Mama Sews: Pillowcase Dresses

I wanted to make Ilona a dress to wear for Independence Day and a Clemson Tigers themed dress for the upcoming football season. Pillowcase dresses are super quick and easy to make so I went with that.

In addition to their simplicity, the sizing on pillowcase dresses is pretty forgiving so these should fit her for a while and can be worn with a shirt underneath in cooler weather or leggings once the dresses are too short.

These fabrics were found in my stash. I bought a 1/4 yard of purple fabric to coordinate with the Clemson and orange fabric I had since the Clemson fabric alone wasn't enough for the entire dress. I also bought ribbon for all three dresses.

The light blue dress was one I had made years ago and just needed ribbon to finish. This dress is a size 2T so I'll put it aside to grow into.

I always use Sew Like My Mom's pillowcase dress guide for measurements, etc.

After finishing the red gingham dress and trying it on the wiggly baby, I decided to bypass the ribbon ties on the shoulders for the Clemson dress and tried an elastic/ fabric shoulder strap instead. (I still need to adjust the straps to fit since she was sleeping when I sewed this dress.) Hopefully, it will work well. The ribbon ties are so cute but it is challenging to get the dress on and ribbons tied when your model is  a very active 7 month old! Haha!

I enjoyed my afternoon of sewing! 

The dress is adorable on her though and we got some really cute 4th of July pictures of the baby and Willie. Some great outtakes too--too hilarious not to share!

Lots of laughs during this photo shoot!

Mama Sews: Baby Sunbonnet

One of the best things about having  a little girl is that I can now sew all those cute things I've had my eye on for years.

Well...she's 6 months old and I'm just now getting the sewing machine out! This is due partly to my days being full of other things and because up to now, she really hasn't needed a lot of extras. She's received so many wonderful gifts since the day she arrived!

With summer being here in the South and the sun so bright and HOT, Ilona needed a hat or bonnet to shade her face. I'd had this bonnet tutorial from Purl Soho pinned on one of my Pinterest boards for a LONG time. Now was the time to try it!

I used some white dotted Swiss fabric for this first try. I printed out the pattern, cut everything out and had it sewed up in about an hour! Not bad for a Friday night sewing project.

I was a little unsure about how it would turn out with this being my first try at sewing head wear. But it was really easy and the instructions very clear.

Note: Definitely follow their advice and use tons of pins when sewing  the curved seams!

It really does make it easier to work with.

I used the 6-12 month size and it fits Ilona but is on the big side. I knew 3-6 would probably be the right size but wanted something she could grow into and wear a little longer. I may go back and make a 3-6 bonnet now that I know how fast it is to make!

A baby in a bonnet...oh so sweet!

I now am itching to get more things sewn up for her. Such small sizes sew up so fast and are so much fun!

Frugal Friday

A place to share this week's frugal wins, unexpected blessings from God, ways I've been resourceful or got ahead this week.

I hope you'll share your frugal ways in the comments!

This week's frugal wins, blessings and resourcefulness...

• Packed all of my husband's lunches this week.
• Our neighbor tilled our garden plot for us. Now to get some things planted!
• Made a batch of homemade yogurt in the Instant Pot.
• Stayed in budget when grocery shopping. 
• Mostly stayed home!
• Stopped in  at Goodwill (first time in MONTHS!) and found a few needed items for myself, plus cute shoes to put aside for Ilona to wear in a couple years. 

 I have a weak spot for Mary Jane shoes--so I pick them up for future use as I find them in good second-hand condition. 

• Batch-cooked a bunch of ground beef and bacon to freeze. 
• Froze some extra shredded cheese I had on hand. Also some chicken breasts I found on sale. 
• We walked around the neighborhood and used our recumbent bike for exercise.
• Drank mostly water and ate at home. 
• Used cloth diapers and wipes when we were at home. 
• Hung some laundry up to dry instead of using the dryer. 
• Put several dollars worth of change in our change jars. 
• Attended our electric co-op's annual meeting day--by doing so we will receive a $15 bill credit next month. (It was a rainy day so we opted for the drive-thru option.)

