheese is brown and bubbly and the egg whites are cooked and the yolks are still runny, about 5 minutes.

Pumpkin Bread

I found this recipe online somewhere and can't remember where. I altered it a bit adding more nutmeg than the original recipe called for. Makes two loaves.

2 cups canned pumpkin
1 cup melted butter
¾ cups water
4 eggs
3 2/3 cups flour
2 ¼ cups sugar
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 ½ c raisins (opt)
1 cup chopped walnuts (opt)

Preheat oven to 350. Blend pumpkin, butter, water and eggs until well-mixed. Add sugar and mix. In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and baking soda. Add to pumpkin mixture in small batches, mixing well to combine. With a wooden spoon, stir in raisins and nuts. Pour into two loaf pans that have been greased and floured. Bake at 350 for one hour, or until top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out mostly clean.

Delicious meal and looks so nice served.

Cranberry Orange Breakfast Bread

A dense breakfast bread with the wonderful taste of cranberries made in the bread machine. It’s perfect for a holiday brunch or as an accompaniment to eggs, oatmeal, anything.

1⅛ cups orange juice
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons honey
3 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon dry milk powder
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon salt
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
1 cup sweetened dried cranberries
⅓ cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select cycle; press Start. If your machine has a Fruit & Nut setting, add the cranberries and nuts at the signal, or about 5 minutes before the kneading cycle has finished.

This is delicious. I should really start taking pictures of my food when I make it, but I seem to forget and then it's all eaten by the time I think about it again. Note to self: take camera to kitchen at all times.

Happy fall, y'all!!!

I have been severely neglecting my blogs and I apologize for that. I have been so busy with things that I haven't had much time to write.

We have been painting and moving the kids rooms around. We still have two rooms to paint, but at least everyone is in their own room now. Of course, school has started and things get hectic simply because of that. We have finally gotten a break in the weather so have been trying to get out more in the past couple of weeks to play with the kids and get ready for winter. I have also been trying to get ready for winter inside of the house with washing blankets, making up warmer beds, finding coats, jackets, swapping warm weather clothes for sweaters and cords. All in all, just the business of the changing seasons.

My husband has been dealing with some health problems as well and he is going in for a sleep study in a couple of weeks. Fingers crossed they can get him fixed up. His BP is high and he doesn't sleep well. I am thinking apnea.

I have also been busy with my research and experimenting for our homesteading. You can hop over to my other blog (chicken link in sidebar) to read up on some of that. It hasn't been going so great, but it's all trial and error.

Now, Christmas is coming up and I have crafting to do as I want to make a lot of my kids presents this year. I am tired of paying good money for things that break or become uninteresting before winter break is over. It's very sad.

We've been trying to get back into a routine around here and I plan to devote more time to my blogs. I am hoping to, at the very least, get a recipe posted every week. I hope to also be able to post a Kid's Corner post every week as well.

Hopefully, in the not so distant future, I will be getting my Esty shop up and running along with an e-book I have been working on. Keep a look out for those two things. I hope to have it going by spring.

Anyway, we've been doing well and have many plans for the coming months I hope to share with everyone... especially Thanksgiving dinner.

Lavender Vanilla Sugar

Mmmmm, this is such a yummy treat to put in hot tea. I haven't tried it in anything else as of yet, but I can imagine that it would excellent sprinkled over fruit, especially a lemon dish or some sort. Here's the recipe.


1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon dried lavender
¾ teaspoon vanilla extract

Place all ingredients into blender or food processor and blitz into a powder.

Back to School, Back to Routine

While I am feeling a bit melancholy today, I can’t help but be happy that tomorrow is the first day of school. My oldest is in third grade this year and my little girl is starting Kindergarten. I have grown accustomed to my son being in school, but I have still had two at home to keep up with. Now, I am down to my two year old. How will I fill my days?

While routine is a wonderful thing and kids thrive best using them, summer is such a treat with laid back days and late nights. Sleeping in every day is a wonderful treat in itself. But back to school we must go, back to early mornings, homework and hoping the kids have the skills necessary to navigate their days in the classroom. Hoping that I, as a mother, have done a sufficient job in helping them to be independent and eager to learn.

