Spring

I love this time of year, it feels like the whole of nature is waking up, warming up and embracing the warm weather. And I guess that is exactly what is happening...we are shaking off  winter !
This is a picture of my flowers that are beginning to come out now.  In other countries spring starts so much earlier than here, but in Ontario we are slower to warm up.

When I first took this picture I felt it was so sad, but in reality it tells of nature bursting forth and fulfilling the purpose God has for it.  Nature truly tells of Gods character, He has order and you can see it in the seasons, the sun rise and sun set, migration of birds... creator God is amazing!

This is how I plan my veg and herb garden of the year.  I have 28 different herbs and veg I am going to plant this year.  Everything from tomatoes to basil... I love planting the seeds  and watching the seedling erupt and unfurl.

Before and after of our garage door.  My husband picked the door, put it in, and connected the garage   door opener.  He did an amazing job, the lines are perfect with the widows in the front of the house and I was impressed with the new look of the garage.  Scored some major points with me:)

I am a bath person.  I love to soak at night before bed... I prefer bathing to a shower anyday of the week!  My birthday was last month and I am totally blessed to have a good friend that knows me well.  My friend is talented and has a small home business making soaps and bath products.  This is part of my birthday present, an amazing bath soak  called Forest Floor Soak that smells of the woodsy and is so soothing!!  And my favourite whipped soap is Absinthe, leaves my skin feeling moisturized and smelling faintly of licorice.

On my way grocery shopping then gardening this afternoon..

blessings 

Trying Something New

After a very busy weekend, I am so glad to be able to sit for a moment and write .  I look forward to connecting with friends on line.   I find writing so relaxing...

So, I have been wanting to try to make my own granola for a long time, but I could never seem to get around to it. This week I finally got it together and I found a recipe on Pinterest that I thought looked promising.

Side note, do you love Pinterest?  I have found so many useful, smart intriguing ideas on Pinterest... I enjoy searching for ideas on there. I have actually found a couple of great  blogs, such as theelliotthomestead.com   This blog is an excellent source of  information, is full of humanity, laughter and is writen beautifully.   Ok, so two side notes:)

Back to granola..  here is the recipe I tried http://www.recipetineats.com/homemade-granola-muesli/
The recipe is easy and yummy... however I found the cooking temp a bit high as mine got brown quickly, so I turned my temp down to 275.   The cost was about $3.60  for two 1L mason jars. 

I love the granola I made and am glad I found the recipe... perhaps I should make a practice of trying out new recipes.  Trying new foods really isnt in my personality but I am trying to venture out.

This picture is what my garage looks like right now  My husband is refacing garage including a new door.  This is a facelift for the front of out house, bring the curb appeal up to scratch.  Hope it will be done this week.

For EAster I dyed these eggs using al natural ingredients from my fridge.  Beet juice, grape juice and vinegar was all I used.  They turned out pretty...

Lastly, we celebrated Easter, my oldest daughter came to visit and we had such a lovely time.  I love having the whole family together.

Happy  Tuesday!

Thursdays are for Reminiscing

I have a job that allows me to think.. a lot.  I spend hours  thinking, planning, wondering, 
praying, deciding, and then rethinking everything all over again because maybe I had missed something. Yep, I have a lot of time.  Thursday is a big day for me because the weekend is coming and with a large family there is always tons to do in on Saturday, as Sunday is a day of rest...

Except this weekend.  Easter weekend means that we have two extra days, more can be accomplished however, we are taking Friday morning and Sunday to reflect on the death and resurrection of our Lord.
Easter... what a total blessing for mankind!!  I feel so privileged to be chosen to know God intimately.

This is a picture taken from the back of our church property. I love that I live in country where is is lawful to go to church and be able to put up a structure during our high holiday to celebrate Christs death and resurrection.  

Easter is also a sign that spring is in the air.  So I picked up these beautiful tulips for our table. I love purple tulips, they are my favourite coloured tulip, and I am so glad you can purchase them as my tulips won't be up for at least another two weeks.

Lastly, I wanted to quickly tell you that I was invited to take part in a delightful French cafe at my daughters school.  My youngest is in an extended French program, and the learn foods, serving of food, food prep and shopping the kids prepared a French menu and invited parents in to the cafe to try out their handy work .  I had a ball, the food was lovely, I chose a fruit salad to start , followed by a small helping of poutine, I finished with tea and a cookie.  My daughter was my server, everything was conducted en francais, and I was  impressed by the entire event.  Have to say that my daughters teacher this year is amazing and I am thrilled that she is in his class.

