Outdoor Adventure

Here are some photos from our Outdoor Adventure last weekend. This is part of the older girls' 4H. The class is held once a month on Saturday mornings. Adam, the kids and I all went and it was a nice family outing.

We went to a beautiful nature park in our town.



Emily



Emily and Julia climbing trees

Beetle

Beautiful Oak Trees

View from the bridge on our hike

Not sure but we were thinking Sage, maybe?

Dead tree trunk, looks like a dinosaur head

Red ant hill

It was a nice class. Kiley drew some pictures of her discoveries and observations and August got some very nice leaf rubbings. We hiked about a mile and saw a lot of nice plants, trees and birds.

Here Fishy Fishy Fishy!

This is the fishing game I made for my friends little boy. The post is linked below to my craft blog.

Sweetie Pie: Here Fishy Fishy Fishy!

Golf Towels for my Dad

My dads birthday just passed. It was nice to spend the day with him and the family. I'm always puzzled about what to get him for his birthday. My sisters and I usually resolve to buying him yet another golf shirt or peanut brittle. Since I've been in a sewing and crafting mood lately I wanted to make him something special instead of the usual gift.

I found a fantastic tutorial for golf towels on Junie Moon's blog. This is such a nice golf towel, it's double layered and has a pocket sewn in for cleaning balls or club heads. I found some other patterns for golf towels but these were by far the nicest.

I purchased way too much fabric. I was way off on my calculations. I bought a yard of each fabric, and probably only needed a half yard for each. I made two towels and had enough left over to make two more. Adam said he would like a towel for his golf bag so at least I didn't waste the chenille.

Here is my version of Junie's golf towels.

 

I used chenille fabric instead of terry. I chose a cotton print fabric for the other side. It has playing cards printed on it. If you know my dad, you know he loves playing cards and golf. The gift ties two hobbies into one. These came out super nice. I was impressed with the quality compared to the ones they sell at the store. It cost about $10 to make both towels. I borrowed the grommet tool.

Happy Birthday Daddy

Last week we celebrated Adam's birthday. The kids spent the day making homemade decorations. K and H made swirly hanging streamers, A made the Happy Birthday Daddy banner and E and J colored pictures with the number 32.

Happy Birthday Daddy, banner that A made. It's kinda hard to see

  

H and K made curly streamers



Little decorations made by E and J

Adam requested that I make him fried chicken and mashed potatoes for dinner. It's rare that I make the fried chicken, it's a bit of work and makes the kitchen very messy. I soaked the chicken in buttermilk with Tabasco/Tapatio sauce for about 3/4 hours and then fried them in shortening. YUMMM!  He also asked for Chocolate-Drizzled Cherry Bars in lieu of cake. I learned about this dessert from another blog I read and the first time I made them Adam was in love. This was my 3rd time making them and I have to say, they are so delicious. The writer of the post I read changed the recipe a bit, instead of using cherry pie filling, I got the jar of cherries from Trader Joe's and cooked those up with sugar and corn starch to make it thick. It's super yummy. Everyone loves when I make the bars. 

     

I added candles too soon. It was still very hot and they started melting. Gotta love those blond moments.



J and E were proud. They helped make it. They really love helping me bake and cook. They are very good at cracking eggs and not getting shells mixed in. They like to pour all the measured ingredients in the bowl. We are still working on learning to measure. J's favorite task is to turn on the Kitchen Aid mixer. Of course the best part for both of them is licking the beater and spoons after.

Look at all those candles. He was happy with his birthday.

I bought 5 of Adam's favorite candy bar as gifts from each of the girls. The older girls hid them all and wrote little riddles as hints on where to find them. Each time he found a candy bar it had the clue for where the next one was. He liked it. Everyone enjoyed this. My father in law is in the picture below. Adam's parents both came over for his birthday dinner. It was so nice having them over, I really love my husbands family.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETIE. WE ALL LOVE YOU!!

October had a lot of birthdays for us, 5 total I think.  We still have 2 more before the month is over. I sewed gifts for those two, I'm finishing them up. As soon as they're done I'll post the pictures and instructions to make them. I found a darling little boy sewing craft project. I was very excited since most of my friends have boys, and usually the crafting tutorials are geared toward little girls. I can't wait to finish and give it to him. I always get so anxious to give my gifts.