On to the excitement. I, as many parents across the country, have really been slacking in my housework routines. Not that my house has turned into a pig sty by any means, but it hasn’t been as tidy as it should be. We have been so busy this summer with nothing in particular. We have pretty much been confined to the house with the horrible heat that has plagued the land over the past couple of months. You can imagine, with three kids in the house, it’s nearly impossible to keep up with everything. Not to mention the two new dogs we acquired and trying to housebreak them both. We also took a vacation to Florida to see my best friend and her family.

So, I must get back into my daily routine adding lunch packing responsibilities. I now have two kids to get ready for school, pick up in the afternoon and help with homework. Extra responsibilities will be easier to handle since I will have more time to get my regular housework done. I should have two solid hours of quiet when my little guy naps. I won’t know how to act with that much time not having to get onto one child or another or wiping an extra butt or fixing a lunch or…

I will get to work with my little guy in a more one on one fashion. He seems to have gotten left out of the mix so often with the other two demanding so much more of my time. I get to start potty training. Yay!!!

My husband and I are also looking forward to having some time together. He works a strange shift and is home a lot during the week. Without all three kids in tow, we get to go out to lunch at the little restaurants downtown. We also get to hit the antique shops we have wanted to see since we moved to this town eight years ago.

All in all, while the milestones are both happy and sad, I can surely see the benefit for myself in this. I will miss my kids during school hours, but know that they are making friends and learning so much. I will miss the noise in the house, but enjoy the silence that I haven’t heard in many years. All in all back to school and routine is a pretty cool thing.

Fiesta night

We love Mexican food night around here. I thought I would share a couple of my recipes.


Shredded Fiesta Chicken

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 (16 oz) jar Picante sauce
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 can corn (drained)
1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)

Pour a little oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat and brown chicken on both sides.
Place the chicken in the crock pot and pour sauce over making sure to cover all chicken.
Add the garlic powder, cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper.
Cover and cook on high 2 hours, reducing to low for 2 hours.
Remove the chicken to a bowl, shred with a fork, then put the chicken back in the crock pot.
Cover and continue to cook on Low for 1 hour.
Stir in the corn and black beans.
Cover and continue cooking 1 hour.
Serve in soft taco shells, flour tortilla bowls or over tortilla chips. Can top with cheese, sour cream or anything you like on your tacos. I like cheese and ranch dressing on mine. Have guacamole (see following recipe), refried beans or Mexican rice as a side.

Fiesta Guacamole Dip

3 Haas avocados, halved and seeded
2 limes, juiced
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon ground coriander seed
½ medium onion, diced
2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced (opt.)
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro (opt.)
pinch of cayenne pepper (opt.)
1 clove garlic, minced

In a large bowl place the scooped avocado pulp and lime juice, toss to coat.

Drain, and reserve the lime juice, after all of the avocados have been coated.

Using a potato masher add the salt, cumin, and cayenne and mash. Then, fold in the onions, tomatoes, cilantro, and garlic.

Add 1 tablespoon of the reserved lime juice. Cover with plastic wrap or wax paper making sure to have the wrap touching the dip. Let sit at room temperature for 1 hour and then serve.


I adjust things in my guac all of the time. I don't like the cilantro flavor, so I don't use that. I like lots of cumin. My husband likes tomatoes and cayenne, the kids and I do not.

Have fun with these recipes tonight. I am serving over tortilla chips this evening. Enjoy!!!

Already thinking about Christmas

As much as I hate thinking about it, this is the time of year I start getting visions of sugar plums and stocking stuffers. Why, you may ask? Well, I like to make a lot of gifts for my little family and in order to get them all done, I need to start early. Another bonus is that I can spread the costs of materials over the course of months instead of weeks.

We all know how crazy it can get around the holidays. We have to go see this person and go to that party or event. Trying to schedule homemade crafts in with cookies, candies and get-togethers can be nearly impossible, so I start early.

I have a few ideas of what I want to make this year. I have a simple quilt idea for the kids and hubby. I am planning on making things for my doggies, such as treats, tags and beds.