I spruced these rusty pots (not cute rust) up with some spray paint I already had. So cheerful!

How did you save money this week? 

Mother's Day

I greatly enjoyed my first Mother's Day! I'm blessed to have so many thoughtful friends and family members who remembered me on this day by sending messages, cards and happy wishes in person.

To be honest, I hadn't given much thought to being celebrated on Mother's day so I was a bit surprised when my sweet mother-in-law handed me a card when they were visiting and said, "This is a little early!"

I thought, "My birthday isn't until July!" haha

Andy created a special card for me then took me out for brunch after church with some friends. We tried a new-to-us restaurant that serves breakfast and lunch. It was wonderful!

I sent Mother's Day cards to our moms and included a special gift from Ilona. We did footprint hearts for Valentines Day so I thought we'd make hand print flowers this time. Turns out the footprints were easier (at least then). She kept her hands balled up so I had to pry them loose to get prints. ;-)

They are wonky but delightfully so! I chose the best ones and went with it. She is only 5 months old once. Perfection is way overrated--these hand prints show real life! Little hands that do what they want to!

We made 4--one for each grandmother, one to send to her birth mother and I kept one for myself to put in her baby book.

Over the years, while sometimes there was a bit of sadness associated with Mother's Day, for the most part it hasn't really been the hardest day for me. One reason is that years ago, I read that the reason Mother's Day was established was to honor and celebrate one's mother. Everyone has or has had a mother. Maybe it isn't a great relationship but still everyone has a mother. This helped me to think about my mother and mother figures in my life instead of myself. When I did childcare in my home, some of the parents would give Mother's day gifts to me and that was always so sweet of them.

I hope all of you moms/mother figures had a wonderful Mother's Day!

**Flowers in jars are left from Ilona's adoption celebration. We have enjoyed them for nearly 2 weeks!

So My March Goals Really Didn't Happen

I knew life was speeding up but made some March goals anyways. Well, I really fell off the bandwagon!

But at the end of March, this happened...

With the judge on Adoption Day!

 Yes! ILONA JOY is officially ours!

We had planned all along that after our finalization hearing, we would host a big adoption celebration to thank our friends and family for all their support throughout our adoption process.

Not only did they pray, encourage and support our decision to adopt, but many also helped us to adopt by supporting us financially. Did I ever mention that we were able to meet our goal of adopting debt-free? It took a lot of prayers, faith, hard work, fundraisers and humbly accepting generous gifts but it happened! And it was so worth it!

ILONA at 4 months.

After our adoption was legally finalized, we got right to work planning our adoption party. We had right about 6 weeks to pull it off since we wanted to do it before graduation and summer activities got started. Also, it's already getting hot here in the South so we wanted to do it before the humidity really kicked in.

We had the party on May 4. It took a lot of my time and energy to pull off but it was a really fun day.

Now that the party is over, I'm getting back into the swing of things and taking care of tasks that got thrown by the wayside previously. ILONA is growing and changing so her previous routine needed some tweaking. In addition, Andy started a new full-time job this week, so this is the perfect time for all of us to settle into a new routine.

So that's what's been happening at my house! What are you up to these days? 

February/March Goals

It's March already! How did that happen?

Time to review my February goals and set new ones for March.

These are the goals I set for February: 

1. Set up Baby Girl's nursery. We moved furniture around and got her moved in. She's doing great in her own room. We gave the full size bed to some friends as we no longer had room for it. There is still more work to be done. I have another large piece of furniture in there that I think will be better elsewhere. I still want to paint, get curtains for this space and put decorations on the wall. I knew this would be a longer-than-one-month project but it is coming together and we're very pleased with the progress so far!

2. Make several freezer meals. I met this goal! And am working on having a dedicated Kitchen Day each week to not only make freezer meals but work on food prep for that week. Even doing a few things ahead helps so much!

