Praying for the Problem

I'm not someone to spout political or controversial opinions all over the internet.  I prefer keeping those topics to personal conversations.  Not sure if this is breaking my rule, but I've been listening to lots of people's opinions about ISIS, Paris, terrorist bombings, and refugees.  I've been joining many in prayer for these things as well.

Suddenly, it hit me this afternoon that while I should 100% spend time in prayer for the victims , these people were victims of an overwhelming problem- a problem that was sorely neglected in my prayers.

While I do not profess to be a hugely knowledgeable person when it comes to the in-depth complexities of politics or middle eastern conflicts, I have some idea that this group of religious extremists are not people you sit down and negotiate with.  They have no defined country to invade and if you cut one down, more will come to uphold their cause.  Seems pretty hopeless.  Many say, "Let's bomb the bastards!" I'm not even going to get involved in that argument, as I personally have no bombs to drop. 

What I do have at my disposal is the ear of a great and mighty God who can change hearts, lives, and allegiances!  This is a weapon I will gladly wield against ISIS. I challenge believers everywhere, let's not only pray for the victims, families, and wounded;  join me in prayer for those planning future violent attacks, those who are beheading the innocent, and those who strategize against all we hold dear.   I choose to believe in a God that is bigger than the overwhelming issues we have in the world today and that God can overcome hatred and violence in a mighty way.  I also believe that our prayers are powerful and God hears every word!

I'll let you in on a secret, this is not something that is easy, and at first it didn't even feel "right."  At least not for me. However, Jesus said in Luke 6:32 that "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them."  Believers are called to love the unlovable, even when they threaten our lives, security, and freedoms.  Just look at Jesus' life and death and remember his sacrifice that extends to all who will come.

Easy Chicken Mac and Cheese Casserole

This recipe is super easy!  I hadn't made it in a while, but recently brought it back and it's just as easy and delicious as it use to be. 

Ingredients:
-Two large chicken breast cut into strips
-Box of pasta (12oz)
-One jar of ragu double cheddar
-One can of cream of chicken soup
-Chicken broth 32oz (you can just use water, but I think the broth makes it better)
-Cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Pour the uncooked pasta in a 9x13 glass pan and cover with chicken broth.  Place raw chicken cut into strips on top of uncooked pasta and broth.  Pour ragu and cream of chicken soup on top of chicken.  Cover with aluminum foil and cook for 45 mins. 

Remove from oven and sprinkle cheddar cheese on top and place back in oven for 10-15mins.  Turn oven to broil for 2-3mins before removing to get that browning on top of the cheese.  Let stand for 10-15 mins, otherwise it will be runny.

If you prefer thicker chicken you will want to double check to be sure it's cooked all the way through

You could always make it more healthy by adding broccoli or another veggie!

Plus, the pasta, ragu, and cream of chicken soup are all included in the Kroger mega sale!

Sunroom

We are making headway on getting the sunroom up.  Hoping to be mostly finished with it by winter.  Josh had multiple helping hands get the walls and trusses up while the boys and I went to visit my grandparents for a few days.  He's out there doing something everyday! Blessed with a hardworking hubs!  Excuse the mess... It's definitely a work zone.

There is going to be a covered porch on the front, where I intend to hang a swing!  Can't wait to sit in the sunroom next to the fire on a winters evening!

Also, here's a picture of our newest addition!

Saving money with DIY cleaners

I have to admit that I was a little skeptical of homemade cleaners at first, but decided to give them a chance for many reasons. 
1. They are really cheap... Like crazy cheap.
2. I actually enjoy experimenting and making things like this.
3. I know what's in my cleaner
4. I can't let the boys help clean with some of them since I know there's no harsh chemicals. 
5. You can make your own smells!
6. Did I mention they are cheap?

I decided that the time/effort to cost saving ratio should be taken into account.  If I'm spending too much time and effort and it's something I can buy fairly cheaply then it might not be worth my time.  Obviously, they should function as good or better than the product they are replacing.

I first started with laundry detergent.  This is a link to the recipe I used for laundry detergent and fabric softener.  While this did take a little bit of time it was not hard to do and made two gallons of detergent and 1/2 cup = 1 load.  That's a lot of detergent and this is crazy cheap.  The three cleaners cost about $9 and there's enough for a lot more.  Plus, these cleaners can be used in other things as well.  My batch does separate after a while. so I do have to shake it up before pouring and I would suggest investing in designated 1 gallon jugs with a decent seal...or just use a milk jug.  The other thing is that while your clothes feel and look awesome, there is very little scent on your clothes...this could be a benefit or drawback depending on your preferences.  If you want your clothes to have a strong detergent scent, this may not be for you.  I love the smell of snuggle brand fabric softener, but I love saving money more.   The fabric softener is working great and it doesn't smell like vinegar.

All in all, I'm really happy with how it's working and the time/effort to cost saving ratio!  Oh, and I will say if I have something stinky or really dirty I'll add 1/2 cup of bleach in the washer cup and dilute it with 1cup of water.  I do this even on colors on a regular basis and don't have any trouble with bleach stains.  Great for stinky towels, scrubs, or boy funk!