Next month my older girls will be 12, and I am at a loss on what to do for them. We had a girly spa party last year and that was a blast. If anyone out there has any good ideas for them, please share.

Wake up women

I've recently watched a couple of films which were set in older times. I absolutely love the chivalry and modesty. I love the respect men had for women and the respect women had for themselves. Men treated women like royalty. Not anything like today where the "liberation" of women has only made their treatment worse. Men treat women like garbage now.

When we were on the airplane to Tennessee, there was an older woman trying to put her bag in the overhead compartment. She was probably in her 60's. All around her were younger men (20's 30's 40's) standing and watching and waiting for her to move so they could find their seats. She struggled with the bag for several minutes and she tried to maneuver other bags to make hers fit. A female flight attendant made her way through the line of people standing and watching to help this woman. Not one of those men helped her. What is wrong with this?

Women being so determined to put themselves in the same position as men, have really created a bad situation for themselves. I'll bet 50 years ago every single man on that plane would have been there to help that woman. Women expect to be respected like they are men but still treated like a women. This doesn't work.  Women are not men. They are equal human beings but the genders are not the same. This is a fact.

There are many factors of course on why men don't treat women like royalty any longer. My topic today is on the way many women dress. I am a lover of past times, I love the dresses the women wore in the 1950's. I only wish I could have lived in a time where people dressed nicely. Men wore suits and hats on airplanes and to baseball games. And women wore dresses and earrings with their hair and makeup fixed just to do the laundry or go grocery shopping. I remember my mother telling me how her mother would dress up with heels and earrings just to go see the Dr. If you walk into any Dr's office today, you will see people mostly dressed in sweats or even pajamas. Actually, while in Tennessee, this was not the case. Most of the people we saw were all dressed very nice, even those visiting the hospital. It was a very nice and clean place it seemed like people cared more. Very different than here in California.

When I was a child, the casual sweat suit was a big deal. All the kids started wearing them to school. I wanted one SO BAD. All my friends wore them. My mother refused to ever let us wear sweats out of the house. I was so mad at her, I mean didn't she understand that everyone wore the sweatsuits? I'm thankful today that she always taught us to dress appropriately for every occasion. She never leaves the house unless she is properly dressed with her hair and makeup done. Honestly I think people show more respect to you when you are dressed nicely. Especially when women dress like women. I find dresses and skirts far more comfortable than blue jeans. They allow so much more freedom than pants. Go figure.

Take a look.



1930's



1940's

1950's



1960's




1970's



1980's

1990's

2000



2010

 You can see the decline in modesty through each decade. The even faster decline in and after the 1960's. Did you know in the 1960's a lot more women left the home and worked while their children were put in daycare? Prayer and Bible reading were taken out of the public school system, and out of the government buildings. There were vast increases in divorce, premarital sex and the limiting of children through birth control. Abortion became legal. Fathers stopped being part of daily family life. Sin increased and morals decreased. Follow the pictures each decade you can see the obvious decrease. Do you notice as the women become more scantly dressed the men's attire becomes lazy? Women had/have a lot more control and power than they think they do.

The success of a society is based on the morality of women. When women behave like women, the men follow suit and treat them like women. Women control the way men behave. A man will only behave the way women allow them to. Men will not treat women like royalty and ladies if women dong act the part. Women must act the part first. A woman can't stand there and demand respect when they don't provide anything to be respected. I've heard over and over again from a few women I know, that they wish men would "man up" and treat them like women. These same women go out to bars half naked and act basically like whores and expect men to be chivalrous and considerate?  Why would they?

Adam and Eve before sin: Genesis 2:25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

After sin: Genesis 3:21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.


Clothing was made to cover their sin. Look at the pictures again. As the disregard for sin on Earth increases, the amount of clothing worn decreases. It's sad when your 4 year old sees a group of teenage girls in short shorts and asks "Why are they out in their underwear?"

