Simple Living.......continued

Happy 25th Birthday to my oldest son!

Seems that most of the blogs that I follow all have the same idea......"Simple Living".  I know that I mentioned a while back that I would do a series, well I really feel like I am just striving to do what most of you are already doing or in the process of doing, just in our own individual ways so I will just post things as I go through life, how's that for simple!  I really enjoyed reading this post from Elizabeth she has wonderful ideas.  I have to say that great minds must think alike.....Elizabeth mentioned not saving things for "someday".....well on Thanksgiving morning I climbed up the attic stairs and brought down the set of china that belonged to hubby's grandmother and we used it for dinner.  After washing them I decided that I would find a place in the pantry for them so they could be used frequently for family gatherings.....what point is there is having these dishes if they are in a box in the attic!  Here are a few of the plates and bowls, the rest are still in the box waiting to be washed once I find a place for them!  BTW they are Crookville - Wild Roses, in case anyone is curious.

I put them up there many years ago when we had to take the china hutch out of the kitchen and really had no place for them, it is a setting for 12.....so I have 12 dinner plates, salad plates, dessert plates, saucers, cups, and many of the serving dishes.  I also have a set of dishes that I got from Princess House many years ago, I have always loved them but never finished buying enough for daily use since we were family of 5..... now that number is smaller so I am going to use those and donate my current ones to a local shelter.  Here are the PH ones.......

I took this photo this summer when I was trying to sell them online, guess I need to keep the since no one else wanted them, LOL.

Our discussion this morning was what to name the "girls", since they are red I thought maybe naming them after famous redheads.......like Lucille Ball and Maureen O'Hara, maybe Lu  & Mo, not sure yet???  So far things are going well, they are still laying, every morning I let them out and give them some "treats" from inside, on the colder days I have been putting warm water in the waterer in the AM and PM, it is getting cold enough for it to freeze now.  I hope that they do okay in the cold, others have told me that they will be fine, hope I do all I should to make the coop warm for them. 

Yesterday was the fourth Saturday of the month so I had my "Fat Quarter Quilting" class, we all shared what we got done from last months.....mine was the "Little Fall Quilt", we had some goodies to eat and began working on the next project.  Here are three blocks I completed yesterday and the fabrics I am working with for this project........

Selection for the next block, subject to change, LOL.

As I mentioned before these quilts are from Lori Smith's book Fat Quarter Quilting (just want to make sure I give credit where credit is due) Here are the fabrics I am "working" from for this project, but I could also dig into my stash if I choose to!

Off to enjoy this beautiful Sunday!

Simple......

                   I am beginning to learn
                        that it is the sweet, simple things of life
                              which are the real ones after all.
                                               ~Laura Ingalls Wilder~


Recently I decided that I would do a "series" on Simple Living and what it means to me in my life....I think I have been try to make this more difficult that it needs to be!  I think I will tackle by sharing tidbits as they come up of a simple moment, a simple day, a simple home, a simple task you get the idea.

As you read this post try to remember that this is MY idea of a simple life, it is what works for me at this stage in my life, and it is evolving....
On Friday I decided that it was time to do a thorough cleaning in my bedroom, sure doesn't sound very simple!  When I was first married 26 years ago I did like my mom and cleaned our entire home in the Spring and in the Fall....when I worked full time outside our home and had our first two children I slowly got out of that habit and just tried to keep things as clean as possible.  Then when our third child was born I became a SAHM and was able to do a through clean at least once a year.....later I went back to working and of course the boys were older and sports kept us busy it just wasn't as important to stress about washing walls, floors and every little nook and cranny twice or even once a year!  Fast forward to now, I am home all day....and while I do enjoy having a clean house I have learned that life is too short to stress if I don't get every room cleaned top to bottom.   So what does this long paragraph have to do with living a simple life....I wanted to share with you how my life has changed and I have changed, before when I did a through cleaning I rushed to get it all done as fast as I could and hated every moment of it!  I'm not saying that cleaning is my favorite thing in the whole world, but now I approach it differently....my room took me three afternoons to finish because I broke it into sections and completed one section at a time until it was finished, I still have some winter blankets to wash but they don't have to be done all on the same day!  So for me making things simple can be as easy as letting go of HAVING to clean every room in a few days and the RUSH RUSH RUSH of the whole process. 

Have a blessed day

A Simple Life

One of the things that I have enjoyed about blogging is reading how others choose to live their life, I learn things that might work to make my life easier.....or simpler.  Recently I found myself reading a blog about a family that is living a simple life after moving to a farm, they have their own chickens, eggs, garden, hogs....you get the picture.  They grow, raise or make most of what they eat, they have a large family that works together to get it all done, it sound great, they do admit that it is a lot of work but for them that is how they define a simple life.  Well it got me to thinking how I would define "a simple life" or "simple living"  which then got me thinking even more......scary, and I decided that it might make a great series to post about, my "simple life".  At this point, I am planning on these breakdowns...."A Simple Home",  how I strive  (and sometimes fail)to make my home simple and  "A Simple Life", how I strive to make my daily life simple.  Bear with me as I try to make this interesting and hopefully a few of my thoughts might be helpful in your life.  I think I may break it down more, any suggestions??

The one thing that I can't stress enough is how very DIFFERENT each of us would define "simple living" , and no one way is the right way, or would work for everyone.    I know that while it would be awesome to make my own butter and have fresh eggs from my own chickens, that is not simple living to ME, that is a lot of work.  Please remember this when you read my upcoming posts on simple living, I am not downing someone elses choices just sharing what works for me and my family.

More to come........