Favorite Friday on Saturday

I thought the idea of Favorite Friday was a good idea, only I was so tired last night I didn't get it posted.  Also, I was trying to figure out how to watermark a photo.  I figured that, but when it posted on the blog the picture was sideways and I couldn't figure out how to turn it.  It was right on Picnik and where I saved it, but it was just wrong here.  Maybe it had something to do with the size.

Anyway,  one of my favorite things is collecting dishes.  I have had to slow down because of space, but when I found this plate at the Goodwill I couldn't leave it behind.  Several years ago, I bought I dinner plate with this same pattern; this is the small salad or dessert plate.  That's what I enjoy most; choose a pattern and as I am out and about at thrift stores, Goodwill, or flea markets find matching pieces.  It isn't any fun finding the whole set at one place (though that would probably save money in the long run), but finding one or two pieces at a time.  I first started doing this when I found a plate that matched some I remember my grandparents having.  I found a bunch of those then it moved to other patterns.

In my life this week

• At my job this week:  We had Professional Development in the morning and classes with our students in the afternoon.  I have thoroughly enjoyed the time with my coworkers and the workshops have been fairly interesting.
• Places I went:  Greg and I took several evening motorcycle rides because the weather has been so nice.  Tonight, we took it to the car wash and washed and shined the ole girl.
• My favorite thing:  I won two door prizes during our teachers meetings.  One was a gift card to Subway, which I wasted no time in using, and the other was a bag with a jump drive, pens and a note pad.
• I'm reading:  Alexandra Stoddards "Living a Beautiful Life"
• Link: http://www.alexandrastoddard.com/
• I saw:  One of my chickens found a big fat grub worm.  The others came over and were trying to get it from her.  Just like a bunch of kids.
• I cooked:  A big pot of vegetable beef soup and Greg had at least three bowls.  When he finished he told me he was sloshing.
• Grateful for:  Jesus who loves me and is always looking out for me and knows what is best.

I hope you have had a wonderful week, too.

Various Business

Well, I have decided what I will picture at the first of each month. Actually, I have decided on three. They are as follows.

First, my kitchen table. Yes, I am a piler, a clutter bug, but I am organized in my unorganized way. When I walk in the door everything hits the table. I am working on getting better at putting things up when I use them, but this doesn't come naturally. My mother wonders what she did wrong. I hope by taking a picture of my table each month it will motivate me to clean it off and use my table linens more often. I decided to get the picture of how it really looks.

Next, is my desk at school. It looks very good right, but a couple of days ago it looked about as bad as my kitchen table. I have been working all week to get my classroom organized, get filing done and get rid of stuff I don't need. I teach six different classes and have so much stuff that it is difficult keeping it all in order. A student, that I don't normally teach, came in my room today and told me he thought my room was a storage room because of all the boxes and books. That is really sad. I am hoping just as with my kitchen table that taking a monthly picture will help me keep it straight. I am making a rule for myself. I won't take it off my desk just for the picture, unless I put it where it belongs.

The third picture will be of the front of our little house. I will have to take it tomorrow and add it.

I received a nice gift today from my farm friend, Candy at http://lazyjbarcfarm.blogspot.com/. Thank you, it is such a creative gift. It was a pasta themed package. The pasta is homemade. That is another thing on my "Bucket List", making pasta. I look forward to trying it all and would have tonight, but I already had supper cooking in the slow cooker.

Greg is watching the movie "Rambo" and Rambo just crawled through the rat infested cave and all the rats jumped on him and started biting him. It gives me the creeps.

My friend Candy at http://lazyjbarcfarm.blogspot.com/ posted the following and I thought it would be fun to do the same. I don't know how to link it the way she did; I think I need "Blogger for Dummies" or "The Idiots Guide to Blogging". Here it is, Candy said,

"I thought it would be fun to join Jan at Murrieta 365 for her First of
the Month meme. Here are the ground rules per her site: "The goal is to
capture one thing repeatedly on the first of each month. It can be a landscape,
a person, an animal, a project; whatever your focus is, is fine. It can even be
a record of where you are each First of the Month."

I haven't decided yet what I will capture, but I will decide by tomorrow. If I hadn't already started cleaning my classroom and rearranging I would have chosen it. It was a disgraceful mess and I am trying to get it organized and clean.

Bucket List

I was listening to a sermon on the radio the other day and the guy was asking how often we say "I will do that when things in my life slow down." Yet, we live our lives thinking about one day and never accomplish the things we would like to do. After hearing that I told Greg we need to make a bucket list or set some goals so we can accomplish some of the things we have wanted to do. I started mine; two of the things on my list were a beehive and rain barrels. Yesterday, one of my co-workers told me of a backyard beekeeping workshop to be given in a couple of weeks. When I called to register I was told there will be a demonstration after lunch to show how to make rain barrels. Needless to say, I am very excited.

Go green for Christmas

This year we had a "Make, Bake or Retake (regift)" Christmas.  Our budget is rather small, so this was good for us.  I had bought some reusable shopping bags last year when they were on sale for less than a dollar.  On them was a saying about going green.  I took those bags and began to fill them.  Most of the items I had on hand, if I bought anything it only cost a dollar or two. I also included some information I found on the web about aloe vera and making car wash shampoo.  Each family recieved one with the following letter.

Since the colors of Christmas are red and green, we decided this year instead of focusing on red, as in our bank account after buying tons of gifts; we will focus on green, as in going green.  We are not talking about a tree hugger, global warming, Al Gore kind of green, but a responsible living green for the sake of Sean and London and any other grandchildren we might be blessed with in the future.

 To begin with we put the gift in a nice reusable bag.  Here are a few facts about plastic bags:

v Plastic bags aren’t biodegradable. They actually go through a process called photodegradation—breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic particles that contaminate both soil and water, and end up entering the food chain when animals accidentally ingest them.

v According to the Environmental Protection Agency, more than 380 billion plastic bags are used in the United States every year. Of those, approximately 100 billion are plastic shopping bags, which cost retailers about $4 billion annually.

So, with this in mind we have included a reusable sandwich container.

You will also find in your bag a carwash kit with homemade glass cleaner, to save you money, a cloth to use with the glass cleaner instead of using paper towels, and a sponge. I have included a recipe for different car wash shampoos.

Also in the bag is a movie and popcorn, some books, cloth napkins and just for fun, a whisk.  The aloe vera plant can be used for many different things and I have included a list of some of them.

We have been trying to reduce our paper use; the following facts can really make a person think.   

v 700 pounds of paper are consumed by the average American each year.

v The average American uses 18 cubic feet of wood and 749 pounds of paper – equal to a 100-foot tree with an 18 inch trunk – each year.

v Every tree provides oxygen enough for three people to breath.

 I try to buy in bulk as much as possible, there is a lot of waste in the packaging of smaller amounts and it is usually less expensive ounce for ounce to buy in bulk.  I have also been trying to make as many of my own products as possible.  There are so many chemicals in store bought products and organic is usually pretty pricey.

Merry Christmas and we love you,   Greg and Cathy

gifts

Our daughter's birthday is in November.  Years ago I started the tradition of giving her a gift a day for the week before her birthday.  This year I made several of the gifts.  I made two of these coasters out of felt and embroidered them.   I made an apron and hanger covers, but didn't get pictures before I mailed them.