Personal Goals for 2009

1. Daily Bible Reading - I did very poorly with this one in 2008, I'm ashamed to say. I found a Read-Through-the-Bible-in-a-Year schedule online that I printed out and put in my Planner. It has an OT and NT reading plus Psalms and Proverbs every day.

2. Happy Homemaker - I'm going to work diligently at finding joy and fun in all my daily tasks. Cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, frugal living, and being a mommy.

3. Healthy Living - Less junk/fast food. More whole grains and healthy snacks . Daily vitamins for all three of us.

God Bless,

ERIN =)

DGD's Birthday Present

I turned the big THREE ZERO on September 13. Mr. K offered to send me away for a "girl's weekend" and that sounded just perfect to me. I made plans to visit my dear friend Sue who had moved to Maryland this summer. She took me to an absolutely, lovely quilt shop in Hagerstown, MD that is run by the nicest Mennonite family. Would you like to see what came home with me?



















Such beautiful fabric! Sue has an excellent sense of color.













These lovely fabrics will turn into this quilt. It's going to be my big project for 2009. I promise to post lots and lots of progress pictures. =)

















God Bless,

ERIN

Fresh from the Het Schaapje Dye Pot

Do you remember that I used to dye yarn to sell? It's been a REEEEEEEEEEEALLY long time since I've done any ... February to be exact. I've been hashing over and over in my mind what I want to do when Abigail starts Kindergarten next September. Well, I've decided. Het Schaapje is rising from the completely exhausted dye pot and is simmering away. I re-vamped my business plan and have a really strong focus that I think will make my small business very successful. Here are a few pictures of this week's labors:








Like what you see? There's more ... just click over to www.hyenacart.com/hetschaapje.com.

God Bless,

ERIN

'Tis the Season for Gift-Giving

I love to make presents! Christmas. Birthday. Baby Showers. Wedding Showers. It's a tradition I started when we first got married and it really melds well with my artsy-crafty-frugal personality.

I've come up with the acronym S.S.G. which stands for Standard Seasonal Gift. It makes planning my hand-made gifts much easier.

If I am invited to a Baby Shower, my S.S.G is either a 30 inch X 30 inch baby quilt OR a small basket with a hand-knit hat, a set of hand-made flannel burp clothes, and Carter onsies.

If I am invited to a Wedding Shower, my S.S.G is a bucket with natural cleaning products, several hand-knit dishcloths, and a basic Homemaker's Journal.

Birthday S.S.G.'s are relatively new but has been spurred on by my new obsession ... knitting socks! In my opinion they are the perfect birthday present. Over the next 5 years I'd like to make sure everyone in my family gets a pair on their special day. =)

Christmas S.S.G.'s are big as I would loose my sanity without them. Every year I start a little earlier working on them with the hopes of finishing them all before Thanksgiving, but it never happens! I'm going to take a chance and share what I'm making this year. Hopefully no one in my family reads my blog too carefully. =)

Teacher Gifts ... Hand-knit washcloth and home-made soap (made by my Dear Sister).
Parent Gifts ... Hand-knit string bags (think groceries).
Family Gifts ... Family Night Gift Box (homemade canned pizza sauce, homemade pizza dough mix, a couple bags of popcorn, homemade cookie mix, and a $5 GC to Blockbuster).

If you decide to adopt a similar gift-giving system, I'd love to hear about it.

God Bless,

ERIN

It's hard to get back in the Saddle!

I promised you all that I'd start blogging when Abigail started school and that's been over 4 weeks ago. Honestly, I really do want to get the posts flowing again. =) Please bear with me . . . I've been knitting like a crazy woman and have lots of finished projects to share with you all.

God Bless,

ERIN =)

Hello My Friends =)

I'm enjoying the summer with my Abigail. We made three trips to visit my sister Sarah in New York with each trip lasting almost a week. We made our yearly summer trip to Michigan to visit family and friends. I've been cooking a good bit and Mr. K is loving it. I bought a pressure canner and I did a couple "practice" runs before applesauce season arrives. I started working on knitted Christmas presents. Abigail and I are listening to the Anne of Green Gables series on CD and loving it immensely. Once Abigail starts pre-k (September 10th), I will start blogging more. Thank you for all the kind comments you have left this summer.

God Bless,

ERIN =)

Motivational Apron Wearing

Last week I started wearing an apron while I did my morning chores. It's amazing how one small article of clothing helps me get so much more done. =) Seriously! It's just a little after 10am EST and this is what I've done this morning already:

• Washed bath towels and hung out on clothesline
• Washed dishes and stacked up to air dry
• Open up windows to air out house
  
• Cooked batch of spaghetti sauce, packaged, labeled and in freezer
• In the process of baking a batch of triple chocolate chip cookies
• Made breakfast for Abigail and myself
• Checked Email, Bloglines and MDC forums
• Called friend from church about her father's surgery outcome

I highly recommend you hunt down an apron be it from a grandma, mother-in-law or thrift store (like mine) and give apron-wearing a whirl!

God Bless,

ERIN =)

Weekly Meal Plan ~ June 30th - July 6th

Monday - Black Bean, Chicken and Corn Quessedillas

Tuesday - Brats & Oven Potatoes

Wednesday - Spaghetti Casserole

Thursday - Ham and Cheese Stromboli

Friday - Dinner with friends to celebrate Independence Day

Saturday - Egg and Bacon McMuffins

Sunday - Homemade Pizza

This week I'm trying to make many meals from scratch using ingredients from my freezer and pantry. I want to go in this direction with all my meals but think it's best to do it in little steps and with simple recipes.

God Bless,

ERIN =)