The second thing I tried was the bathroom cleaner.  I've heard a ton of great things on the blue dawn and vinegar mixture and I have to say that I really love it!  If you do it regularly it really keeps the shower looking great without much scrubbing effort!  I normally just add about 3-4 tablespoons of dawn and 5-6 table spoons of vinegar to a 16oz spray bottle of water.  I will add few drops of tea tree oil for it's disinfecting qualities and a few drops of lemon grass oil because I LOVE the smell!  I use this as a multi-purpose cleaner and it does a wonderful job!  My favorite thing is that I can use my dish rag on the kitchen counters to wipe it up because it's just soap and vinegar, no need to get a separate rag for the kitchen counters.

This is a favorite of mine definitely worth the tiny amount of time it takes to mix it up and the cost is very low compared to a $2-$3 multipurpose cleaner.  Plus, when I run out I don't have to go to the store, I just make some more!  Love it!  I did invest in a semi-nice spray bottle.  They are like $2...what can I say, I like the finer things in life.

The third cleaner is my hardwood floor cleaner!  LOVE this one because it makes my house smell amazing!!  First, I have bamboo hardwood that is very dark and shows dust and dirt like crazy.  I use this cleaner pretty much everyday.  I have a mop that you can take off the mop rag thing and wash it and it has a spray bottle for the cleaner.  Love that thing!  I basically came up with this through testing several recipes on pinterest.  I fill a two liter up with water and use 3-4tablespoons of blue dawn dish soap, 4-5 tablespoons of vinegar, 6-8 tablespoons of olive oil, and several drops of lemongrass oil and tea tree oil.  First, this does an amazing job with my floors!  They look great afterwards!  Second, my house smells so clean and fresh!  If you prefer a different scented oil I would  recommend you use it, otherwise it's going to smell like vinegar for about an hour after you mop.  I'm normally not a fan of lemon scented cleaners, but the lemongrass essential oil is awesome!  The last thing I'll mention is that I feel so much better about my boys running over the floors if they are wet, knowing that there are no harmful chemicals that are getting on their skin.  Sometimes I give Whitman the mop and let him go to town!

The most recent thing I've made is the dishwasher detergent tablets.  Let me just say this, I'm really picky about this and I normally only buy the Finish Tablets.  I hate picking up a glass out of the dishwasher and it not having that slick, clean glass feel to it.  I tried these because we didn't have money in our grocery budget this week for detergent...without cutting out things that I didn't want to cut out.  So since I've been saving money by making cleaners I went to pinterest to see what it had to offer me in the cheap DIY dish detergent.  Here is the link to the recipe that I used.  I had most of the ingredients from my laundry making.  I just bought salt and lemon juice (about $3).  I did a double recipe from what she listed and it made 70 tablets...not too shabby.  I still have a lot of ingredients left.  She did a break down and said they cost only 4cents/tab.  That's a huge savings and this only took about 15 mins and then overnight to sit out and dry.

I did not like this recipe. It left my dishes clean but had a chalky texture... Ugh.  I was bummed but determined to find something that works.  I found the solution.  I started adding a stop if dawn dish soap and a tablespoon of citric acid with the tablets and it does a great job!  You can add more or less citric acid depending on how hard your water is.  My silverware is super shiny compared to even the finish tablets!  FYI, citric acid is with the canning stuff and is about $3.

I have tried a few things that I don't like as well as my regular store bought cleaners.  The first is a stainless steel cleaner.  I've tried several things but I have to admit that the expensive wipes that I have are what make it shine like a penny.  Plain vinegar and water might work, but I'm not a big fan of the vinegar smell.    

I've tried making liquid hand soap.  It has not panned out as well.  We go through this stuff like crazy so I'm going to keep on trying to get a recipe that works.  Most of the ones I've found just say to buy bar soap and melt it in water, add essential oils, and glycerin etc.  Well I did that and got a weird snot like soap.  Once again I love the smell of the lemongrass (I know i'm obsessed), and the soap works, but it does have a very off consistency.  I did buy a foaming soap dispenser and I watered the soap down and it does help, but I really don't prefer it over the store bought stuff.  

The liquid hand soap takes some time to make because it have to be grated, melted and cooled.  Taking a total of 12-24 hours before you have a usable product.  However, the cost savings has the potential to be huge.  You can get a bar of soap for cheap and it can make a lot of liquid or foaming hand soap.  

I have a few more to share but no time right now.  Look for another posr in the future to include: toilet cleaner, rust remover, foaming hand soap, baby wipes, and body wash.

Sunroom...

If you've been following along our journey you've probably heard tell of a sunroom that will be built... at some point.  This post is dedicated to the sunroom or what I forsee as being my oasis/lounge room (when I'm not keeping children from killing themselves or each other).

For all this to make complete sense I'm going to go way back to the early days of our reno when we were replacing foundation walls and such.  This is what the back of the house looked like.

