We Made It

I have to make this quick or I may be kicked off the internet but just to note that we are in Florida at Peace River camping. We have already been here a week and plan on staying two more.


The weather is beautiful and the kids have been swimming almost everyday. I was sick for almost the first week and am trying to catch up with all the activities now that I am better.


We bought a pop up and also pitched a tent, between the two we are managing. Not the best but good enough to get us here. We are close to the bath house which helps.


Our house hasn't sold yet but we couldn't wait any longer in getting out here and making this happen. We sold a lot at yard sales this summer, which my sisters can attest too, I couldn't have done it without them. (Thank you both (Lyn and Inez) for all the help!) We used the money to buy our Thousand Trails membership and a pop up, and voila, here we are. We will put our house up for sale this coming summer, but in the mean time we plan on being out here for 3 weeks and going back for 2. Greg still has his business that he has to maintain and we still do FBA to help pay our way. So I have great pictures of the kids but can't post them at this time.


The kids are having a great time and I have never seen them so active. Greg has lost weight, all the time in the pool with the kids and having to walk up hill to the bath house help that cause I am sure. I love being lazy and not feeling like I have to clean house, cook and wash clothes. Although I have washed clothes since being here, but it goes fast when you can do all at one time.


Catch Ya Later!

Eating Paleo

Anyone eating Paleo? I have been since January this year. I know that may not sound very long but I have already seen such a difference. At first I wasn't sure it was connected to my eating until I tried going back to the old way of eating and saw the changes. First, I have no joint pain, I was taking some things to help with joints and have been able to completly quit taking it. Second, I lost 16lbs, always feels good. Third, I seem to get so much more done because I have more energy and I think clearer. Fourth, I sleep really good and sound.

I was talking to James (Inez's son) yes, he is here (sorta) he is already gone again. I was excited to find he had been eating paleo and also noticed less joint pain (I don't think he was 100%), until he began to eat his old food again. So if you ache everywhere, you should give this way of eating a chance. He is now driving as a transporter with his fifth wheel truck from a place only 1 mile from us. It is really good being able to see and talk to him. It was a good time in our lives when we were driving, expecially being able to take our girls with us. He was in 80 degree weather yesterday, and it was freezing here yesterday. I can't wait for our vacation that we are taking over spring break. We are going south and praying for good weather!

But the biggest change of all with this way of eating, is in the kids. We started noticing a change in Sean on the weekend when he was home from school. It took awhile to connect his behavior with the food he was eating at school. He would come home and begin to jump over and on the furniture, much like he had a caffine drink. He was also being mean to Isaac and the dog. But on the weekend he was calmer and nicer. So we kept him home last week except for one day, thursday, we sent him to school. He came home hyper and agressive and told me they give him "pop tarts". I had asked them not to, and even sent a banana with him. They sent it home and said I am not allowed to send food to head start, he has to eat what they eat. So I told them this week unless I can send food with him, I will not be sending him back.

Last night the little guys ate two helpings of salad with their meal. They are eating more and more raw and cooked veggies. Can you believe that I am making my own mayo? And my own ranch dressing from that mayo? So I am now cooking three meals a day, eggs and bacon for breakfast, pancakes on weekends, salads for lunch or leftovers and meat and veggies for dinner. For anyone that does not know what paleo is( short version is a caveman diet) , you may have to do an internet search for more info. But for our family it is a modified version. We eat lots of veggies, fermented foods, fruit, nuts and meat along with plently of good oils. We do not eat grains, beans, dairy, bad oils (canola, vegetable etc), processed food. Did you know that corn, peas and green beans, are not vegetables? Green beans are beans, but the kids really like them, so we still eat them. I do use nut flour and coconut flour to make pancakes and muffins. We have a sodastream and make our own syrup for sodas. And I still make my kids homemade french fries (white potatoes are not paleo) I do not eat them as they make my knee ache. So I have been researching paleo recipes on line and copying them. I am learning alot about how to cook meat. Greg said it is the best "diet" we have ever been on. And the kids tell me what a good cook I am, so for our family it is working pretty good. We aren't missing the bread at all. Mitchel is still eating cereal and milk and school lunches. But even he loves to have good food at dinner time. Although he still has carb cravings after dinner and usually sneaks something after the little kids go to bed. At least he sees if you eat lots of carbs, you crave carbs. I try to give the kids starchy food in potatoes, bananas and that kind of thing.

