Thanksgiving

Today, while being our first Thanksgiving in our "new to us" Georgia home, has been a little surreal for all of us.  The challenges of a larger dinner is one that needs some planning ahead, organization, and usually purchasing things ahead to ensure you have all of your ingredients on hand.  This year has been much the same, but different.

In years past, we have always purchased the largest turkey we can find so we can enjoy leftovers for a while.  This year I started by getting a smaller turkey because we have a smaller wall oven instead of a full size free standing oven.  Then we found a discount store with some pretty good prices, so my husband said we could handle a larger turkey--in one of the large roasters that we have.  I couldn't resist telling him, "Only if you do NOT peak!"  LOL  He has this habit of wanting to peek at "Tom" while he's cooking.  I time it so that Tom is done and there is no need for peeking.  LOL  So, we took Tom out of his frozen lair on Sunday in preparation for his grand appearance as "Guest of Honor" today.

As with every other holiday for every other year, the planning continued.  There was just one thing that was thrown in to the mix.  In October, just a day or so after my "intake" appointment at my new Dr's office, I decided to begin (again) Trim Healthy Mama (THM) lifestyle program in earnest.  I just felt so "icky" for the past year and needed to do something for myself to feel better.  I was having some serious anemia, surgery, then moving, living in a motel for almost a whole week and getting settled, and still getting settled.  But, it was time.  I knew it.  It was confirmed a week later after my results came back with an enlarged heart, higher triglycerides (doubled from the time before), and fasting blood sugar that was the highest it has ever been in spite of my A1C only rising just a smidge.  By the time I received the results, I had already lost 5 pounds, so it is all good!

All that said, I started looking at Thanksgiving thinking, loathing in some cases, the foods that inevitably would be made for my family.  Don't get me wrong, I love baking.  I love making things for my family.  However, knowing that both my husband and I (and possibly 2 of our 3 kids) would need to drop some weight, I needed to be the one to take action.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make home made marshmallows, or the pecan custard pie that I wanted to make.  BUT!  I will be ordering those ingredients soon and I'll be able to make those things for my family without a worry or concern about their health.

As I planned, I consulted my husband with each dish I wanted to make.  He specifically asked for mashed potatoes and promised that he wouldn't go crazy because he likes my mashed potatoes.  I started preparing the cheese bread THM style on Monday.

 I made a double batch and added thyme, sage, and a smidge of garlic powder because we like garlic.  I didn't have room in my refrigerator for it, so I put it in the freezer until last night.  I took it out, dried it in the oven a little more, added sausage, onion, celery, butter, chicken broth, sage, thyme, salt, pepper, and (that's right!) garlic.  Tom was thoroughly stuffed with the mixture and it was good!  It was satisfying and filling!   My hubby put him in his honorary roaster and while he was gone, I added a loving note on the tin foil, "No Peaking!" just for him.  LOL  He honored my loving request and when it was time to unearth Tom, he was "popped", moist and yummy.  :)  

While Tom got happy and yummy in the roaster, I made 2 pumpkin pies that were THM recipes.  After I put them in the oven and did some clean up, I gave the job of peeling and boiling the sweet potatoes to my youngest, the green bean casserole to my daughter, and the peeling and boiling of the white potatoes to my oldest.  While all of that was happening, I started smelling some smoke.  "HOLY MOLY Bat man!"  I went in to the kitchen, opened the oven and out it rolled!  I was thinking my THM pies were "toast", but I took them out and finished baking them in the toaster oven for the remainder of their time.  In the mean time, everyone got the fans in the windows to pull the smoke out.  I thought to myself, "I sure hope the neighbors don't call 911 when they see the smoke rolling out the window!  Wow!"   So, we spent some time out in the sun on the back porch while the house cleared out and just looked around, talked, and enjoyed the 72 degree day in shorts and tank tops.  (Go figure!)

When we sat down to dinner, I sat there quietly hoping that everyone would like the wee bit of the change made.  It wasn't a major change, just one that took out 2 more insulin spiking carbs and replace them with healthy satisfying fats.  I think it was a success.  I think the pumpkin pies, next time I'm going to add the same amount of spices from the Amish cookbook that we have in lieu of the one we used.  We like flavor, so those spices were missed, in my opinion, at least for me.

What would I like to do next year?  I want to make my own cranberry sauce.  I'd like to do that without sugar, and a bunch of other pies as well as making "Radish Toes" instead of potatoes.  :D  I'll have to experiment.  :)

Now we begin looking forward to celebrating the Christmas Season.  I love Christmas.  It is my favorite season.  I love decorating, baking, having friends over, caroling, singing in church, looking at Christmas lights with my hubby and kids, watching old Christmas movies, and some new.  I love "Silent Night", I love tradition, candle lighting and everything else.  I do not like, however, the commercialization of this most precious and holy time of year.  I do not participate in the commercialization--Black Friday or Cyber Monday.  I just get simple gifts for my family.  We do not go to extravagance which we do not think the celebration is all about, but about the ultimate love of a Holy God who came down to live among us.  In trying to keep things simple, we do not go to malls and stay away from stores as much as possible around those peak hours where people will be there to Christmas shop.  We shop to get needs taken care of.

Ok, enough of my soap box....

