Simple Fall Pleasures

 Fall is definitely one of my favorite times of the year.  I love to see all the beautiful colors that the Lord uses to make this season special.  The leaves turning, the crispness in the air, the feeling one gets when curling up in a warm blanket and sipping on some homemade hot chocolate.  Ah, how warm and cozy it all feels.  There's nothing like getting under a homemade afghan on a cool night with little children on either side of me and reading them their favorite books. 

Here are a few glimpses of autumn inside our home.  The older I get, the more I like praticality mixed with beauty in my decorating.  Some of the items that bring me the greatest feeling of home is seeing food beautifully displayed.  It is useable and beautiful.  The top of my buffet holds three Montana hocking jars with two types of sucanat and onewith beans.  I put simple, inexpensive coffee mugs in each to scoop out the goodies inside when I need them and to look nice when I do not.

I added a simple fall garland and small gourds, pumpkins and squash I picked up from the commissary.

Here it is from a distance flanked by lamps ridiculously cheap at a store that was going out of business and an oil painting that I paid about one-fourth of the original price by getting it on craigslist! 

I like white lights at night.  They make me smile.  So, I keep up this small fir tree year round and change out the decorations for different seasons.  These were fall picks purchased at Hobby Lobby for 50% off. The things I like the most in my home are the ones I waited to purchase frugally.  Here's wishing you a beautiful fall season!  May you grow closer to Him as you appreciate more and more the beauty He has placed all around you!

Spring Cleaning and New Discovery

For those of you that don't already know this, we rent the home where we are currently living.  When we moved in to this house, there were many things that caused us to choose this home for the family.  It has a beautiful fenced backyard.  It is in a safe and established neighborhood in the city.  It is convenient to most everything.  The neighborhood is very quiet and peaceful, and it is just a little under 2 miles from my mother's house.  However, there were some issues about the home that were not so pleasant.  This picture above is one of them.  The house is older, so it desperately needs some work and updating in many areas.  The bathrooms are a prime example.

I had tried and tried to scrub this grout when cleaning the floor before.  We try to stay clear of toxic cleaners, but I even brought out the big guns...BLEACH!  I poured it on, left it to get squeaky clean, came back and scrubbed and still this is what I was left to see.  I since have found a miraculous solution for cleaning grout.  Would you believe...baking soda, water and a good hard toothbrush?  The next picture shows the difference with a small section that I cleaned this way.  So, if you have some problems with grout looking dingy...try the baking soda solution. Make yourself a paste, put in on the area you wish to clean and scrub away.  If you still have some problems, try mixing the baking soda with vinegar as well as the water.  This should also help get rid of the mildew that tends to build-up.  But watch out...vinegar and baking soda really bubble up.  In fact, we used that same combination to simulate a volcano for science!!  So, go sparingly on the vinegar until you get the right combination.

Ah, it looks like a new floor doesn't it?  And what a relief to know it can be done beautifully with a natural, non-toxic cleaner.  So, in a way, I am getting my new bathroom after all!  God bless, until next time!

Harvest Time

Things continue to be extremely busy here in the Fowler home...therefore, my sporadic postings on the blog. And, it doesn't look like it's going to be much better in the near future. What with the summer months getting underway and farmers advertising their local produce, we are beginning to take advantage of the harvest and starting to store up produce for the winter months. Friday morning my mother and I, along with the five children in tow, drove to a farm about 30 minutes away and picked up 12 dozen ears of corn. My mom took 6 and I took six. We spent the rest of the day, shucking the corn...as you can see this large black trash bag full of corn!

Here is our little Julia trying to shuck her first ear of corn! Most of the silks and husks managed to get on the floor!

Once that was done, it was time to look the corn over, cut off any bad parts...oh and we can't forget squashing all the worms we found along the way! (The kids really liked that one!) Then it was a time consuming job of getting as many silks out of the ears as possible. Once that was done, each ear was washed.

Then placed in the two pots going non-stop to blanch them. Once they were blanched, I cut them off the ears with a knife and then ran the knife down the cob to get as much of the juice as possible. Last step, put them in a ziplock freezer bag and into the freezer to enjoy in winter. This next week we have field peas to pick, shell and freeze and we are also headed to the blueberry farm for picking fun.

So, if my posts are sporadic for a while...you will understand why! I did want to tell you all that today marks week number 11 for dh and Daddy being gone. It doesn't get any easier as time goes on...I am just learning more and more to rest in Him who is my only consolation.

I want to leave you all with a wonderful prayer. It is entitled, "The Valley of Vision," taken from a book by that title of some of the great Puritan prayers. It reminds me that even in this valley of separation...He is and will always be our vision.

"Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly, Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision, where I live in the depths but see Thee in the heights; hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold Thy glory. Let me learn by paradox that the way down is the way up, that to be low is to be high, that the broken heart is the healed heart, that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit, that the repenting soul is the victorious soul, that to have nothing is to possess all, that to bear the cross is to wear the crown, that to give is to receive, that the valley is the place of vision. Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells, and the deeper the wells the brighter Thy stars shine; let me find Thy light in my darkness, Thy life in my death, Thy joy in my sorrow, Thy grace in my sin, Thy riches in my poverty, Thy glory in my valley."

More Thoughts on Simple Living

We try to honor Sunday worship by doing as little as possible and using it as a day of rest and worship as we believe God intended. That is why there are no posts on my blog anymore on Sundays. In fact, we have chosen to not even turn the computer on during the Lord's day. It is so easy to get caught up reading, searching, working, that the temptation is just too great and we feel it is more honoring to just keep it off during this time, rather than losing the focus of what God intended this day to be. We often find ourselves in different parts of the great room looking at books we don't get to peruse other days of the week. Everyone in the family enjoys this! We are definitely a book family! I happened to pick up a book about child training that I hadn't read in a while an came across this paragraph. The quote is from Jacob Abbott and well worth meditating on for a while. The following material was written back in the 1800's.
"If your aim is happiness, reduce your style of living and your responsibilities of business to such a point that you shall easily be able to reach it. Do this, I say, at all costs. If you cannot have money enough for your purposes, in a house with two rooms, take a house with one. For there is such a thing as happiness in a single room, with plain furniture and simple fare (food); but there is no such thing as happiness, with responsibilities which cannot be met and debts increasing, without any prospect of their discharge. If your object is power, the credit of belonging to good society, or the most rapid accumulation of property, and you are willing to sacrifice happiness for it, I might perhaps give you different advice. But if your object is happiness, then this is the only way."
What a great thought! It is so easy to look at the things others have...the newest this or that...to compare what we have with them...but does that really matter in the end? There are not too many people on their deathbeds wishing they had a little more time to get the latest gadget...but rather realizing that all that materialism kept them from the things that were most important. So, if you decide to downsize, reorganize, simplify...whatever you wish to call it...do so with the purpose that your time and monies that you save taking care of all those things will now be spent on a more eternal value.

The Battle of "Stuff"

When Jonathan and I started feeling as though the Lord was calling us to a more "simple life" we began talking (and still are, by the way) about ways in which we could begin to make those changes now. Our long range dream is to have a mini-farm: to be able to grow most of our own food, to have a cow to get our raw milk, butter and cheeses, to grow less and less dependent on stores and their stocked shelves for our needs. But what kinds of changes can we make now? In our urban lifestyle, a Jersey cow is definitely out of the picture. :) But, there are ways that we can become less and less dependent on things...and one of those is battling the war on "stuff!" Isn't it amazing how many things one family can accumulate? How much do we really need? How much of our perceived happiness is tied to these things? In Philippians 4:11 Paul says, "Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content." I like the fact that Paul used the word "learned." That is what I am doing too...learning to be content. How easy is it to stroll through stores (craft stores for me especially!) and see all those new things that line the shelves and start your mental wishlist! Then, when the next season rolls around, those things you bought last season all of a sudden look dull and unattractive up against all the "new things" that have come out this season! How many clothes does one need? How many decorations? What about all the latest tools for your favorite crafting hobby? I wonder how people managed years ago and made such beautiful things without the latest die cut machine. Am I saying all these things are bad? No, but I am saying at some point, it is wise to take stock of our motives and realize if our momentary "contentment" is tied to these material things. Living a simple life to us begins with getting rid of excess. Scaling down means freedom. Although many things we have may bring us temporary satisfaction...the more things you have, the more time it consumes just managing them all...whether that means dusting, organizing, or storing. Then, secondly, beginning to live the simple life means taking stock on what you need and asking the hard questions about future purchases. Do I really need this? Can something I already have serve the same purpose? Can this be paid for in full now? Will it put a strain on my budget? How often do we just take a look at God's creation, the sky, a gentle breeze, a sparrow in a tree, the variety of colors and designs among God's flowers, and realize nothing is more beautiful than these? How it must grieve the heart of God to see us hurrying constantly from here to there with our list of things to get and do...filling up our days with things that often amount to nothing in the end. So, next time you are outside, stop a minute...take a deep breath and look around to see all the wonder God has given to us in the form of His creation. That is a great first step along the road to living simply.