 In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; II Timothy 2:9

Blog Design

I'm in the process of trying to redesign my blog, so it's possible it will go through several changes over the next week or so. It may look different everyday. I get bored easily with the backgrounds. I am hoping to figure something out so I can make a nice design and then just leave it alone.

Organized Packing and Moving

I have moved several times in my life, and each time, I adopt new practices to make the move easier and more organized. Recently we had to move our 7 member family. We actually are moving twice within a short period of time.

This system has proven to be very useful but, especially since we are not unpacking all of our stuff while we're in the interim house. I tried a very different approach to moving this time. Usually I'm pretty organized as far as packing all of my boxes and writing which room they belong to on the outside. But, I still always face the problem of "which box did I put the ________ in?" and thus begins opening every single box marked KITCHEN until it's found. This.....is......a.....big......fat......pain!

Supplies you will need:

Moving Boxes all different sizes (way more than you think)

Packing Tape (more than you think)

Scissors

Pencils and pens

Colored markers

Address labels

Lined index cards

Recipe box

Colored paper like construction paper

Tissue paper/News paper (unprinted is better)

TIP- It's best to have a special box or basket for these items. Your moving box will help keep your supplies organized, especially if your husband thinks your new cool pack of colored Sharpies all belong to him.

If you know ahead of time that you are moving it's will be a little easier to pack and move this way. It's a little bit of extra work but it will save you A LOT of time on the other end. Actually it can even save you a lot of time before you actually put the boxes on the truck. Even packing with a tight time frame you can still do this. I packed about 65% of our boxes using this system the day before we moved.

Using the colors of construction paper assign each room or area  a different color. Here was our list.

Living Room including Coat & Hall/Linen Closets - ORANGE

Kitchen - YELLOW

Bathroom(s) - PURPLE

Little Girls Room - BLUE

Big Girls Room - RED

Our Room - GREEN

School Room - LIGHT BLUE

Garage/Shed Storage - BLACK (this is the only color I didn't attach to the box)

Each box you pack will need a color and a number. The first box you pack will be #1. Cut the colored paper into 4ths or 8ths. 4ths work well for larger boxes but 8ths will save more paper. Write the box # on each colored paper and tape it to each side of the box.

 Next, Labels. Lots and Lots and Lots of labels. Like with boxes and tape you need more labels than you think. I ended up with about 110 or 112 numbered boxes. I didn't number the boxes that we already had in our attic before the move. I only numbered the ones I packed. Print several sheets of labels for each room. The larger rooms will need more. I had to go back and reprint more because I under-estimated. Each box will require 4 labels. Put one label on each side of the box in the upper right corner. You will find the colors will be easier for you to identify the the boxes, but if you have helpers moving you the labels will be easier for them. Be sure not to forget to print FRAGILE labels,  and put on on each side of the box with the fragile items. TIP - if two people share a room, print both names on the labels, this will save on labels. For the boxes that belong to only one of those people, underline that persons name on the label. 

 Most of my colored papers are not cut evenly or straight. It would take way too much time for this. If you have a child old enough to cut this is a great job for them. Most if it can be done ahead of time. My 4 year olds were able to help put the labels on.

Boxes. The rule for boxes is, "You will need more boxes than you think, it's better to have too many than not enough. I figured I would need about 60 boxes and I ended up with over 110 numbered boxes, plus the extra empty ones for moving day. Before you go and buy boxes you should try and get them for free. I didn't buy any boxes. In our town the businesses have large dumpsters behind the building for cardboard only. I was able to find most of my boxes this way. I also put a wanted post on Freecycle.org for moving boxes. I did get some this way too. TIP- if you have a BevMo or liquor store near you, the liquor boxes are excellent for packing fragile items such as glasses and vases. They have dividers in them and it saves a lot of time not having to wrap these items in paper.

You will need a package or two of index cards and a small container to keep them in. I found my index card box at Wal Mart for $1.00 in the office section and the index cards were about $0.75 cents. 



Each box will have it's own card. At the top left corner of each card draw a colored square. The color should be for the room that the box belongs to. The top right of the card will have the number of the box. As you pack the box, write down everything you put into it. Now, for certain areas I didn't write down each item. For my nightstand stuff, I only wrote "Kimmie's nightstand stuff" I know what is in my nightstand. But for the kids school boxes, I was very detailed because I had 6 identical sized boxes.