3. Continue to work on being a good steward of my grocery budget. As I mentioned last month, we trimmed our grocery budget to make more room for buying formula. This is a short-term sacrifice and one we are happy to make! Plus I love a good challenge! We stayed within budget for February due to some better planning on my part and an unexpected grocery blessing. I've been able to even find a few extras each week to stock our freezer and pantry. March is off to a good start as well!

4. Continue to implement good homemaking habits. I feel like I haven't kept up with this quite as well as I did in January. Some habits are sticking; some need more work! 

And here are my March goals:

1. Continue working on Baby Girl's nursery. We were given a baby shower last weekend which was so wonderful and sweet. We received many very nice and useful gifts! I need to find space for some of these things.

2. Start making garden plans. I hope to actually pull off a small garden this year. Our neighbor has offered to till my garden plot for me. I just need to clean it out and start making some plans.

3. Sell a few items we no longer need. Turning the guest room into a nursery has left me with some piles of things that we no longer have room or need for. A few of these items have resale value so I am going to work on selling them this month.

4. Declutter a few minutes each day. I'm starting with the most visible areas and working my way through the house.

5. Continue to implement homemaking habits. This is an ongoing habit for the year!

What goals do you have for March? 

Our Valentine's Day

We had a lovely Valentine's Day. It was a long busy day but I tried to make meals just a little more special!

Note: We did not eat low-carb/low-grain on this day. We had some treats which we do every now and again. I used what I had on hand.

Early in the morning, I was in the mood to bake some muffins so I decided on Cranberry Pineapple muffins. Yum! I also pulled homemade yogurt from the fridge and some already cooked sausage links from the freezer.

For dinner, I made beef tips and gravy using my mom's instructions. I'm still tweaking the "recipe" to get it just right but Andy loved it. It's one of his favorite meals and a great way to stretch a small package of steaks, which I often find for $3-4 on markdown. I had a pan of mashed potatoes still in the freezer which we had made to use up a big bag of potatoes the day we went to meet Baby Girl for the first time!

I had thought of making some cute little cheesecakes but then I didn't get the ingredients so I made a pan of brownies which are always a hit! I swapped out the vanilla for a tiny bit of peppermint extract and that was a yummy change.

Baby Girl has been busy crafting. She made these valentines last week to mail to her grandparents. Those tiny feet! The cards were well received, of course.

We don't typically give big gifts for Valentines Day but do like to celebrate in small ways! Andy worked for a florist many years ago and I haven't received flowers on Valentines Day since. It ruined him. LOL And I don't mind.

This year I had a hair appointment in the afternoon. Andy was running late from work so he met me there so we could do the baby and car swap. He took Baby Girl home so I could get my hair cut and it was a wonderful gift!

How was your Valentines Day? 

January/February Goals

Time for new goals! But first, let's recap January goals...


1. Create some simple homemaking routines.  This has gone well. Little by little I'm gaining footing in this area. I've focused on slowly establishing new habits and that has been beneficial. This will be a continual goal of mine as I work on getting my home back under control. I'll be writing some blog posts in the future about these homemaking habits.

 

2. Do a Pantry Challenge this month. The pantry challenge went great! We used up a LOT of food. That said, spending $100 may have been a bit unrealistic for this season of our lives. I ended up buying a few more easy foods some weeks just to keep going and that's ok. I also got a bunch of marked down meats which we're still using.

3. Sew for my baby! My goal was to make a hat with some fleece leftover from her Christmas stocking. My sister sent her a box of goodies which included a hat that fits her with some room to grow. So I crossed this goal off my list!

4. Get back to eating a mostly low-carb diet. Not perfect but definitely moving in the right direction! Low-carb doesn't always jive with a moderate grocery budget but I am doing what I can and learning as I go. This will be a continuous goal too.


Now on to February!

1. Set up Baby Girl's nursery. This is a big project and likely will run into March but I'm working on turning our former guest room into a nursery. Lots of moving furniture around and decluttering will be happening in there for sure! I'm excited to get her moved in to her new room.