So now the challenge starts of how to take 6 people (four kids) camping and continue to eat paleo for one week. So far I have made muffins and froze them. Soaked and dehydrated nuts. Dehydrated pinapple and bananas for quick trail mix. I plan on taking hard boiled eggs, peanut butter and apples. But that only gets us started. I am taking a skillet and pans and cook stove, probably lots of shopping at a local grocery store. I'm not sure how much room we will have. We have bought the tent and have sleeping bags, I just hope there is room for us!

Catch ya later!

I want to share a project that I have been putting off for awhile. Rayana got a t-shirt from school, it is an award for being so nice. (Bully Free). The t-shirt isn't quite Rayana's type, sorta boyish and she of course loves dresses. So I had this idea to make it into a dress and cut the sleeves off and redo them. But on the other hand, having never done that, I procrastinated. She got the t shirt before Christmas and I knew she is not going to have a chance to wear it, if I don't do something soon. So today was the day. Here are some photos. The red shirt with flag was an old one of Hilary's, I started by cutting off the bottom half to make the skirt part. (I raided Hilary's yard sale this summer and pulled some clothes out that I thought I could refashion for the kids).

Then I cut off the bottom half of Ray's shirt, so I could connect the two.

Then I had to cut down the bully t-shirt as it is too big for her and I also cut off the sleeves and redid them and added the gathering at the top. A nice girly touch. I used a blue shirt as a pattern of the size I needed. You can see in the picture the parts that I cut off of the gray t-shirt. They are much larger than the size that fits her.

 

Now the pictures of the finished dress.

The t shirt fits so much better now and she likes having a dress that she can slip on a pair of shorts under. Now that I know I can do it, I am sure I will be looking for more t shirts to alter for her. I would probably cut the top part shorter but I had to leave the words on the t shirt, so it is a little below her actual waist, but she is happy and that is what counts!

 

 

Updated pics of House

Can't believe how fast time goes, especially with 5 kids. I seem to always be busy and if I have time to sit, I use my time to research on the computer. What do I research? Well of course more things to do! We just finished putting boards on our kitchen ceiling, something I found on a blog, a diy easy fix for ceilings that need some tlc. We like the way it came out.

 

We have to still add crown molding though. We can't seem to get the cut right. Notice the red paint and the white trim, it is also new. The cabinets will get painted white when I have the time. We also painted the den. It took weeks as I had to putty and wash the paneling and putty seams, tape everything off and remove and replace outlets.

This is a picture of the den, you can see where I was using joint compound to fix an area on the wall, and we were framing the door out.

This is the door now finished. You can see the new door frame. I really like the way it turned out. The room you see thru the door is the dining room. I am working on it now. Took me awhile to choose the color. I will try to finish soon and post pictures.

This is looking the other way. The whole room is so much brighter and larger feeling. The ceiling doesn't seem so dark with the walls painted lighter.

This is what it looked like before, even with the light on, it is still dark. The white strips is where I have put mud on the walls to cover joints. I also had to use a tall ladder as ceiling is about 10 feet high at the point.

We are also changing our diets and eating a more whole foods, "paleo" type diet. The change in the kids is amazing. I also have lost 16lbs and have never felt better. And the food is great. Will try to add more about that when I have some time.

The kids are doing well, Mitch will graduate this year only 3 more months, all I can say is "wow". We would like to take the kids camping, maybe spring break, and are looking into buying a tent. Any suggestions? I hope we can fit everything into the van!

Just have to show off my little ones, who aren't so little anymore! And guess who lost thier first tooth?

And Sean just because he is so cute.

He was hiding behind this at the Dr. office and I had to take a pic. I think I have about 1600 on my phone of the kids!

Love ya all!

Christmas Sewing

I have been busy sewing for Christmas. My first year with a sewing room and fabric to sew with.



Stella found some patterns in the trash can at the laundry and sent me some. So I made this jacket for Rayana. It has a fitted elastic waist.I didn't have a jacket pattern and this one is really cute. It was perfect to match with a pair of grey pants. Look at how old the pattern looks. The fabric is really heavy, so I removed the collar and added elastic at the sleeves to give it more of a sweater look. I sewed on silver trim and orange buttons to give it a fun look and not so dressy. I might put an applique on it. I am ready to start on a princess dress for her and cut the pattern out yesterday. I have been spending so much time in the sewing room that Wed night she was crying because she doesn't want only clothes for Christmas and we had to assure her that she would have toys also, just so we could get her to go to bed without crying.