 It's okay if you end up with the colors all mixed in. I didn't pack each room one at a time. I would have 3 blue cards 2 yellow cards then 3 oranges etc. As long as they are all numbered in order and the contents are recorded they can go in any color order. 

I took this one step further and created an Excel spread sheet and put the Box #'s and contents in the spread sheet. It's alot easier to click find and type in the item and have the program jump right to the box number than it is to flip through 100 cards. I did keep the box of cards. What if my computer crashes?

When I couldn't remember which box I packed my 3 hole punch in, it was awesome that I could hit find in excel and type 3 hole punch and it told me that it was in box #37. This was before we moved and it would have not been fun to open all the packed orange boxes to find the hole punch. 

After your box is packed be sure to tape it closed. Taping it will make it stronger and better able to sustain boxes stacked on top of it. 

I'm jumping out of order here but I'm sure you can keep up. The next picture is of an index card for a box that was only partially unpacked. The unpacked items were crossed off and at the top the location of that box was written. We are not fully unpacking and this box had games and toys for the little girls. I don't want these all out. The box is being stored until we move again.

 
Pack a suitcase or a small box for each family member with stuff you will need right away, tooth and hair brushes, a change of clothes for a couple days etc. You will be very glad you did this. You think you will get that stuff unpacked right away and most likely it's not going to happen. You will be exhausted. It's very easy also to put all the bedding for each bed in a large garbage bag and keep that with you too. When the bed is set up it's easy to remake it. Or you can use sleeping bags for your first night.


It's also very helpful to have a few "we need it now boxes". You can give these boxes a special color or use a laundry basket and keep these boxes with you or have them be last on the truck. If you need your shower items and kitchen frying pan first thing the next morning, you will be glad you did this. Oh and keep your cleaning supplies handy, you will need them at both places.


Be sure sure to keep a few empty boxes around, there will always be extra items that weren't packed and you will need these.

At the new house, decide whether nor not you are going to place boxes in each room or in one designated place. If you want them taken to each room hang the paper for the color of that room in a place that's easy to see, so those carrying boxes can just find the color. You can also put the label for that room on the colored paper. You should designate a spot in each room for boxes pick a wall or something. Hang another colored paper there and write BOXES HERE on it.


BIG TIP - If you choose to have one designated room for boxes tape up the colored papers so that each color box can be stacked under the coordinating color. Write on the yellow paper YELLOW BOXES HERE, and on the orange paper ORANGE BOXES HERE etc. Now, I didn't do this. I had a room for boxes, but not specific spots for each color. As I was digging through looking for GREEN box #65 that was behind a stack of 80 other boxes, I realized that having them stacked by color would have been a whole lot easier. I will be doing this on our second move for sure.



I must say that we were glad over and over again that we had numbered boxes with lists of the contents. We used it several times. It also helped to decide which boxes needed to be unpacked right away and which ones could wait a few days, or go to be stored. As I unpacked boxes completely I took the numbered card out of the card box. I was going to throw them away but decided to put them in a ziploc bag and hold onto them. I may end up repacking the boxes with the same items when we move again.

TIP - I put labels on the dressers and such so the helpers would know which rooms to take them. They were very hard to get off, so I don't think I'll do that again.

This move was very organized and easy. It's never a good idea to be packing the day you are moving. This aggravates the nice men who come to help out of the goodness of their hearts. Lets face it, no one really likes helping you move, they just want to get it over with and go home.

TIP: Make sure you feed the very generous people who are helping you move. Buy pizzas or something quick and easy. Pizza is very easy and doesn't require dishes or a lot of garbage. Have plenty of water bottles on hand too. Full bellies will keep your helpers happy and working. My husband once helped someone move and he didn't get fed. He came home feeling unappreciated, starving and grumpy. I doubt he will help that person move ever again. Men like food. Feed the men who are moving  you.

I promise this makes you life easier. I have been so happy I took a little extra time and made this move organized. 

Last TIP: DON'T LOSE YOUR CARD BOX! 

If you have questions I'd love to hear them.