2. Make several freezer meals. I want to get back in the habit of keeping a better stocked freezer so I'm starting small this month. We're expecting guests in a few weeks and a couple freezer meals will help. Just tonight I packaged up a container of Turkey Taco Meat (made with shredded Thanksgiving turkey) and 4 containers of cooked brown rice for the freezer. Already working towards my goal!

3. Continue to work on being a good steward of my grocery budget. We recently trimmed our grocery budget to allow for buying baby formula. I'm tightening my frugal belt and am determined to eat well on a smaller budget! So far so good...but it'll take some time to get it fine-tuned.

4. Continue to implement good homemaking habits. As I mentioned above, I'm definitely making strides in this area and developing a good routine.

What are your goals for February? 

I hear Baby Girl waking up so signing off for today. Have a blessed day, everyone! 

Baby Gets A New Hat

The Story of The Three Hats
As told by Baby Girl

 Once upon a time, Mommy thought I needed a hat. I had a hand knitted hat from when I was first born.

But this hat was too small. 

My Grammy bought me a hat.

But this hat was too big!

My mommy decided to make me a hat and printed off this pattern. But before she could sew it up, my Auntie sent me a package all the way from Washington State. In it was a pink hat.

And this hat was just right! 

And quite beautiful too, I might add. 


Mommy was happy and crossed making a hat off her monthly to-do list. And now my head is warm when we go out in the cold weather.

Thank you, Auntie!

The end.  

P.S.- My Auntie did not make this hat. She got it from the thrift store but it looks brand-new! My mommy loves thrifted items and apparently, I do too now!

January Goals

With our new addition comes changes to our home, so I've been thinking that some attainable  monthly goals may be more beneficial this year than a long list of lofty ones.

With that in mind, here is what I hope to accomplish in January:

1. Create some simple homemaking routines.  Baby schedules are forever changing but some simple routines will help to keep our home in order. Routines will also help with my daily productivity.

 These leftover food items from the fridge became a yummy stir-fry one night this week.

 2. Do a Pantry Challenge this month. This is helpful to save money and use up lots of odds and ends we have in the pantry, fridge and freezer. I do this annually and it's always a good time! My goal is to spend $100 or less on groceries this month.

3. Sew for my baby! I am itching to dust off the sewing machine and make some things. While I feel she does need more dresses in her life, my main goal this month is to try making her a winter hat. I have some leftover fleece to use for this.

Making zucchini noodles with my new spiralizer- a Christmas gift.

4. Get back to eating a mostly low-carb diet. I've experienced some health issues in the past year or so and have found I feel so much better eating lower amounts of grains, sugars and dairy. This (understandably) went by the wayside when we brought Ilona home but I am getting back on track. And the Christmas cookies? They are finally almost gone!

Without realizing it, these four goals are all different categories: Home, finances, fun/creative, personal/health. A good balance and should keep me busy all month long. ;-)

Do you have any goals for January? 

 My main goal is lots of snuggle time with this little beauty!

Happy New Year from Mary Ann's House!

We are several days in to the new year and I wanted to pop on and wish you all a happy 2019. I pray it is a wonderful and blessed year for you and your family.

2018 ended on a high note with the birth of our daughter, Ilona Joy**on November 22 (Thanksgiving Day)! We were able to meet her the following day and brought her home with us several days later.

The holidays have been a happy blur as we are adjusting to parenthood and being a family of 3. Ilona is doing wonderfully--6 weeks old today. We eagerly await finalization of her adoption which should take place sometime in the spring, Lord willing.

**Ilona is a Hungarian/Eastern European name meaning "light and joy". It is pronounced ee-loh-nah with a long 'o' sound. It is a variation of the names Helen and Eleanor. Eleanor is my mom's name so Ilona is named after both sides of the family--her grandma on one side and a nod to the Hungarian roots on the other. It is a fairly uncommon name but one we fell in love with a few years back. When we first met her, I knew without a doubt that the name was perfect for her.

Needless to say, we are in love with our little girl!

I hope to revive this space a bit in the days to come with new updates.

What was your favorite part of 2018?

Family Updates

Beautiful blue butterfly in my pot of geraniums!