With everything I am planning on doing in the fall preparing for winter, I think this time of year is a good time to start my crafting for the holidays. Are you thinking about your celebrations yet?

Is your home company ready? *Challenge*

Tom and Sally are coming over for dinner Saturday night. You look around your home and see papers piled up on the tables, couch cushions and pillows look like they've been slept on for three nights straight, the bathroom sink covered in an array of brushes, cosmetics and toothpaste glops. What do you do?

I have been guilty of my home getting into this shape. Heck, who am I kidding? My home stays in this state of disarray quite a bit. Why are we more concerned with how our homes look when company is coming than we do when when our own family is coming home?

Home is supposed to be a sanctuary from the big, bad world. After our husbands have been at work and our children at school, they want nothing more than to come home to a relaxing place, a place free of clutter and mess.

I have a challenge for you (and me, to be honest). Let's see if we can clear all hard surfaces everyday. Throw out the junk mail. Designate a place for bills and other important mail to be gone through after dinner. Clear off the bathroom sink and wipe out the goopy mess. Run the vacuum and light a candle or two for fragrance. See how much more relaxed you are. Ask your family if it makes a difference to them.

Let's make a pact to treat our families as well as we treat our friends. My family went on vacation last week and when I came home, although the house was neat enough, it was not company ready. I thought a lot about this and wondered why I am not treating myself and my family as well as company. It's really given me a push to get my house back into order that I have let slide as of late.

My two new dogs

Back in May our beloved dog, Putter, died. We miss him a great deal.

We wanted another Sheltie because they are such wonderful dogs. They are so smart and loyal. They're great watch dogs and good with kids. I started looking at breeders to get a feel for pricing and availability. While I am usually a huge advocate for shelter dogs (which my lab mix was), I knew that I would have to pay to get the temperament I wanted. Putter was a free dog that I got from my sister when she moved, so I had no real idea of what they cost.

I found a breeder about an hour away and called her. She had two male pups left and wasn't going to breed her female for another year. She had three other females, but her one male would not mate with them, so she would not have anymore puppies for about a year. I decided to go get one of the puppies.

She also told me that she was thinking of selling her females that her male wouldn't touch and wanted $600 a piece for them. I told her I was interested, but would have to wait before I could afford it.

She called me, a week ago this past Friday, telling me that she had one of the females she wanted to find a home for. I told her I could not afford the $600 right now. The dog was afraid of loud noises outside and was escaping every pen she put her in. The breeder was worried that the dog would get hit by a car or semi on the highway and wanted to find her an inside home. She offered the dog to me for free as long as I gave her pick of the litter in the spring.

She is fitting in wonderfully here. :-)


Daisy



Charlie

My new homesteading blog

As I said in a previous post, my husband and I are looking into urban homesteading. I wanted to write a blog dedicated to our journey of learning and thought an entirely separate blog would be the ticket. While the two blogs go hand in hand, both cover different topics. Some people could be interested in one and not the other, while some people may find both subjects to their liking.

You can always find The Good Little Housewife's Homesteading Adventures in my side bar by clicking the title link or the chickens right below it. For now, to make it simpler for you, just click on the chickens below. Enjoy!!!

Cheap and Easy Decor

Several years ago, a friend and I went too an auction. It was my first time going and I checked out all of the items carefully before I decided on something to buy. There was a six place setting china set that was not stamped on the bottom, but I was fine with that. I just thought it was pretty.

I have never really used it as I have not had occasion to, however, I was sick of them being in the cupboard over my refrigerator never seeing the light of day. I was watching a commercial one day (can't remember which one) and on the kitchen wall was the most wonderful collection of mismatched china. Different patterns and sizes hung in no particular order, just placed randomly on the wall in a grouping. A light bulb went on in my head.

I went to Lowes and purchased plate hangers. Since I had already measured my plates, I picked out the right sizes. I came home and laid my plates out on the floor trying to decide how I wanted them to look. They were very easy to hang up.

The plates will look great with the paint I am planning on using in my kitchen. I am going with a buttery, golden yellow color. I can't wait to get started. Either way, here is a pic of the wall.



Sorry it's a little dark. I tried to brighten my pic, but was not very successful.