Welcome

It has been a wonderful two days! Planting and working with the dirt. Getting beds ready for the next week and putting baby plants in the ground where they can flourish! Digging, watering, tending, watching.

It is truly wonderful to be a part of growing the food we eat and that our friends eat as well. We have had very productive years in the garden, and very not productive years.  That part is not up to me. It is up to God above if he deems to bless our work here.  Either way, we have enjoyed the process, and intend to share what ever we do get.

It is truly exciting to be able to do this. It feels so good to step back and see a project you labored and sweated over looking so nice. Then even more to see it produce. To watch that baby plant grow from tiny; fight off bugs and sometimes birds, or whatever else will come along.

I think it should be a lesson for us. A life lesson. There are always struggles. Some big, some small. Some shaking us to the core, and some just irritations. We are here as long as God allows. We will continue to grow as long as He gives us breath. And then if it is fitting for us, we will bear fruit.  If we are a child of God it is godly fruit. Fruit of the spirit.

When it is our time to no longer be a part of this life here, we will be gone like a vapor. Like the flowers of the field. Blooming in season then moving on.

 

I challenge you today to grow something. Plant something. Watch it grow. Or just get a beautiful plant from the store. Watch some videos on how to care for it. There are a plethora on youtube of no matter what plant you want to grow.  If you do this, you will get to reap some of the benefits of working the dirt, even if it is the smallest amount.  If you have a yard, I challenge you to more. Do some research, get a few seeds or baby plants and some potting soil. (Some yards are rich enough to not need the extra soil, but some are not.)

Do something today. And be outside in the sunshine!

Have a wonderful day! God bless your efforts. ❤  Happy Gardening!

 

Are you frazzled? Are you overworked? Are you having a hard time finding the time to relax? Is life flowing so fast that you don’t know what direction you are going half of the time?

I have some techniques and tips for you on ways to slow down. Our bodies were not created for the speed we have grown accustomed to. Our current way of life with the rush, rush schedule is taking its toll on our body. We have to be sure to slow down in between if we want to stay healthy.

The first few steps from my book I will include here. First is stretch. Stretching elongates our muscles and helps with circulation. Which in turn impacts how your heart responds to stimuli. Your body will move easier throughout the rest of the day if you start off with a little stretching.

Next is to take a little walk. Once again, our bodies were created to move. We have been laying down and mostly completely still for hopefully enough hours to shut some things down inside. We need to wake our bodies up. A walk gets all the muscles moving and gets our organs awake and functioning properly. In my book, I will go into more detail on each of these.

The next thing I’ll cover here which is one of the simplest ways to slow your mind down is to read something inspirational. Take a passage of scripture and read for a few minutes. This will get your mind on positive things to start our day. Sometimes it will make you think. But it slows down some of the chaos inside. This is so important to your mental, physical and spiritual health.

These steps are actually very easy to do. In my book I cover several more things and specifics on each idea and how to incorporate these into your everyday life. How to make them just part of your habits. DARE TO SLOW DOWN

Take the time today to find ways to slow down. For you, your family and your future. It is so important.

Todays Art was painting. I love to paint and this was todays masterpiece. ( picture coming from another device) Do I really think I have masterpieces? Well, not really. But I love to paint, so why not enjoy the process and the finished product? It is relaxing and when I’ve got the music playing and the paint brush in my hand, I just feel like nothing can happen to distract me.

I am normally such a squirrel with ideas and plans and things that need to be done, that when I paint it slows my mind down. It is a necessary part of my existence. It helps life flow at a pace I can relate to. It keeps my balance. It restarts my soul. I guess you could say.

I’ve only been painting for a few years, but I feel like I’ve always belonged painting. It is so much a part of me now, I don’t know how I ever lived without it.

Do you have a hobby that is like that for you? Or something you have wanted to do that you haven’t jumped into yet? Is there something you connect to that you feel like would complete you? Why not start today?

If it is a matter of money, start small. I think most of population knows what that is like. So just start small. Get some pencils and start drawing, or if it is something completely in a different category. Brainstorm ways you CAN start now. Figure out a way. Even if it is only a little. Get a taste of it. You never know what can happen for you if you try.

