Photo Tour of Our Apartment

In honor of our moving anniversary, I would like to show you some photos of my favorite place in the world, our apartment!

This is the view from our front door.

I have divided the great room into 3 sections.

Living Area:

Dining Area:

Parlor Area:

Next I will show you the kitchen. It can also be divided into several sections.

Baker's Rack/Pantry

Storage area (notice our "new" freezer):

Laundry Area:

Do you see my homemade laundry detergent in the cracker jar above the washer????

Here is the bathroom. The shower is around to the right.

My sister-in-law painted this on the little white table. I love it!

Across the apartment, you will find our bedroom. I just love the green color we painted last summer!

The picture below shows the mantle in the bedroom. No fireplace under it, so we got ourselves the black heater/fake fire thingy for Christmas last year. Under the blanket is my "new" sewing machine!

Alcove for our dressers and quilt rack:

Last but not least is our office. I'm just showing selected areas of the room because I have a lot of projects going on and it is really a mess. My hubby and I each have a desk and we also have a couch and TV in there.

Now do you see why we love this place so much? We are blessed to live here in our apartment sweet apartment. And did I mention that we have AWESOME landlords?! Now, if only we didn't have to brave these stairs every time we come or go, it would be PERFECT...

Oh well, you can't have everything... :)

On the Utility Warpath

When I received my utility bill the other day, I almost had a heart attack. It went from about $150.00 last month to $218.00 this month. When I calmed down, I had to remind myself of the many reasons the bill had to be higher this time:

1. We have one more person living with us this summer. It goes without saying that when you add someone to your residence, your bill will increase.

2. It has been H O T these past few weeks. I don't think the high has dipped below 90 degrees all month.

3. Related to #2, we live in the UPSTAIRS of an older home. Heat rises; there is nothing we can do about that.

4. We just purchased a 5.5 cubic foot deep freezer. It is an older freezer and probably not the most energy-efficient. However, since we paid just $20 for it, I figure it is worth a try.

5. Because it is summer, someone is home nearly all the time. Therefore, the temperature has to stay in a comfortable range. When school starts, no one will be home for 8 hours a day, during which times the air will be set to run less often.

All that said, I am still ON THE WARPATH to lower utility costs. I am going to try some things to get that bill down...

A) I will no longer shave in the shower. When I need to shave, I will do it after my shower by sitting on the edge of the tub, filling a bowl with warm water, and using that water to wet my razor and legs instead of keeping the faucet running.

B) When I do the dishes, I will resist the temptation to run the hot water constantly while washing everything with my sponge wand. While this is more convenient, it wastes water. Instead, I will fill one sink with my soapy water and one with plain warm water for rinsing. I will dip the dishes in the rinse sink instead of turning on the faucet to rinse.

C) I will place a small bottle filled with water in the toilet tank. This will make the toilet use less water with each flush.

My hubby and my dad have nixed this idea. They say our toilet tank is already small and it won't flush properly if I do this.

D) I will wash all of my laundry in cold water except for extra dirty clothes or clothes with stains. I'm a little skeptical of this, but I know plenty of people who do this and they don't stink...so it will probably be okay.

I haven't been brave enough to try washing socks and undies, towels, or sheets in cold yet. We'll see...

E) I am going to try to leave the air on 76 instead of the usual 73 or 74. Instead of turning the thermostat down when we get hot, we will turn on the fan and wear lighter clothing.

This has been absolutely comfortable during the day, but a little hot at night, even with the fan.

F) Before bed every night, I am going to go around the house and turn off my power strips. There is no need for those things to be on all the time.

G) Whenever light bulbs burn out, they will be replaced with fluorescent bulbs (we have been doing this already).

H) I won't use the heated dry setting on the dishwasher.

I) I (read Seth) will change the AC/furnace filter once a month without fail.

J) I will keep gallon jugs of water (ice) in the above-fridge freezer to improve efficiency. There isn't much in it (yet) with the addition of our deep freeze.

K) I will keep lids on any pot I place on the stove whenever possible.

L) I will boil water in the microwave when possible.

I'm not doing really well with this method.

M) I will use the slow cooker instead of the oven whenever possible.

N) I will try to coordinate baking times when I am already using the oven. I can plan this stuff on my 2-week meal plan.

O) I will turn off the lights and TV when I leave a room (unless it's for 5 minutes or less, in which case it wouldn't really matter).

P) I will watch the weather and purposefully open the windows (and turn off the air) when the opportunities arise.

It's been too hot!

Q) I will vacuum the refrigerator coils (I have NEVER done this...).

Haven't gotten to this yet.

R) I will dry our regular clothing (shirts and pants) for 10 minutes and then hang it on hangers on the hanging bar over our washer and dryer. There's really no need to dry these all the way.

This is working fine, although sometimes the t-shirts are a little "crunchy".