It's been a while since my last family update.

Andy is still doing terrific. Regular blood work and CT scans show nothing suspicious. He continues to feel well. As I mentioned last time, his oncologist recommended surgery to remove a nodule on his right lung. This spot has been there since the beginning and really hasn't shown any growth or shrinkage. The nodule is quite small and is located in a very hard-to-reach place. To remove it, the surgeon feels he would have to remove the lower lobe of Andy's right lung. This is a big surgery and has a lengthy recovery time. We are opting to watch it carefully and not do surgery at this time. If it starts to grow at any time, we will ask for surgery immediately but at this time, since it has sat there for over a year and doesn't appear to be live cancer cells, we are going to let it be. 

As far as an adoption update, we had our update home study on June 8th. We met our new adoption worker as our previous worker left the agency to do mission work internationally soon after we went on hold last year. Our new worker is super nice as everyone we've worked with at Bethany Christian Services  has been. We received an email on July 5th stating that everything was approved and we are back to active status. We are so excited and hope for a placement soon! 

What's going on in your family? How can I be praying for you?

Monday Was A Good Day For Free

Monday was a good day for free things!

A friend offered me some okra from their garden. Of course, I accepted! When we stopped by and picked up the bag of okra, we were surprised to see not just a bunch of okra but also grape tomatoes and zucchini. The extent of my gardening this summer is basil and mint so produce is happily accepted and eaten! Our current favorite way to prepare okra is to roast it with a little olive oil and seasonings--so delicious and easy!

When I got to work, a coworker offered me a dozen of her farm fresh eggs. I give her egg cartons every so often and she brings eggs to work occasionally looking for someone to take them home. I don't turn down fresh eggs. ;-)

Meanwhile, Andy switched one of my prescriptions over to Publix where it would cost me nothing for a month's supply. My prescription yesterday was FREE as well!

I was also offered a bag of potato chips leftover from a party at work but I declined. We are trying to eat well and chips would be too big of a temptation! If it is here, we will eat it. 

We are so grateful for these little blessings! 

The Freezer Challenge: Part One

I've enjoyed following along with The Frugal Girl as she cleans out her freezer and challenges herself to use up a certain amount of things each week. This post is definitely inspired by her!

We have three freezers--two fridge freezers and one large upright freezer. It's nice but sometimes food gets thrown wherever is easiest at the moment and it's hard to know exactly what we have and where it is.

Such is the case with our fridge freezer in our kitchen. I had thrown and piled stuff in there to the point that food would fall out whenever we tried to get anything out.

Last Friday, I planned an easy dinner of bratwurst and roasted okra and zucchini and yellow squash. At the last minute, I remembered a partial bag of hot dog buns in the freezer so pulled those out to eat with the brats (we typically eat them bunless but we had some buns left from having company back in May.) That inspired me to tackle this little freezer compartment the next day!

I pulled everything out after taking before pictures, of course. :-)

Everything was set out on our island and I sorted as to what was deemed "challenge worthy" and what needed to be moved to our big freezer. All the packages of meat went to the big freezer as that's where they belong and I kept the frozen vegetables in the kitchen. Some of the other odds and ends were kept out to use quickly.

Here's what I had to work with:

• Small container cooked spaghetti squash--put right in fridge for side for Monday's dinner.
• Small serving of soup--put in fridge for Monday's lunch.
• Lone popsicle--I ate it right away!
• Partial bag of mini bagels--these were thawed and served with Saturday night's Breakfast for Dinner and finished up for Sunday breakfast. Bonus points for this since I also had an opened package of cream cheese to use!
• Container of cooked turkey--I'll be honest here. I had used some of this previously in a soup and it was still dry and stringy so I threw it out. :-( 
• One hamburger bun. Seriously?!? (Again, left from company!) I thawed it and made it into cheese toast to go with random leftovers on Sunday night. That wasn't hard!
• Gallon bag of chicken bones and vegetable ends and peelings for broth. Immediately poured all this in the crockpot and made crockpot chicken broth overnight. I then used the broth to make a big pot of gravy to use for one meal this week and freeze the rest.