It is so worth it when your hobby fulfills a part of you that you can’t explain. Go out and grab your dreams!

Today is the first day it feels like time to be really outside in the spring and summer for yard work. Planting flowers, rearranging garden beds, playing with compost, pulling up and preparing the beds for the flowers to emerge!

Spring has sprung! It did hit 80 degrees today! And it felt amazing! My daughter baked bread while I painted. I cleaned house. Well, she also did her school work first. I am so thankful we home school. It is nice to stop and enjoy the weather and the yard for awhile in the morning if we choose.

My compost looks amazing! I cannot wait till more of the water dries up and it is really time to be working! I may even do that tomorrow, but it is forecasted to rain for another week. So, we will see.

I also have a book on composting. If you would like to check it out. It is an ebook on Amazon Kindle. Just click here. Or go to my link tree here. Then just click on books.

A few years ago, I had a wonderful composting pile. Then I had several. This years pile is probably the smallest I’ve ever had. Having covid in December/January slowed me down quite a bit. I just didn’t put as much effort into it over the winter months. I know it will be okay but hopefully I will have enough for gardening season.

I encourage you to start a compost pile! It is easier than most people make it out to be. It is rewarding, and you have some beautiful dirt to add to your gardens in the spring! If you want to learn all about my easy way, check out my YouTube video as well as the book. All linked in my linktree.

Get outside! Enjoy this beautiful weather! Plant something and watch it grow. Planting your own food and getting to enjoy your harvest is a wonderful feeling. Have a beautiful month of May!

In this day and age we are so spoiled to running to the store for everything. Anything we need, we can find pre-made, pre-packaged, and sometimes individually wrapped for convenience. It is nice for some things, but it is not nice once we go to the store and our particular store is out at the time of what we want.

It’s all good! Make it at home! Crackers is the name of the game today. I love saltines. They go with soup, fish or chicken salad, and many more things. I love them with cream cheese spread. I love them with peanut butter and honey. Well, I decided to try my hand at cracker making. There was a learning curve, but it was definitely fun. My daughter and I made 2 batches each cut in half with different seasoning for each. One batch was whole wheat, and one all-purpose flour only. For the first one we only salted the surface before baking. For the second I used a tablespoon of ranch seasoning. For the whole wheat first batch, my daughter put in cayenne, garlic, and basil; and the second batch she put some honey and cinnamon. We found out that with whole wheat we needed to add more seasoning to get it where we wanted.

The ranch were our favorite flavor out of these that we tried. Even the plain ones were delicious and we enjoyed them with what we had left of our fish and rice. We will be munching on these for this week! I do believe a pasta machine would be a plus for this recipe though. We could not get them all the same thickness, and some of them we just rounded and squished with our hands. Those were good as well.

CRACKERS HOMEMADE
half whole wheat and half all-purpose OR 100% all-purpose
Seasoning (optional)
Oil and water
Mix dough. Divide into 2 balls. Rest 10 minutes.
Roll out into very thin sheets. The thinner the better.
Bake 15 minutes turning at 6 at 400 degrees.
2 C flour
1/4 C Olive oil (we used vegetable oil)
1/2 C water
Experiment with seasonings.

Rough recipe is above. I ended up needing to add a little oil and water each time, probably because I rounded the scoops of flour. So, just measure evenly. But if you don’t it is ok. Just make the dough where you can round it into a ball and it isn’t sticky anymore.

This time with my daughter wouldn’t have been had if we had just bought that box of crackers. It’s such a simple thing. Such a special thing to make things homemade. Easier than you think. I just did a quick search on a couple of recipes. If you found this, you could also research a recipe for anything! Nearly.

Homemade is special. It is worth it. It is fun memories. It is new experiences. Take the leap! Try it. The worst that can happen is you waste some ingredients. (and the has happened to me) but we learned how not to do it when that happened and still got the work together time and fun memories!~ You can too.

