This Week's Menu

 

I took a few minutes to sit down and write out this week's menu so I thought I'd share with you! We've been shopping twice a month so all grocery items are already in the house. I just had to assign days to meals I'd already planned and add sides and such.  

Dinners

1. Crockpot Meatloaf, rice, fresh green beans, sauteed zucchini and yellow squash
2. Pasta Salad with grilled chicken, deviled eggs, fruit
3. Mexican Chicken Skillet, rice, cheese, sour cream, tortilla chips
4. Beef & Veggie Skillet, zoodles (zucchini noodles), roasted sweet potatoes
5. Crustless Pizza Pie, fresh veggies with dip
6. Hot dogs, baked beans, pickles, fresh veggies, chips
7. Leftovers

Lunches-served with veggies and fruit

1. Hot dogs
2. Peanut butter sandwiches
3. Salads
4. Snack plate--salami, cheese, pickles, fruit, etc. 
5. Leftovers x3 

Breakfasts 

1. Egg casserole, melon (to share with our church fellowship)
2. Leftover egg casserole, toast, melon
3. Smoothie, zucchini bread (w/ chocolate chips!), hard boiled eggs
4. Scrambled eggs with veggies
5. Cereal, hard boiled eggs, fruit
6. Bacon, eggs, toast
7. Coconut flour waffles with blueberry syrup

It's been hot here so I'm trying not to use the oven too often! What are you eating this week?

Have a wonderful week, my friends!

Pretty Spring

My heart has been craving some slowing and enjoying of natural beauty.

These are some things I captured on a recent walk around the neighborhood. 

Proof that beauty isn't always perfect and can be seen and enjoyed even among the weeds and imperfections. 

Green. Color. Life. Spring.

**Bonus points if you spot the photo bomb. LOL!**

Handmade Christmas: Kitty Bags

These kitty bags are the only handmade Christmas gifts that I made last year. But totally worth the time creating.

Due to my grandmother's passing in early December and that I was able to fly to Oregon for the funeral, my schedule for getting gifts finished and sent out got pushed back quite a bit. Thus I ended up spending a late night creating these bags the week of Christmas! 

A little background: Our two youngest nieces ( ages 6 and 11) love cats. I mean, really LOVE cats. I pinned these cat coasters a while back as inspiration for creating a bag or something for the girls. 

Side note: Many of my Pinterest pins are ideas or inspiration for something else, not just because I want to make an identical item. Although sometimes I do! 

Back in early 2015, I found a 2 pack of kitty knee socks on super clearance at Kohl's. I knew the nieces would love them. Sadly, I could only find one pack of  the socks. They wear the same size so I divided the package up with one pair for each girl. I also found in my gift drawer some Hello Kitty pencils and a cat hair clip I'd bought at a craft fair. I had a few other small items as well. 

All these items brought inspiration for a kitty-themed gift! 

I decided to make kitty bags to hold all the loot. I used some thrifted linen-ish fabric for the front of the bag and added lots of colorful scraps for the rest. Everything was from my stash and I just picked things out and used them as I went, no real pre-planning involved! I used the idea from the cat coaster tutorial  and just enlarged and then did the rest accordingly.

The backs of the bags were super fun to make. I created a patchwork design as I went. All the prints made me happy! 

The handles turned out extra long; my plan was long enough to be used as a crossbody bag. They were a little long for a child but can be tied in a knot at the shoulder to adjust a bit. 

Anyways, just wanted to share some handmade creative fun! This was a fun gift to make! And the girls liked them too.

A Few Things For 2016

In my last post, I wrote a little about the doozy of a year that 2015 was for us.

I am always eager for a new year. January always feels clean and bright to me. New. Calm. Purposeful.

I tend to be all or nothing. So either I make all kinds of grandiose goals and crash and burn or I set no goals at all. Either way, not a whole lot of progress!

This year, I have a few areas I/we want to make some headway in so I'm writing them here as a way to remember.