What went back in the freezer to use later:

• Ice cream--we don't need a plan for this. It doesn't stick around long here.;-)
• Various bread and individual sweet rolls left from the market. (I've been selling my homemade baked goods at a local Farmer's Market this summer and always have a few things left at the end.) Some of the bread will be used for lunches this week and the sweet rolls are pulled out for breakfast occasionally. 
• Package of "Sandwich Skinny's" (left from company)--maybe use these for quick broiled pizzas or tuna melts in the next week or two. 
• Fresh ginger--This stays fresh in the freezer and I peel and grate it as needed. 
• Ice packs--these needed to be in there for easy access and there hasn't been room. 
• A bag of homemade doggy ice cream portions aka Frosty Paws. These are for Willie as an occasional treat so they'll stay in there. 

I didn't tackle the door yet but that is mostly spices and homemade spice blends that get used naturally over time. 

After photo:

It's much easier to get things from the freezer now!

I'll do another update on my freezers in a week or so. 

Random (Frugal) Things

So far this week has been nice and calm.

I had a doctor's appointment on Monday so I took the day off of work. It was a nice treat to come back home after the appointment and not have to rush off to work. I took a nap, did two loads laundry, emptied trash cans and vacuumed the floors. We also spent a little time looking over our budget. We have some financial goals to save for so looking over the details occasionally is good!

I made a BBQ beef brisket in the crockpot the other day and this morning I decided we should probably use the last little bit up. I did a little asking on facebook and a little searching on Pinterest and decided to make a "Crockpot Brisket Stew". My bi-weekly grocery shopping trip is coming up this week so I'm running low on a few items. The stew definitely turned into "what I had on hand" stew. I used brisket, carrots, leftover green beans, leftover rice, onion, canned diced tomatoes and some spices and seasonings. Hopefully it will be delicious!

I made a batch of corn muffins to go along with the stew. I always find it fun to be creative and make meals with what I have on hand.

                 Between sets, I was able to get this shot of "Jehu vam Bassett" who played the role of the main family's hound dog. He was fun to watch as he reminds us so much of our own Bassett-mix!

 

A friend messaged me last week saying that she had some extra tickets to a local Christian theater that does Broadway-style shows. Her son is a cast member for "The Gospel According To Tennessee" so she had tickets to give for that show. We arranged to go last Saturday. It is a dinner theater and our tickets included a meal! Meals are always themed to go with the show so the meal was fried chicken, macaroni & cheese, pinto beans, Tennessee Weddin' Cake (corn bread) and blackberry cobbler. It was delicious! The show was really fun too. It was a really nice date for the two of us. We had never been to see a show there and now we'd like to go back. I've heard their Christmas show is amazing.

I picked these pretty flowers while walking Willie this morning. A simple pretty little touch in a vase.

Hope you all have a good week!

A Soup Kind Of Day

Andy has been feeling a bit under the weather today. I believe he's fighting a spring cold. He didn't feel like eating too much but agreed that chicken soup would taste good.

I dug though what we had and found frozen homemade chicken broth and seasoned cooked and chopped chicken in the freezer and onion, carrots, celery and mushrooms in the fridge. A few seasonings from the spice cupboard rounded it all out.

I chopped up all the veggies and sauteed them in the soup pot in a little olive oil. The veggies always smell and look so tasty during this step!

Lastly, I added broth, chicken and seasonings, brought the soup to a boil and then turned it down and let it simmer.

It was delicious!

Whenever I chop and peel veggies, I save the well-washed peelings/ends and add to a big freezer bag. When I have a bunch of chicken bones, I use this bag of veggie scraps to make delicious homemade broth!

Waste not, want not! 

An Update On Our Family

Some of you have been asking how Andy is doing now. Thank you for asking!

If you saw the picture in this post, you can see that Andy is looking and feeling quite well! We are grateful to be past the 1 year mark of his diagnosis. And last week marked 1 year since he began chemo.