As you can see there are two patios that are on different levels... I've never seen a set up quite like it before.  Under the top patio that is off the kitchen door was an old cistern that was falling in, therefore we had to do something about it. Turns out the cheapest and most efficient thing was to cut a door from the basement into the cistern and replace the walls that were falling in, making it another room in the basement. Sounds like a lot of work, but we were already doing this kind of work on a few other places so it was all done at the same time.   

The thing about having this room in the basement is that unless it's under a roof it's going to have water coming down through the concrete ceiling. So we've known that we would have to add on a room and since it has a lovely view of the woods and wildlife we decided on a sunroom with as many windows as we can get!

 In December we were looking at the pictures and dreaming about the sunroom and patio.  I've always wanted an outdoor fireplace, so we were kicking that idea around.

That's when we came up with the idea of a single chimney with a fireplace on either side, one in the sunroom and another for the outside patio.  We loved this idea and decided that if we were ever going to do it, it has to be now.  So we decided to talk to my uncle, who is a incredibly talented brick mason, and discussed the idea with him!  He drew up the plans for the fire place and then set to work!

The results were stunning!  Love, love, love these fireplaces! 

With the mad dash for move in we've had to put this on the back burner, but now with things settling down we are about to get started with finishing out the sunroom.  The first thing is to pour a new concrete floor and footers to support the walls.  This is going down in the morning!  Looking forward to finishing what we started!

We broke in the patio fireplace tonight for the first time!  Love roasting marshmallows over a fire!

Let's be honest...

So I'll be honest.  I've wanted to post pictures of the house.  I know many of you have been on the look out for pictures of the place, however this place is still a wreck.  Yes, we are living in it.  Yes, I am loving my old/new home.  However, the dark hardwood shows every speck of dust that gets tracked in from the downstairs, the closets have no shelves to unpack my boxes into, and all the projects that we do on a daily basis involve cluttering up the kitchen counter.  Not to mention there is a three and one year old tearing the place a part and we've had a stomach bug filtering through the family all week (which I've narrowly escaped thus far). This place is a beautiful disaster! 

Despite all that I've decided to adopt my families saying that "If we can live in it, you can visit in it".  So here are a few pictures!

OK, so now you see why I'm not posting pictures all the time.  Wet still have A LOT of work. Especially in our bedroom and both bathrooms!  We are hoping to get the concrete poured for the sunroom this week!

Feels A Lot Like Home

Yesterday we got up early because we knew it was going to be a big day.  Honestly, it felt like Christmas; I could barely sleep with all the excitement of what I knew was going to be the largest work day yet.  We had ten people working for most of the day(8:30am-9pm), and the finished product was just incredible.  All the hardwood floors were installed (with the exception of a tiny closet and oddly shaped piece needed in from of the bathroom).  They also installed some baseboard and brought the appliances up from the basement.  The results are pretty impressive if you ask me.

I'll be honest, after it was all finished and Josh removed the cardboard that was protecting the lower cabinets I started to cry.  As we were leaving I looked back at the dark living room and told Josh that it feels like we should just be headed down the hallway to go to bed.

I would just like to give a huge thank you to all the people who have been so instrumental in helping us get all this work done.  We could not have done it without you and we appreciate all the time, hard work, and encouragement that has been generously given.  Josh and I are truly blessed with amazing family and friends.

We are planning on moving in next Saturday!  There are still a lot of things to get done, but yesterday was such a massive leap forward.  We still have a lot of trim, lights, and hardware to install.  We have a painter lined up to paint a big part of the trim and the doors.  Plus, cleaning and packing.  It's going to be a busy week.

We still have many more things to do to the house after we move. Several things were just not able to be done before move-in.  However, after the sunroom is built and we've settled in we are planning a huge party to celebrate this journey and all our many blessings!

Daily Progress

Everyday is a huge leap forward.  It's very exciting! The past two days Josh has worked on the jigsaw puzzle that is the counter top, and it looks great!  Were used 24in floor tile.  It's very cheap compared to...well everything, I think it looks great, and is very durable.  The counter rails will be a dark stained wood.  He also laid the back splash and it's beautiful!  I'm so glad I picked out this tile!  I was originally looking at a blue mosaic tile, but in the end I felt this was just more classic and economical.  It doesn't show up very well in the pictures but it has wavy lines in it to add the visual interest that I love!

I just want to brag for a second on this guy.  I'm so impressed with his craftsmanship and mad construction skills!  He is such a hard worker, he's gone out almost everyday for the past two months and worked so hard. Even after watching the kids all day while I work. I love this man!

What a different a day can make...

Wow...I got butterflies when Josh sent me pictures of all they accomplished yesterday!  It's really looking good!  Can't believe I get to live here. 

Quick Picture Post

Here's a few pictures of how the painting going!

First, don't worry about the bottom part of the wall in the living room... It's getting beadboard.  The cabinets are almost done just another coast on the facing is all they need.  Not sure when we'll hang the doors back though bc I don't want them to get scratched...I would have to cut somebody.  Also the front door (last picture) is getting a makeover too and I'm thinking blue!  The same blue in the living room and master... It only took 10 paint samples to get the right one.  That's no exaggeration... Just ask josh.  Here's my inspiration picture for the front door.