Newest Projects - Before!

 This old piano stool before restoration!

Before Restoration!

I found these in an old barn today!

http://www.healthhomehappy.com/2010/09/honey-and-cinnamon-a-simple-cold-home-remedy-that-kids-love.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+HealthHomeAndHappiness+%28Health%2C+Home%2C+and+Happiness%29

Another great tip for that nasty cold!

http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/03/homemade-coconut-milk-shampoo.html

Homemade coconut milk shampoo! I have been using baking soda to wash and apple cidar vinegar to condition, but am excited to try this!!

http://myhealthygreenfamily.com/blog/wordpress/home-made-all-natural-deodorant-with-men-and-womens-fragrances/

Home made Deoderant recipe! This is amazing! another great way to do it natural, and save monet in the long run.

About two years ago when I was pregnant with my Daughter we came to a spot in our lives where we really needed to figure out what to do about finances since I wouldnt be able to work as much and besides that I really feel that it is important to stay at home with my children. I own and operate a construction cleaning business and do fairly well with it, and only have to work part time to accomodate what we need. But it seemed that no matter how much I worked or how well we thought we were doing, we just kept getting further and further behind. This got me looking into it more. turns out we were not living within our means.. YIKES!... and whats worse is that we were doing this for a while, we soon found ourselves in a heap of debt, and nothing really to show for it. I mean, we have our mortgage and what not... but that is not what I consider debt, rather an investment. I am talking about that consumer debt that is comepletely unnessecary.

Since January 2012 My husband and I have devoted ourselves to becoming debt free! I sold my Classic 1969 mustang fastback (tear),  and anything else that would fetch a price, my husband sold some items as well. this made a sizable dent for sure, however; we have a long way to go yet. All of this really got me stressed out and it was very consuming. So I came to a realization... an epiphany really! CUT BACK!!!! Why do I need to spend so much on groceries? I will do it myself!, grow it, raise it, butcher it... whatever it takes. that will help, what about toiletries? I will make those too, and little things like making my own bread, granola bars, etc. what's next... we live 30 minutes from the next big town, so cut back on my trips to town... I was going to town 3 days a week... that adds up quickly! So now I go in once or maybe twice if needed. which also gives me more times for my crafts... which is another thing that has began to generate income (our fun money). Our goal is to be out of debt within a year... so that we can start enjoying our life again without this big elephant in the room!

I believe that we can do it, and that through all of this we will grasp a new understanding for finances, and lifestlye. Because above all else I have already learned that you cannot change your finances without first changing your lifestyle. And in our Western society we have grown accustom to spending money that isnt ours, and desiring the newest cool thing on the market, or FAD shopping, updating our homes or wardobe every season... YIKES!

I truly desire a simple life that is well within our means, which in turn will mean less time stressing about money and enjoying the season of our young family! Life it far too precious to spend it trying to get ahead, when we should really be trying to be here in the moment, and not waste our most precious commodity... LIFE!

The more we can do ourselves, the less we spend having someone else do it for us, the less we spend trying to make money to have everyone else do it for us! Do it yourself, and you won't have to work as hard to pay for it! This is my goal! This is my old fashioned living dream!

Breakfast Pizza

exPress-o: Breakfast Pizza: How is this for breakfast perfection? Toasted Greek pita topped up with creamy mashed avocado , drizzled with a bit of lemon and finished ...

the start!

 My Chickens!!! I love these ladies! and so do my kids, they are a fun and rewarding animal to keep, plus we get HUGE brown organic eggs from them.

 My Greenhouse... well, the start of it, I live in a very small town and they only had 4 pieces of PVC pipe, so i will need to go elsewhere tomorrow and grab some more. I am SO excited to get it finished and start growing!!

My starter plants, I have tomato,marigolds, Dill, Thyme, Parsley, Sage, Lavender, Chives, and summer savory. All of them are organic seeds. (except for the marigold).


This is the begining of my growing adventure!! I have had a small garden in the past, but wasnt really that good to it, I was alot younger with only a newborn and didnt give it the time it deserved. This time around I am very eager, and committed to it!

The mission:
-Grow my own Vegetables/Fruit....and buy from the market what I am not able to grow this year.
-Buy all Red meat from local friends of ours that have an amazing little farm... Sundance fields.
-Do LOTS of fishing!! NO PROBLEM!!! lol
-Do our own chickens for meat... on order soon!
-Learn AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE about sustainable living... because it is important!
-FIRST AND FOREMOST..... ENJOY LIFE!!!!!

Without joy in our hearts we cannot have smiles on our face.... and our smiles spread joy to those around us, and it will spread like wildfire!

So these are my amazing children, Owen will be 3 in June and Katelyn is 18months old!! they are hilarious, and the light of my life! they make me smile EVERYDAY! they also drive me crazy!! but I wouldnt trade them for all the chocolate in Sweden!

First time!

My very first post *tear*. I am extremely new at this, so take it easy people!! I assure you that I will grasp this thing soon enough and it will be epic! My goal is to post my adventures as a mother, and the comedy that my children surround me with daily... like for example yesterday while at the park, I was standing near the slide while my son Owen went down for his 38th time, when all of a sudden a stream went flowing by my head... yes.. it was pee! he decided it would be a great idea to relieve himself right there and then. OH WELL! when you gotta go your gotta go, luckily it was one of those parks with the gravel... just kick rocks over it and it's like it never happened! haha.

I will also be posting about my attempts at making all of my own toiletries, growing my own food and shopping locally and supporting the true economy of my neighbors! I am quite passionate about that and believe that it is the best way to live, especially with all of the processed food in our homes today, it is suspicious to me that since big corporations have taken over our disease and cancer rates have gone sky high. and the unsuspecting people are told that it is government regulated so don't doubt it's integrity... well I DO!! and have chosen to control what goes into my famlies stomach!  The older I get the more I become... dare I say "like my mother" lol. She has always been disgruntled with the government and their shady ways... and now I have grown to posess her scepticism. rightfully so!!

So her is my first of probably way too many posts to come! I hope you all enjoy!


Nikki