S) I will actually pay attention to the itemized portion of our utility bill and place the cost of each on a graph so I can track usage.

Haven't done this yet.

T) We will turn off our computers at night and set the updates to run at some other time (hubby might argue with me on this).

I'm doing this, not sure if hubby is.

Well, I feel like I should finish the alphabet, but I can't think of anything else right now. This is a lot to tackle, so I may have to focus on just a few at a time. How about you finish it for me?

How do you save money on your utility bill?

God Answers Prayer

Have you ever had a major decision you knew you would have to make within a matter of days and didn't know how you were going to make it?

This happened to me yesterday. I wish I could write more details but I would prefer not to share too much online. Let's just say that I knew I would have to make a decision between two things on Thursday and both choices seemed equally attractive. I didn't know what I was going to do, so I prayed, "Lord, you are going to have to be really clear to me because this is going to be a tough decision."

Less than five minutes later, I received a phone call. While the phone call was very hurtful, it was one of the clearest answers from God that I have ever experienced. It suddenly made one of the two choices very unattractive, and so the decision was easy to make.

A couple of hours later, I heard a tidbit of news concerning something I have been praying about since June. I would consider that news to be a clear answer to prayer, as well.

I'm sorry that I cannot share more details. I suppose this post is like when my elementary kids say to their friends, "I have a secret, but I can't tell you what it is." I just try to be prudent when it comes to details online because I want to respect my own privacy as well as everyone else's.

I CAN tell you this:

I thank God for answering the prayers of his children, even when his answer is a no!

How has God answered your prayers?

Our Moving Anniversary

This weekend is the THIRD anniversary of "the big move," when my husband and I started our brand new life together in Southern Indiana. I graduated college in May 2007, we got married in June, we moved at the end of July, and we started teaching in August. That was one crazy summer, but I will always treasure it.

Here is a picture from the day we moved. When my parents walked out that door, I cried. I was so scared! But the Lord knew what He was doing, and He has helped us to thrive in this place and become our own family. We are home!

Chore Chart

I have just formulated this chore chart to help keep my house together this school year. One of the biggest contributors of underlying stress and dissatisfaction for me is a messy house. Don't get me wrong, I have other things to worry about that are far more important, but looking at my dirty house and realizing I have no time to clean it really eats away at me. I want my home to be a refuge from stress, not a cause of stress.

I searched and searched for a format online and found nothing I really liked, so I developed this one. Please keep in mind that my husband and I have no children and live in a fairly small space, so our cleaning schedule would look quite different from that of a family with children. Feel free to use it and make it your own.

https://docs.google.com/document/edit?id=1WtktmjE4KcZ8H4ML6jhchgGVM3d0RLvFrBtLzVVHiGQ&authkey=CKi98OQJ&hl=en#

Do you follow a cleaning schedule? What works for you?

Two-Week Meal Plan

Many people construct meal plans based on what they would like to eat. They write everything down and then go shopping. The frugal approach to meal planning is approached in the opposite direction. First, you purchase food by scanning the sale flyers and buying what's on sale. Then you construct your meal plan based on a combination of your sale purchases and what you already have in the freezer and the pantry. Many have asked how I can feed my husband and myself on $100-$150 per month (when we're good...), and hopefully this will shed some light on the process. I lay these meals out on a spreadsheet found here: http://www.vertex42.com/ExcelTemplates/meal-planner.html

Breakfasts:

Cold Cereal and Fruit

• I purchased the Shredded Wheat at Save a Lot for 50 cents per bag

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal in the Crockpot

• using last few apples in the fridge--don't want them to go to waste!

Blueberry Oatmeal in the Crockpot

• using the free blueberries we picked

Homemade Biscuits and Gravy

Eggs in a Basket

• eggs purchased for 97 cents/dozen

Blueberry Pancakes and Smoked Sausage

Breakfast Hash


Lunches: (you will notice some supper-type foods because when I work in the evenings, we have our bigger meal at lunch)

Leftover Chinese food

BBQ Pork Ribs on the Grill, Corn

• Ribs were purchased for $1/lb. a couple months ago and have been in the freezer

Coney Dogs using low-fat hot dogs, carrots

• Hot Dogs purchased at $1 per package and kept in the freezer

Lunchmeat and Crackers

• Lunch meat was supposed to be a steal at 4 10-oz packages/$5, but hubby went to the wrong store, so it was a little more

Tuna Salad, Pickles, Popcorn

• Tuna purchased for 50 cents a can--even less b/c I had coupons--a couple months ago at CVS, so we're still working through the stack.
• Pickles are homemade
• Popcorn is a super-cheap alternative to chips, and healthier too

Grilled Cheese and canned chicken noodle soup

Homemade Pizza, using spinach from the freezer and lunchmeat ham (Sunday lunch)

