EKjourney Backup

Several years ago, my parents decided to invest in some retirement projects for my Dad - fixing up old trailers.  They bought several and one of them was this little Gem, a 1970's model in good condition.  It has sat around some four years I think and Phil and I had planned to purchase it with work exchange.  In reviewing our budget, we decided that we really couldn't afford it so we put the idea out of our heads (well, I tried to!).   I was so excited when my Dad told me that they had decided to GIVE us the trailer!  We brought it up home on Saturday and are going to "restore" it by salvaging, using what we have, and only buying what is essential by squirreling away our pennies.  Just think...a guest room, a mommy retreat for crafting (yeah right LOL), a fort/sleepover play house,  a reading nook, and of course, a camping home!   I love the layout of the interior.  It is such an efficient use of space. This is plumbed for a bathroo...

Cheap meals...cabbage, Kale, rice, stew meat/hamburger meat.  There are so many great ways to serve inexpensive healthy foods.  The above is a slow cook meal from Julia Child's with a combination of tomatoes, rice, and meat, served over a bed of sauteed cabbage.  Below, is pan fried spring rolls stuffed with a cabbage, hamburger mix and served with a sweet and sour dipping sauce.  Two totally different flavors but with similar base ingredients.  I find my challenge is to keep a dinner meal right around the 10 dollar mark.  A pound or so of meat, often with rice or potatoes, a side veggie, and usually a green salad.   Aren't these new plates fun!  I love them.  My Sister-in-Law, Tina, bought them for my birthday at an antique store but just couldn't wait until November to give them to me.  I am glad to use them now!  Cozying up by the fire and drinking breakfast shakes before church. Ta Da!  The cotton baby blanket is finally fi...

This morning, it just poured down rain!  It won't be long before this dried up banana tree is green and tropical and lovely.  For now, it looks a bit messy but those draping dead leaves help protect the trunk from the winter cold. Then, the sun came out and illuminated my housekeeping flaws.  To be fair, the chicks were in the house for the past month and they are so dusty (or at least that is the excuse I am using)! Kale dried in the food dryer. I often crisp kale under the broiler so I decided to see if the food dryer kale would work.  The flavor was quite a bit stronger to start with but with butter, onion and garlic powder, salt, kelp, and Brewer's Yeast, it was rich and delicious.  The children probably ate several cups worth of dried kale.  What a fantastically healthy snack! How is the laundry going without the use of the dryer?   Very well actually.  I don't mind the laundry line in the house, in fact it is very convenient since it is only...

Ta Da! Knit Pix, Wool of the Andes, Tumeric and Conch.  Pattern found on Ravelry (free, wool soakers). Overall Cost, 5.00 (using up wool I already have).  Time spent, about 10 hours but much of that was fiddling with the pattern, now that I have practiced and reworked some of the glitches, I bet I could do it in half the time. It wasn't too bad for my first attempt at 1. A garment,  2. Short rows,   3. Gussets,  4. Sizing and working off of a gauge,  5. Making adjustments and alterations (fancy word for tearing out stitches and redoing redoing redoing until I was satisfied). I actually think they turned out quite cute, however, following the pattern guidelines, I am not satisfied with how high the waist goes up (hence the fold down).  I made several notes on how to fix this in the future and I used a ton of math to do it!  (Who knew ratios would come in so handy!) I soaked the wool in a lanolin solution to prep it for use and let it dry (took...

I love weekends where I fall into bed on Sunday night tired and feeling productive about the weekend's accomplishments. We are pinching pennies and hoping that line drying (inside until the weather improves with this temporary fix until Phil can make folding clothing racks) will help save on our energy costs. The children were thrilled and everyone helped hang up clothes.  Here Sawyer is trying to assist in the laundry drying.  I am not sure blow drying the clothes is economical.  LOL!  Saint Patrick's Day.  The leprechauns dyed the toilet water green and put food coloring in the waffle batter (hmmm, didn't turn out as green as I had hoped).  We had green smoothies for breakfast and wore green to church.  The children were quite funny at the discovery of the toilet water.  We told Sawyer that it was the leprechauns for Saint Patrick's Day and he told the girls it was the Decepticons ( from Transformers) on Saint Perfect's day.  Then...