• Health. Returning to a lower carb diet. For us, that means ditching most wheat and sugar products. Losing the extra pounds that have crept on this year. Simple whole foods meals.  Regular exercise. Learning more about natural remedies and ways to boost health.
• Frugality. Staying within my grocery budget on a weekly/monthly basis. Using some coupons to save extra on food and household items. Saving as much as we can to bump our emergency savings back up to a reasonable amount after a costly 2015. Continuing to save for our adoption. Revamping the budget to allow for extra baby expenses when the time comes. 
• Organizing. Cleaning, organizing and decluttering the house before baby. I started this in 2015 and continue to do a little at a time. Turning the guest room into a nursery. Get rid of extra stuff we don't need to make room for baby gear. Make some freezer meals each month to create a small stash for when baby comes. (Not knowing when the baby will come makes this planning part tricky. My mindset is to do what I can and not sweat the rest. It will all work out!)
• Being more home-centered. I worked a lot of hours away from home in 2015. While this was a blessing financially, being away from home so much has taken it's toll. I will not be taking on as many extra hours this year as a way to create some breathing room and allow me to focus more fully on what we feel my greatest priorities are and should be at this time. 

What are you focusing on this year? 

2015: The Year Of Very Few Posts

2015 was not my best blogging year, to say the least.

There are many reasons for this but the biggest one is that 2015 was. a. year. There was good. There was not as good. It was crazy. It was wonderful. It was overwhelming at times. It was exhausting most of the time.

With my Grandma. July 2015.

• Andy's grandfather(92) passed away in January. My grandmother (94) passed away in December. I also lost 2 great-aunts and 2 great-uncles this year. 
• We began the adoption process informally in January and formally in March. Our home study began in July and finished up in August. We received notification of approval in October. We are officially a waiting family--our next step is to be chosen by a birth mother to parent her child. 
• We went to Oregon to visit family in July. I went again for Grandma's funeral in December. 
• We had 3 yard sale fundraisers for our adoption. Three! Many people donated household items to sell and all proceeds went into our adoption fund. It was a blessing and each sale was a rousing success but by the last one--let's just say we were more than happy to let Goodwill have the leftovers!
• I worked a LOT of extra hours in 2015. A blessing, yes. I believe I worked more full-time hours than not.
• We kept our car mechanic in business during the summer. There was a day or two where both vehicles were in the shop at the same time. Crazy! 
• At the same time, we got good use out of our AAA membership. You know it's bad when the towing company recognizes your name immediately and asks "Where to this time?" 
• We did lots of paperwork. Hello, adoption!
• I've met lots of wonderful adoptive moms. Some are in process just like we are. 
• We didn't do any home projects this year. We didn't garden. There's a reason there were no follow-ups to my Lasagna Gardening post--there was no follow-up! Ha! We hardly even went to the Farmer's Market this year. It was definitely a year of survival!
• We saw God's hand in our lives in a powerful way. We have felt His Presence. We have seen Him move mightily in not only our lives but the lives around us. 
• And that, my friends, is why we can face 2016 with hope and confidence. Because God (Immanuel) is with us! 

Christmas at our house.

39 Things About Me

In honor of my birthday this week, I thought it'd be fun to share 39 things you may or may not know about me.

1. I was born at home in the house my parents still live in.
2. I have a 1st cousin twin. Same day; same year. Born just a couple hours apart.
3. My mom often made homemade peach ice cream for my birthday while growing up.
4. I have never made ice cream.
5. I was always terrified of dogs until we got ours.(Power of persuasion!) After a few rough weeks, I was in love and he is now "my dog".
6. I considered nursing school before Early Childhood Education.
7. As a young adult, I had a back-up plan in case I never married.
8. I would be single and adopt a child.
9. My plan of support was to have my own small preschool attached to my home, not in it. I would call it The Bean Patch: Growing Little Sprouts.
10. I met my husband in fall of 2002.
11. We were married in October 2004.
12. We met on the internet. (Oh the things you find!)

 Celebrating my 2nd birthday with my twin cousin.

13. I've always been fascinated with names.
14. I was that "fun child" who often threw up on trips and in public places.
15. I love chocolate. Except for white chocolate.
16. My dad and I have the same sense of humor.
17. We still laugh at the same jokes we told in 1992.
18. I usually sleep when watching movies. Except in the theater.
19. I am a very literal person and concrete thinker.
20. I cannot wrap my head around movies that have time warps and such in them. I'm like, "But that could not happen!"
21. I love gravy.
22. And bacon.
23. I can spot clearance stickers and yard sale signs a mile away.
24. I love to cook and bake.

My 7th birthday celebrated while traveling. This was taken at a campground in Nebraska.