For Mario I have sewn an army shirt( check out the flag buttons), with fabric he picked out this summer and a pair of flannel pjs. I added Smith on the pocket. He loves dress up shirts so I have ordered a pattern with a stand up collar and a book on shirt making, so hopefully I can do some dress shirts for him and Greg.

 Well I have been busy with other things but can't post them until after Christmas. I am going to move Mitch to the small green room and I am taking the big room for my sewing. I have already outgrown the little room (Rayana's old bedroom).

Tansi and David have been coming over on Wed. and sewing, or I should say David has been sewing. I am trying to get him started on a quilt that is already cut out for him and Tansi. He made a tree skirt and a table cloth so far. He loves the serger and is trying to get Tansi to let him get one. Lindsay has been coming but she was sick this week. Mitch is at Robotics club at that time, so it works out well.

I am just not in to decorating for Christmas and was glad I have the excuse of letting the little kids do it. We can't keep Isaac and Sean away from the tree, so we have more bulbs on the floor than the tree. It is a good thing the bulbs are plastic because they have already broke the tops off many of them. Maybe next year we will be able to put the nicer ones out.
Here is a picture of them decorating, even our puppy is excited about it.




Our puppy (Jasper) is growing about 8 lbs now. We have had him for two months, he is still getting shots. He had earmites and worms but is doing much better now. He is just soft and cuddly, even our vet says he looks like a stuffed dog. The UPS driver told me he looked like a toy when he ran out the door. He loves Greg and cries when Greg leaves the room or the house.

We ate out today at the Golden Corral and I think it made me tired so I am going to go take a nap while Isaac is sleeping. Catch ya later!

MORE FABRIC

I have officially decided not to buy anymore fabric! I refuse to even look at it. Two days ago I saw an ad on Craigslist advertising fabric, over 200 yds, I had to look at it. It was $300 and she assured me it was top quality and it was. I always think, where will I ever be able to buy that much for this price. Then she shows me more bags in her sewing room, with everything imaginable, quilt tops, purses, more fabric, quilt blocks already cut out, quilt blocks already embroidered, several baby blankets and patterns to name a few, for $500 she would give me everything. There were 11 white kitchen trash bags full. If you have priced fabric lately, do the math. She believed there was at least $4,000 worth of fabric. She had been a quilter for years and had broken her shoulder three years ago, she could no longer deal with the weight of a quilt. She had decided to only do paper piecing blocks and sell them, things that were small and light. Well I bought it all, here are some pictures.

Can you tell how nice this fabric is?

Bags of fabric, beautiful colors.

King quilt top

21

Quilt top

These are blocks already done, if you look at my hand you can see how many there are.

 

Now when I got home the bad news was that I could smell cigarette smoke on the fabric. So I began to wash about 40 yds and then got the idea to air it out. So I put it all over the porch. Next day the smell was gone but I put it in the dryer with a wash cloth wet with odor ban on it and dried the fabric on low, the fabric came out very nice smelling, so maybe the smoke isn't that bad. I'm glad I don't have to wash it all, Inez told me they quilt and then wash, so I hate that I already had washed 40 yds before I found that out. So here are pictures of my porch.

FABRIC TO FINISH MOM'S QUILT TOP

It started with me wanting to buy fabric to finish Mom's quilt top (in the center). I bought the two fabrics, on the sides, one peach and one teal (it has pineapples on it). (75% off by the way). And now it has turned into the following:

New fabric at 75% off. I can sew for a long time. I plan on beginning when it starts snowing!

Poly thread for embroidery, I got at a reduced price because thay aren't full.

Rayon for embroidery, it is beautiful and silky . (75% off)

More poly at 75% off. Some wooly nylon for serger .

Serger and coverstitch machines and new sewing table.

  I have been busy organizing my sewing room. Everything is 75% off at a going out of business sale. So I'm stocking up on fabric as it is 2.50 or less a yard. And the first thing I made yesterday was using a recycled shower curtain and turning it into a barber cape. I wonder if I can bring myself to cut my beautiful new fabric!

Next corner, Bernina machine and new fabric (75% off), then Viking machine.  My cutting table (in center) opens up, I let the kids play under it, so I don't step on them. I have shoe strings and beads for them. Notice my pegboard, I have two of them up. I also have zippers hanging to the right of the Bernina, from the mirror I picked up in Georgia. I added gold cup hooks on the bottom.

Buttons, I like the containers. (75% off)

More buttons, that I hung up. And my first machine embroidery piece hanging on the bottom. It is a butterfly and my name.