Easter Sunday 2018--The sun was a little bright! ;-)

All scans and blood work continue to come back clear and show no sign of cancer. There is still a very small nodule on his lungs that Andy's oncologist wants to have removed. It is highly unlikely that this nodule is cancerous since all other spots on his lungs disappeared with chemo and this nodule has not changed in size in over a year. The disadvantage of this spot is that it is quite small and located in a hard to reach area, thus making any biopsy nearly impossible unless it is removed. The thoracic surgeon was unsure if he could even find it when we consulted with him last fall. We want to meet with him again to see if his opinion has changed. It is up to us if we decide to go ahead with the surgery or continue with careful observation for the next 12 months.

We appreciate your prayers for wisdom as we make this decision.

In other news, long time readers will remember that we announced 3 years ago (exactly 3 years ago!) that we were in the adoption process to adopt a baby. We went through the homestudy process in 2015 and were approved as a waiting family in October 2015. Since then we have waited for The Call that we have been matched with an expectant mother who has chosen us to parent her child.

After Andy's cancer diagnosis in spring of 2017, we went on hold with the agency as Andy underwent chemo and various surgeries.

Our agency requires certain paperwork to be updated every 365 days so when we began to talk with our adoption worker about going back to active status, she sent us a new packet of paperwork to update. This included 3 doctor's reports, new income tax forms and proof that our dog is current on vaccinations, among other things. Everything had to be redone because of the time that we were doing the paperwork so this packet took WAY longer than any adoption paperwork we have done in the past!

But I'm happy to say that I finished with the paperwork on Monday and it is now en route to our agency. Woo Hoo!

Our adoption worker should be scheduling another home study visit with us soon and hopefully after that, we will once again be a waiting family. We hope to be matched soon!

Thank you for your continued prayers for our family!

On This Day After Earth Day

Earth Day was yesterday. I stopped at the local health food store after church for some bulk spices. I took a reusable bag along for extra points on my rewards account.

At checkout, I was offered a free packet of heirloom tomato seeds in honor of Earth Day. Yes, please.

Some folks are big into Earth Day and loving the earth the other 364. Some folks scoff. Some folks like me, are somewhere in the middle.

I compost. I use reusable water bottles instead of buying bottled water. I use cloth napkins and real dinnerware. I cook from scratch, am careful about food waste, line dry some of my laundry, use reusable lunch containers and shop second hand quite often. I'm careful about the use of chemicals in our home.

Part of my cloth napkin stash. These have been going strong for around 3 years now. They're starting to show some wear from repeated washings. I usually get 3-4 years out of a stack of napkins. When they're worn out, I make new ones.

I grew up on the West Coast where things are just different. Overall, people tend to live a little greener. I hate styrofoam.

I also use some paper towels and paper plates some days. I use some ziploc baggies. We buy packaged food sometimes. I shop at Aldi where the produce is highly packaged but the price is right. Sometimes (like most of last year), I'm just too tired to recycle.

In spite of growing up in Oregon, I'm not a tree hugger. But I can't swing so far over to the extreme where I have no interest in caring for the environment.

This is where we live.  The Earth is one of God's gifts to us. As with all of God's gifts, I wish to be a good steward of what He has given.

On this day after Earth Day, can we all agree to be good stewards of our resources?

• To be intentional with our choices?
• To create more than consume?
• To conserve more than we waste? 
• To save more than we spend?
• To think before we act?

 A "green" smoothie.

Maybe you are full out "green". Or maybe you're like me and make small choices each day to minimize waste and maximize health, both for ourselves, our finances and the environment.

I cannot do everything but I sure can do something.

Maybe I can turn the lights off when I leave the room. Turn off the water instead of letting it run.  Save those veggie scraps to make stock. Walk somewhere instead of drive. Hang those clothes up to dry instead of running the dryer. Plant those tomato seeds already. Just this once.

And tomorrow, make some of the same choices again. 

Little choices add up to create a big impact. 

What will you do on this day after Earth Day?

**You may be interested in another Earth Day post I wrote "back in the day": Kermit, It is Easy Being Green.