PBJ Sandwiches

Pasta with White Sauce and Mushrooms

Egg Salad Sandwiches

Lunchmeat Sandwiches

Suppers:

Crockpot Ham and Potatoes, Green Beans

PBJ Sandwiches, Yogurt, Fruit

Grilled Cheese sandwiches, applesauce

Crockpot Lentil Soup

Leftover Night

Green Beans with Smoked Sausage and Potatoes

Crockpot Beans 'n' Weenies

• Using dried beans that I will soak and prepare, plus another package of the low-fat hot dogs

Chicken Salad Sandwiches

• Chicken purchased for 4.99/3-lb bag

Crockpot Goulash

• Using ground beef purchased for $1.49/lb and frozen

Peanut Chicken

Catfish, Ginger Lemon Rice

• The catfish has been in the freezer a while and needs to be used

Vegetable Soup in the Crockpot

• Using veggies from the garden

Using this menu plan, the only things I should need to buy for the rest of the month are hot dog buns, more sandwich bread, and more potatoes.

Do you plan your meals. If so, how do you go about it?

Meet Me at the Fishin' Hole

I have been trying to think of ways to put my blog "out there" so that I can more effectively share my thoughts with others. I am becoming fascinated with the idea of featuring a weekly journal prompt (thanks, April!). Here is my very first prompt:

"If you could live in any TV show for a week, which one would it be and why?"

The answer is simple: I would want to live Mayberry, North Carolina, on the Andy Griffith Show, where the livin' is slow and sweet.

First of all, I was raised on the Andy Griffith Show. I have had all of the episodes practically memorized for as long as I can remember. This is all due to my wonderful parents and their quirky ways. In fact, my parents were official members of the Andy Griffith Show Re-run Watchers Club as I was growing up. We used to receive a newsletter (The Bullet). We owned many of the episodes on video cassette before owning seasons of TV shows was either popular or possible. We traveled to Mt. Airy, North Carolina, where a faux Mayberry is set up, complete with Floyd's Barbershop. We quoted whole scenes in the car and laughed ourselves silly. We attended "Mayberry Days" in New Castle, Indiana, for at least two years in a row to meet the stars (I have met Thelma Lou, Goober, and The Darlings). We owned the Dillards' (featured as the Darlings on the show) album and listened to it often.

I appreciate the peace a town like Mayberry would provide. Sure, Barney gets the town worked up over the silliest things, but that's just it, they are silly...and they can all be worked out in half an hour! I think the characters of the show exude that peace and simple living because they have family values that keep them rooted. They can always turn to each other in times of need.

Speaking of family, Andy's parenting style is something to admire. The episode entitled "Opie and the Spoiled Kid" is a classic example. Andy stays perfectly calm while Opie throws a fit instead of throwing a fit with him, as today's parents are inclined to do. He has rules for his household, and he expects his son to abide by them. Whenever Opie or anyone else in town is in a tight spot, however, Andy gives them the encouragement and help they need, all the while making his friends and family feel that they have figured things out for themselves.

The values of the show deeply influence its humor. Instead of relying on sex to provide the material for the jokes, the writers of the Andy Griffith Show relied on real, multi-dimensional humor, including one-liners, slapstick, and carefully crafted chemistry between and among characters. This, I believe, requires more wit and wisdom than the writers demonstrate in today's situation comedies.

While I could go on and on about more reasons I love the show, I'll close with this one. I love the folk music featured on so many episodes! When I was at IU this summer, we studied the song "Shady Grove" in folksong analysis. I said to the professor, "Oh, I know that one! I heard it on the Andy Griffith Show." I believe that folk and bluegrass are two of my favorite musical genres for the simple reason that I was exposed to them so often through Andy.

Now, as my mom would say before I left for school (she borrowed this one from Andy), "GO OUT AND ACT LIKE SOMEBODY."

What TV show would you like to live on for a week?

Our Garden

My husband has been keeping

quite busy this summer! Not only does he hold down 6 mowing jobs, but he is also maintaining a 40 by 50 ft. garden plot. Because we live in an apartment, we don't have space available to garden where we live. Luckily, our church owns land outside of town. Part of it will soon house a family life center, but there is still plenty of landleftover for several families to maintain their gardens. Our garden is one-third of a huge plot.

Tonight, Seth and I went out to pick beans, peas, zuchini, yellow squash, and cucumbers. I haven't been very involved with the garden yet because I have my own summer job to keep me busy, but now

that the harvest is coming, I will need to help as much as I can.

In other news, I got a call today from a friend at church. Her dad is selling a 5.5 ft.2 chest freezer, and because she had heard me talking about looking for one, she called me first. He wants just $50 for it, and it is in good working condition. The cheapest I have seen one new is $155 and, being the frugal woman that I am, I have not been willing to pay that price. After a year of keeping my eye out, this used one has come along, just in time for preserving all our vegetables.