Here is a picture of my daughters placemat made just for me:)

Have a lovely weekend!

Photos on a Monday

Yesterday when I was writing and describing our renovations I didn't think to include pictures.  So this morning after I returned from work I got to work.

This is our livingroom during the renovations

Fireplace is original to the house but is not functional

New fireplace designed and built by my truly talented husband

Also note the beautiful new flooring

New tile floors in powder room and back hallway

Chandelier in diningroom 

Backsplash is finally grouted and looks beautiful with the new floor

I am so pleased with all the work we have been doing and I know that our house is going to sell quickly  I just hope we are able to find something we love when our house sells

Renovations

The joys of renovations!  So far in our 1700 sq.ft home we have installed new flooring in 6 rooms, painted from top to bottom on two of the four levels of our backsplit.  People living through renos have a lot they must put up with and adjust to. We have had to dismantle rooms and move out the entire rooms furniture. During this we went from a two bath down to a one bath, and we seriously noticed the loss of the second toilet!!  This puts a large amount of stress on a family of 6... however my eye is on the prize!  We are going to move to a place,( so far undiscovered ) where we can start a homestead, grow our own food, raise animals, have an apiary, and all of the other ideas that are floating around in our heads:)
I have decided that I am going to make a priority list of the elements of the homestead that we want to tackle first.  On pinterest you can find so many homesteading blogs... and there are a lot of opinions as to what you should plan on first.
 However, for the most part everyone agrees that planning where to put your house, water, barn, and pastures should be on the top of your list for year one.  That makes sense to me... but since I still have no clue as to what our property will look like, I am taking advantage of the time I have before our house goes up for sale to make some loose plans.  I won't be able to put in a garden this year as we are planning on moving in the summer. But I can plan to designate a place where our garden will go, and this year we can til the soil in prep for next spring. Things like that are keeping my motivation up for living through the work we are doing here!
Keeping my chin up,

Elaine

Soooo   since the last time I posted a blog, or even had the slightest inkling that I wanted to share anything  about my life, we have decided to finally chase our dreams and move north.
Our very loose plan is to buy a piece of property, as much acreage as we can afford,  save for the next two years and build a cordwood home, and be MORTGAGE  FREE  !!!
Doesn't that sound dreamy ?!
We are in the reno stage of the game, so another three weeks of shifting our house around to accommodate new flooring and paint throughout and our house will be up for sale!!
I am excited, and nervous, at the prospect of moving two hours away from where I have lived my whole life, however I can not puit off any longer the need for space and the longing for a homestead.  The benefits for my family, especially my children outweigh any doubts I feel.
Pics to follow of our renos:)

Summer Outings

We have had a very busy couple of weeks.   My husband and I took two of our kidlets down to Michigan to visit friends who are building an earth sheltered home.
We visited the site where they are building and it is so cool!!  The day we were there they were putting on the shot-crete for the basement.

Please check out their website  homeintheearth.com .  You will find videos and so much interesting info there!
We also visited my favourite old time village,  Greenfield Village attached to the Ford Museum.  Have you been there?  If not, it is so worth the trip!

This house was brought there from Ohio, and has people in period garb to speak to you about their traditions and how the farm worked.

                                My daughter looking out at the sheep while on the steam train.

                    Old time baseball game played with the original rules, and attire- no baseball gloves!

                                                    Baseball game accompanied by a band!

                                                        Oldest windmill in United States

                                                   Clock tower in honour of Sir John Bennett

                              One of eleven laboratories used by Thomas Edison, all at the village

Glass blowing 

So that is a tidbit of what you will see there at Greenfield Village.  Such fun!

Then on Sunday we went to the Nascar race at Michigan International Speedway.Girls had a blast and we will  definitely take them again.  

School starts again next week, so our routine is about to get back to normal, minus one teen as she is off to college.         