25. I've lived in 4 states.
26. I have an analytical personality.
27. But too many details drive me crazy.
28. Just give me the facts, please!
29. I thrive on routine.
30. Not big on surprises.
31. I'm naturally and "all or nothing" person. God is bringing that more into balance.
32. My favorite colors are red and a plum shade of purple.
33. I dislike getting on and off of escalators.
34. I usually dislike shopping.
35. I love staying home.
36. I'm a true morning person.
37. The early morning dark and quiet is wonderful.
38. I hate flip flops. Cannot stand that thing between my toes. 
39. I thought this would take longer and be harder than it was!

Your turn! Tell me a few random facts about you!

Yummy

Tomatoes from a friend at work.

Home-grown basil.

Late season strawberries from my Mom's  garden. In vintage Tupperware. (This picture was taken around July 4th when we visited my parents.)

July Pantry Challenge

As I mentioned last week, one of the ways we're saving money right now is by doing a Pantry Challenge this month.

We don't really have any rules for our pantry challenge except to spend as little as possible! We're utilizing the contents of our freezers(one upright and two refrigerator freezers) and pantry shelves and coming up with as many meals as possible.

So far, I've cooked a turkey, baked bread, made several bean dishes, cooked some split chicken breast bones(with lots of meat still on them) and made broth, soup and some diced chicken, made pancakes and corn muffins. Plus much more!

Our freezers aren't that well stocked right now since I've been cleaning them out and using up random items for the past several months. But there are still many good things to eat in there!

This week's supper menu looks like this:
1. Tomato soup, cheese melts, leftover coleslaw
2. Salmon patties, green beans, bread
3. Pork chops, broccoli, rice
4. Barbecue turkey sandwiches, applesauce, celery sticks
5. Black bean and rice dish
6. Turkey and gravy, rice, peas
7. "Eggroll in a bowl" with chicken instead of beef, rice

Not fancy,  but we will still get plenty to eat!

Breakfasts will be pancakes, pumpkin and zucchini bread I found in the back of the freezer, toast, eggs, etc.

Lunches will be leftovers, canned soup, split pea soup from freezer, peanut butter sandwiches, popcorn, canned fruit, etc.

My total spent so far for grocery/household items this month is $28.15. I'm planning an Aldi trip later today so will probably double that amount.

What are you eating this week? 

*Food pictures from the last couple of months. From top to bottom, ham and broccoli frittata, pumpkin bread and some goodies from the Farmer's Market!

Frugal Stuff

How about some frugal things we've been doing lately to save money?

We're saving for our adoption and paying for some repairs that popped up this summer so we're in super frugal mode around here!

1. I'm doing a pantry challenge in July seeing how many meals I can make without going to the store. We should be able to eat well for a couple of weeks.

2. Instead of buying a baby gift for a recent baby shower, I made one with scraps I had on hand. I made a set of 3 burp cloths using this tutorial then made a matching tag blanket. I forgot to take a picture of the burp cloths--they turned out really cute. I used the pink minky for one side of each burpcloth (had just enough with a few scraps left!) then used the green and pink cotton prints for the other side. I paired the pink gingham and strawberry print together since neither one was enough as they were. Frugal or not, I really prefer making my gifts to buying them--very enjoyable!

Front of tag blanket.

Reverse side of tag blanket.

3. I cooked a turkey I had in the freezer. This turkey was bought during Thanksgiving sales at 59 cents a pound. I bought two turkeys last year and this was my last one. It's been hot so I was able to cook it in my large crockpot rather than heat up the kitchen by turning on the oven. I made a big batch of gravy to freeze with the stock from cooking the turkey then made some more broth with the skins and carcass. I got at least 12 cups meat off the turkey too. The turkey was around 13 pounds. We'll get quite a few meals from one bird!

4. The library has become my free bookstore. I've been requesting the books needed as part of our adoption training. There is only one item on the list that isn't available through the library! These are the two books I'm reading right now.

5. I had some onions that were starting to go bad. I cut the mushy spots off then sliced the onions and filled the dehydrator with them. A day later, I had my own dried minced onions.

6. Andy won a giveaway at Sport Clips back in March during March Madness. Whoever submitted the bracket with the most wins would get free haircuts for a year. Well, his bracket wasn't that good but he was the only one to enter at our location so he received the prize! So, he has been getting free haircuts! He does leave a tip each time.