Talking about being a distracted squirrel of a person. Throwing spaghetti every time I turn around and hoping! All of that sure makes for a cluttered and messy house! This year and some of last year, I have been decluttering. I have been minimizing to an extent. Getting things out and donated or sold. Mostly donated. We hauled another load out yesterday.

Some of this hoard that I have is things to throw away! Like just collections of papers with notes and craft supplies that have seen their last day. I usually still have some hope for these and try to keep them UNTIL. But lately, I have been doing pretty good at de-hoarding! Sometimes already, yes, I regret it. Like “where is this?” “oh yeah, I got rid of it!” But other than that, it has been all good.

Now today, before 9 am, I am proud of myself! I cleaned off one of my bookshelves, and cleaned out my desk drawers! It is a wonderful feeling to know there is no more trash in a space. That everything is put away in its place. If everything has a place and everything is in it’s place, my space wouldn’t be so messy!

So, todays picture is my desk. It is still dusty, and a little cluttered; but it is cleaned out and off! It feels great! All the tools in one drawer, markers in another. All of the misc paper scraps are in the trash! and all the jewelry making supplies that were out of place are back where they belong. Among other things.

Besides. When you want to find something and it isn’t where it belongs, you waste time looking all over and sometimes can’t find it anyway! If everything is put away, you will be able to more easily find it. I hope this can inspire you to clean out an area today. Just one area is ok. One desk, one night stand, one table area, or one drawer. Making this kind of progress is something we all should be able to experience! It somehow declutters your mind a little when you declutter your living space.

Let me know if you have started this. Or if you are in the middle of this process like I am. I have been watching a couple of ladies on YouTube on minimalism and decluttering. I don’t remember their names. Where are you in this process? or have you just learned about it here? I would love to know.

Have a beautiful day! It is rainy and muggy here, but I intend on having a wonderful day! See you next time.!

Do you ever feel like you’ve tried everything, and nothing is working? Well, I think we do that sometimes. I am apparently ADHD adult and have to do a million things at once. I love it. Don’t get me wrong, but sometimes it makes my life complicated! It also means I have my hand in a million and one ideas at once and don’t put the focus and attention to one or two things. Therefore, none of them get as much attention they need to succeed or grow.

That does not mean it is hopeless. It just means I’m a late bloomer and it took me longer to figure out why! And I probably still don’t have it figured out. I just think I do for now!

Anyway, it is fun. Life is FULL of fun and confusion, challenges, new projects, new ideas, and in this information age, the ideas never slow down. Let alone stop. Sure enough never slow down long enough for me to put all my energy into one thing.

I will always keep trying. Trying to focus. Trying to be successful at something. Everyone sees and says I’m successful at so many things, but I dabble in a million things. Jack of all trades, master of noen.

Well, here I am throwing more spaghetti! Let’s see if something really sticks this time!

For all the late bloomers. Never give up. For all the ADHD adults. Never give up! For all the people who have a million and one ideas. Keep going always! Smile and keep going!

Well, life is crazy. Life is full. Life is fun. And life is sometimes complicated! I have been working my art seriously for about a year now. Really honing my skills. It has been fun, challenging and exciting. I have been consistent with YouTube and Instagram. Redbubble has been a very fun road! I use Viva Video to make all my videos and I still use the free version.

Over this last year I have learned so many budget friendly tricks and I will be sharing as I come to those projects!

Today consisted of taking pictures and posting some of my jewelry. Playing Catan with Katie. Doing 3 loads of laundry. (After realizing all I had were leggins clean for today!🤣) Making dinner. Exercising.

Then learning how to edit my Sketchbook photos for Fine Art America! I’m super excited about extending my versatility to Fine Art America! It feels like a professional step to be taking and I’m excited about it.

I am also super excited about having 18 subscribers now on YouTube! It’s kinda cool. I know my videos are still amateur, but I suppose video skills will improve in time. I appreciate all my subscribers already! And I hope to bring you some crafting fun that you can do as well!

It is time to end the day. Happy Thanksgiving this week! I pray you have a blessed time with loved ones and family and for those who are having it without someone you love, prayers for you and huggs.

Happy Crafting! Sarah Virginia.