The pictures above were all taken during planting some time ago. Results pictures are coming soon, so stay tuned!

Blueberries Galore!!!

Seth and I were invited to go out and pick blueberries this morning! A friend of a friend owns some land that used to be part of a berry farm. We picked five gallons--FOR FREE! I haven't gone berry-picking since I was a little girl. My mom and I used to pick raspberries and blackberries from the bushes that grew out behind our backyard shed. I should have taken a picture of Seth in his suspenders with an ice cream bucket threaded through his belt; we both looked pretty funny, actually.


I did take some pictures of our haul...




We will freeze them on sheet pans, place them in plastic baggies, and pull them out as we need them for pancakes, muffins, batter breads, etc. I like to eat them straight from the freezer, also. They taste like little frozen candies!!! Luckily, we are getting our first deep freezer within the next couple of days. The timing is perfect, as our garden produce is really beginning to come on now!




I'm so thankful for this blessing of free food!

Missing Meme

You may have noticed that I went from April 30th to June 30th without a blog post. Just as the school year was winding down, I got a call that my grandma (we call her "Meme") was in the hospital with a blood clot. This was quite a shock for me because I had just seen her the weekend before, looking as healthy and as spry as ever.

On May 18th, a few days after the initial call, I found out a devastating piece of news: following testing of spots on the pancreas and liver, an oncologist determined that Meme had Advanced Stage 4 pancreatic/liver cancer. They estimated that the cancer had been in the pancreas for 2 years and in the liver for 1. After that, I went home to visit Meme every chance I got, but I didn't have much time. Just 29 days after diagnosis, she passed away. In hindsight, it was such a blessing that none of us new, including Meme. She was able to enjoy living (and being in love with her 85-year-old friend Harold) without the knowledge of what was going on in her body.

On the morning of June 13th, I chose to be in the room with Meme when she died, along with a number of other family members. It was the most difficult experience of my life, but at the same time, it was a beautiful memory that I will treasure always and forever. I actually watched her pass from this life into the next. I saw her open her eyes and stare into the corner with expectation.

As I thought about that moment, I assumed that the angels had come for her. Later, while talking to Rev. Phil Bruzeeze, Meme's Sunday school teacher and an incredible man of God, I knew that Jesus Himself had come for her. Phil shared with us a truth that the Lord had revealed to him through the scripture in John 14: "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I WILL COME BACK AND TAKE YOU TO BE WITH ME that you also may be where I am" (verses 1-3, emphasis mine). Praise be to God!

I will miss Meme dearly. She was both my grandma and my best friend. We talked on the phone every week, sometimes for as long as 2 hours at a time! I will always treasure those moments of sharing as two grown women, one with a wealth of experience and knowledge, and the other just beginning to navigate the journey of womanhood. I'm sure I will pick up the phone many times before remembering that I cannot call my grandma. Maybe I will call anyway, just to listen to her voice on the answering machine: "Hello, this is me! Just leave a message, and I will get back with you!"

Here is a link to her obituary online. It was an honor and a privilege to write it myself.

http://heraldbulletin.com/obituaries/x93715918/Olivett-Hardesty

Commemorate This Day

"Then Moses said to the people, 'Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the Lord brought you out of it with a mighty hand.'" ~Exodus 13:3 (NIV)

Our Sunday School class is reading a book entitled When God Takes Too Long: Learning to Thrive during Life's Delays. In chapter seven, the author, Joseph Bentz, encourages us to write down the ways in which God has blessed us in the past. This blog couldn't possibly hold all that God has done, even in my short life so far, but I would like to list ten of His blessings here:

I am thankful for...

1. loving and intelligent parents who knew how to raise a strong-willed child.

2. a host of musical experiences that shaped me as a musician and molded me into the teacher I am today.

3. a rich heritage of faith on both sides of my family.

4. God's deliverance from Obsessive Compulsive tendencies.

5. God's deliverance from a two-year stent of anxiety and depression in high school.

6. God's provision for college expenses through my winning the Eli Lilly Scholarship, which paid for four years of school plus books in full.

7. God's leading throughout our job and apartment search. I found my job on the internet and felt the Lord leading me into the unknown. I tried not to resist Him, scary as it was, and now I know my husband and I are exactly where we are supposed to be. God provided Seth with a job in the area and helped us to find the perfect place to live.

8. how the Lord has shaped my heart on a specific issue regarding future motherhood.

9. all my Heavenly Father has taught me through my grandmother's illness and death these past few weeks. I am spiritually and emotionally stronger than before.

10. that God brought Seth into my life and gave him the patience to wait for me to make up my mind!

Thank you, God, for blessing me through the years. Not only have you never left me, you have poured out your blessings on me. I know that you will fulfill your promises to me, and that I can wait with expectation to find out what else you will do in my life. Amen.