7. I made some cute pillows for our front porch chairs using what I had on hand. Since these are out in the weather, I used old pillow forms as well so it doesn't matter if they get nasty after a while. I love red, white and blue for summer!

8. And just for fun--free entertainment at the dog's expense. I never fail to enjoy wrapping Rock up in a towel when drying his feet and body off after being outside. Always amuses me! Here he is thinking, "Seriously, what is she going to make me do next?!?"

 What fun, free and frugal things have you been doing lately?

Pinterest Try: Homemade Dog Treats

Recently, I tried a recipe for peanut butter dog treats that I had pinned on Pinterest. These were super easy and called for just a few regular pantry ingredients.

I tweaked the recipe slightly for better dough consistency but can't remember now what I did. I'll take notes next time and then update this post. It was either more flour or more water. ;-)

I keep the treats in a freezer container and thaw a handful every so often. When thawed, I put them in the "doggy treat" jar. I don't want them to mold before we can use them! So far I've had good success with the treats staying fresh in the jar for up to about 10 days. None have molded yet.

Rock loves these treats and they are so simple to make!

Homemade Peanut Butter Dog Treats from Life Your Way

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1 egg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon powdered milk
• 1 cup white whole wheat flour
• 3-4 tablespoons water

Directions:
Combine peanut butter, egg, salt, powdered milk and flour. Add water one tablespoon at a time until you have a doughy texture. It should be easy to form but not sticky.
Roll out dough to 1/4″ thickness and cut out with a cookie cutter. Re-roll scraps and repeat.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, flipping halfway through.

Enjoy!
 

Summer Happenings

This summer started off with a bang!

Since I posted last, we have had several sets of overnight visitors, had a huge adoption fundraiser yard sale and we just arrived home from a week long trip to Oregon to visit my family.

While in Oregon, we enjoyed a Eugene Emeralds baseball game. 

 

I hope to slow some at this point, being mindful in accomplishing some home things that need attention and enjoy the rest of the summer.

In adoption news, our first home study visit is scheduled at the end of this month. If you would like to more closely follow our adoption journey, we invite you to visit our blog, Shepherd's Little Lamb. We try to post there at least monthly to keep everyone updated on the process. The blog is a great way to learn about current fundraisers that we are doing as well. In a nutshell, our last name means 'shepherd' so Shepherd's Little Lamb seemed to be a fitting blog name. (And many of the other names we thought of were already taken or too difficult to spell.)

Hopefully, I'll be back to blogging a little more regularly. My goal is to post twice a week through the summer.

How is your summer going? 

Use What You Have Zipper Pouches

I had this rather large piece of vintage-y quilted fabric in my stash. It came in a bargain bag of scraps from a yard sale a few years ago. 

Anyways, I've been trying to make use of what I have instead of buying more. Partly to save money but mostly because it means less to move around when my sewing room becomes a nursery. 

This fabric was already sewn into something and taken apart so this is not it's first party. Ha! It's a little worn in spots but perfect for these zipper pouches. 

I often need some pouches for storing items when traveling. I made one large enough to carry my hair straightener and then the second one ended up a little smaller because of the size of the fabric. 

I had some red gingham ruffle in my scrap bucket pile. I think it was given to me in a box of fabric?? 

Anyways, I liked it with the sweet strawberry fabric so I sewed some ruffles on the pouches. 

Even the zippers were repurposed from some old lingerie bags!!! 

So yay for a quick evening project that cost nothing to make but is cute and super useful! 

 I still have some small pieces of this fabric left--will have to see what I can make with them!

Frugal Five

Remember when I did regular Frugal Five posts?

Well, I've still been frugal but just not posting about it. I'd like for that to change!

I enjoy reading about how other homemakers are practicing frugality and resourcefully stretching their dollars. Those posts are always inspiring and encouraging to me--that is how I hope these Frugal Five posts come across to you as well.

In my last post, I told how my husband and I are embarking on the journey of domestic adoption. (Thank you for all your well wishes and prayers! We appreciate each one!) Adoption is quite expensive so we are all about saving as much as we can right now! Every penny saved goes to our adoption fund.