Changing Things Up

Yesterday was a quiet day around here.  I didn't have to go to work, my kids were in VBS for the morning, and I felt like I needed to change up my house.  Do you ever get into a rut with your furniture? I DO!!   When you decide to have five kids, you basically decide to give up brand new anything  until they are fairly grown. So I make do with the furniture we have, and am grateful that we are so well provided for by my hubby who works hard for us.
Now and then I feel claustrophobic and that our home is in need of a good decluttering. Yesterday was one of those days.  Just by moving around the pictures on the walls and getting rid of some things that I liked but not loved, what a difference!  I felt like I was creating a new space and looked forward to the kids coming home and being surprised.  Such fun!  My kids did come in and notice things straight away, then they walked all the way through the house to find what was different, and give me their opinions on what I had done. The general consensus  was I had done a good job:)
Next week we are moving around the dining room, nobody knows it yet but me...( insert evil laugh here)
I am going back to work September 2,  after a lovely summer break.  In January this year I decided I would like to learn to drive bus, as I enjoy driving, have a perfect record and liked the hours that go with bus driving. I discovered that I truly  LOVE to drive my bus!!  I miss it, and look forward to doing it again.  However, I am not missing the early mornings, I have to be up at 5 to prepare for work, do my paperwork and pre-trip... I don't mind getting up after 6 am but I find 5 a bit difficult some mornings.  I am working so we can work toward our dream of owning a homestead.  I would get up at 5 every day of my life if I was guaranteed a homestead!!!
We are going on a mini  vacay to Michigan, we weren't sure we were going til the kids passports arrived yesterday.
We have friends that are building a home in the earth.  I grew up with S., who is a rocket scientist and works for a firm in Michigan.  S., designed and is building his home with his lovely wife and as much friend power as they can swing!  He has a website it is www.homeintheearth.com .  I love checking in every couple of days to see what they have been up to and how far they have come with the building.  My husband has gone down for a long weekend to give a hand .
We are heading down so my husband can work with S., and I can visit, and the kids we bring can hang with their kiddos.  Some of my kids are working/summer school etc so  we have someone staying with them and the dog:)  We are definitely hitting  Ford Museum's  Greenfield Village, as I LOVE it there. If you get the chance you have to go, well organized, beautifully kept, knowledgeable staff, cannot say enough about it!I have included the link so you can see what I am talking about, it is just fantastic!http://www.thehenryford.org/village/index.aspx
 I am now off the pack and prep...

Learning to Blog

I hope this post finds you well and enjoying the summer so far.  I decided to give blogging a shot  and I seriously had no idea that it would mean learning so much or be so much fun.  I figured that you set up a background, and font, then start writing.   This is only partially true.   I did pick a pretty background, my font works for me... I have lots that I could and will chat about, but there are so many things I would like to add to my blog that I need to learn about, such as a recipe box, links to other blog I totally love, you know things I would like to share.
 However, I am apparently blog impaired as I am having a  seriously hard time learning how to do these simple things.  Sad as I usually find this kind of stuff easy and very logical.
So eventually you will be able to find the pizza recipe that I found that is fabulous, or a way to preserve plums, I am so looking forward to being able to save all of those things!!
I wonder how many people out there have things that they could share but don,t think they have what it takes to communicate it to others.
Okay, that is my little spiel about blogging and my inability to learn something new... now onto a more interesting topic.
My garden is doing well and we had the first of my yellow beans tonight:)  I feel so relaxed when I am in my veg garden, there is not another place on the planet that makes me feel that good save my bathtub (I love a good soak.)
We have dreams of owning our own little homestead, and when we do I will have a large plot of land, and be able to plant enough food for our family, families in need that we may know and help with the local soup kitchen...
I am heading off to bed to dream of our little homestead:)

Summer Fun

This week has been busy. My girls and I went to the local berry farm to pick up some blueberries for jam making.  While there I found that raspberries were still in season as well as yellow beans.  My daughter N. found a beautiful bunch of gladiolas that needed to come home with us as well.  All in all I felt like we hit a home run in the organic food department.

We came home and I immediately starting making jam and blanching the beans.  I am totally in my element  when I am making jam... I truly love it!
What is summer without baseball?  My daughter N. is playing softball this year, and we are having such fun watching her games!  This has been a good year for her as she has learned a lot and met new friends.  N., is one of two girls on her team.
Also my gardens are coming along beautifully.Blackberries are in.  We have tomatoes, cherry and beefsteak, cucumbers, zucchini, and beans coming in.  Nothing is quite ready yet but in the next two weeks we will be inundated with produce!