Some recent ways we have saved money:

1. Our medical coverage doesn't cover prescriptions. I have a prescription that cost $75 per 30 day supply at CVS and that was for the generic brand. (My doctor gave me samples of another that would've been $200 per month so I considered this the better option!) However, $75!!! Ouch! I decided to check at Sam's Club that is right by our house. They offer the very same item for $11.87. I was shocked! I was expecting maybe a $20 savings. So obviously, we are getting prescriptions filled at Sam's now. I have another prescription that I only use as needed so one box lasts about 6 months. This one was only around $17 so not too expensive but Sam's offers it for $4. So we are saving a lot of money right there!
2. We don't eat out often but we've been using coupons when we do. 2 meals for the price of one?Yes, please!
3. Speaking of eating out, I've been buying the $5.99 fresh pizzas from Aldi to have on hand when I know we will have a super busy day and it would be tempting to go to a restaurant. These freeze really nice and are very good.
4. Made beef broth using some bones I had in the freezer. 
5. Rock got out of the fenced backyard twice last week. One time he showed up in the driveway on the other side of the gate and waited to be let back in. LOL We finally discovered a hole in the fence by the woods. We "rednecked" it back together by attaching a random piece of fencing that was left here by the previous owner. He won't be getting out through that hole anytime soon!

How are you saving money and practicing frugality in your home?

 

We Have A Secret To Share

I have a secret to share with you all today. Something near and dear to my heart and an announcement I have wanted to make for a long time.

We are in the adoption process to adopt a newborn baby. We've chosen an agency, have completed the formal application, pre-study documents, attended adoption training and are waiting for the next step of completing the home study.

We have started a blog to share updates on the process. It will be a central location for friends and family to check in and see what the latest info is. It is still private at this time but I will share the link here as soon as we have it ready for the public. :-)

Adoption has been on our hearts for many years. We have wanted to pursue it several times over the course of our marriage but always felt like it was not the time. Last summer as we continued to pray, we began to hear from the Lord that now was the time to take that leap of faith and start the process.

For several months we prayed, researched the different types of adoption, agencies, talked with adoptive families whose stories are all very different, getting as much information as we could.

In January of this year, we began the process with a Christian agency. It is exciting and somewhat terrifying all at the same time.

We have no idea of what all lies ahead but we know Who already has the plans laid out. We ask for your prayers as we continue on this journey.

And as most everyone is aware, adoption is a costly process. We will be doing a lot of fundraising and will make our friends and family aware of financial needs as they arise and how contributions can be made. We will be doing this via our adoption blog as well as on this blog sometimes.

God has provided abundantly already so early in the process and we look forward to all He has in store.

"Use What You Have" Spring Wreath

I've been wanting to make a wreath for our kitchen door. Something springy!

We had a yard sale last weekend and a couple straw wreaths were left. (They were donated by a friend.) So instead of donating them at the end of the sale, I decided to make some simple wreaths for our home. 

This one is my first attempt and I like it. It's different and used up some fabric from my scrap basket. 

My plan was to make a wreath with strips of fabric like this one. Then I saw these leftover yellow ruffles. They used to be on some giant square pillow shams that I thrifted and cut up for another project. I saved the ruffles because I love the color and print and well, I can't bear to throw something away that could be used for something else! 

That something else turned out to be this wreath. 

I gathered my supplies-- straw wreath, pile of ruffle pieces and a short piece of white ruffle left from a vintage pillowcase. I used some small pins and also some thumbtacks for securing everything. 

1. Iron all fabric pieces. 

2. Start wrapping the ruffle pieces on the wreath, using pin or tack to secure ends. 

3. Continue wrapping, taking care to overlap pieces slightly to cover raw edges of ruffle.

4. Wrap until wreath is covered. You can see I ran out of ruffles and there is a bare spot. No worries-- I have a plan for that!

5. That little extra piece of ruffle comes in handy here. I scrunched it up to look like a flower then pinned it to the wreath.

6. Next, I glued a few buttons on

to finish off the center of the flower. 

7. Last I added an aqua ribbon hanger. The ribbon coordinates with a light blue/aqua in the center of the flowers.

8. Done!

This was super easy-- took longer to post about the wreath than to actually make it. ;-)

I have this hanging in a sunny location outside so, yes, it will fade with time. The great thing is that by removing the pins, it'll be super simple to update with something else. 

Happy Spring!