How was your Thanksgiving?  Did you do anything different this year?  Did you serve the same traditional things your family has served in years past?

God Bless,

Organizing Continued

Organizing continues throughout the house.  Please forgive me for this disjointed post, but it shows some goofyness, some pets, some school work, some of my guys and my lovely daughter, boxes (still) and just trying to get things put away and in place.  

I have my calendar connected to my phone.  It is a wonderful tool to help remind me to unpack and find homes for things, appointments, when I need to leave for certain things, and other important things in my life.  I love using this tool!  It is becoming very close to my right arm!

...taking a break from organizing...

For your viewing pleasure...yes, we're goofy!  I noticed my husband and my oldest son had blue jeans and orange shirts on the other day...by sheer accident.  I called them in and asked to take their pictures in a "Like Father Like Son" sort of thing. It was fun!

They dressed alike and didn't realize it.

...back to organizing...

Organizing continues in the dining room.  I have my dry erase board and calendar up right where everyone can see it.  The bulletin board, however, needs to have a couple screws put in the concrete wall.  My youngest wasn't too sure about doing that since Daddy wasn't home.  He wanted to be sure Daddy was ok with it.

We continue to work on streamlining daily chores to keep things running smoothly.  I'd love to do so many different things to this room and have tons of stuff on my amazon and ebay "wish lists" to purchase in the future.

My dining room in the morning light.  I just have a little more to do and it will be finished unpacking.  The work, however, will continue.  LOL

"Bunny Trail"....or organizing pet care during traveling or moving...

Gus was interesting bringing down to Georgia.  The vet suggested giving him 10mgs of Melatonin while we drive each day to help calm him until we arrived at each destination.  It worked well to settle him a bit, but a lot of the time he spent in the kids' laps snuggling, or like you see him pictured here.  We purposely planned to break up the trip in to 2 days so the dogs would get a break from traveling.  Rustie, Biscuit, & Pickles traveled well.  They just curled up and slept.  Gus was a little more of a challenge because it seemed like he either couldn't get comfortable, or sensed a change was happening and was just restless.

My precious daughter holding Gus on the way to pick up my youngest son from a Civil Air Patrol function.

...moving on to the house...

 I'm trying to let these colors (3rd one down on all 3) grow on my husband.  I know that eventually whatever color I choose, it will look nice.  I have ideas!  :)

Different colors I'm considering in the living room--3rd color down from the top.

 This is the biggest wall in our living room.  It is drab and very dull looking.  I really want to brighten it up with some color, add a nice clock and some other things I find.  :)  Yes, there are still boxes in here.  I'm trying to stay "hands off" with those because I've left it up to the kids to take care of.  Here in the next week I'm going to get them moving.  It's been long enough.  :D

The large long wall I get to decorate, the wall opposite of this wall is almost completely one full huge window.

 Mr. Pickles has enjoyed our new house.  We found him a kitty condo and he loves eating at the top because the dogs cannot get to him.  He also likes his morning cream in a tiny dish while I make coffee.  He's found that visiting people while they're doing their daily work most often ends up with him perched on a table on top of a piece of paper or inside a box or something that inevitably needs cleaning.  LOL  He likes sitting on top of boxes.  I'm hoping to eradicate the boxes from the house very soon so that he won't have anywhere to sit, but on the chairs he's supposed to be on!  LOL

Pickles decided to come see my youngest while he wrote his memory verse of the day. 

 The living room is getting cleared and a wee bit of decorating done.  I received some birthday money from my in-laws and bought the "G", plaque and candles on the mantle.  My hubby thought I was funny getting the "G" as a deer antler.  I don't want everything to be done completely with a feminine touch, but one of masculine and feminine combined.  I have a bit of my floral and lace here and there, but not much.  I'd prefer to blend the two.  Besides, my husband and sons live here too!

The boxes are dwindling, now it's getting difficult figuring out where to put things.  I know we'll need more bookshelves!  That's a given. The piles of boxes directly behind the lamp is all books!

 I'm excited to have a place for all of my fabric and crafting supplies!  Outside this picture to my extreme right, almost behind me is a table where I plan to cut fabrics and lay out patterns.  I can sit and do delicate, tedious quilting cuts or large scale work.

To the left is my office supply shelf.  To the left of that is filing cabinet drawers and my L shaped desk that I'm clearing off and filing all the papers that everyone seems to have found upon unpacking.  I thought I had everything filed or thrown out, but not so!  Just a bit more to go and it will be done.  I'm not allowing myself to do any crafting (except knitting) until this is done.

I know where all of my fabric and patterns are!  Hooray!

To the left of the above picture, just add the book shelf where the boxes are to the right.

While I organize and put things in their place here in Georgia, I'm finding that a lot of things are different than I had them in Pennsylvania.  I love the above "L" shaped desk that we bought to hold files, the printer, my sewing machine and my sewing notions.  I love the space here.  I love how large our bedroom is.  I was telling my Mother-in-law that I think it is the largest bedroom we've ever had in our married lives.  Of course there are lots of things that still need to find their place.  Yes, there are some things I'd like to give away, but all in due time.  I cannot do everything all at once.  My goal is to unpack AND put away 4 boxes per day.  However, while unpacking, the house needs cleaned, concepts reviewed and retaught in some cases, and life still needs to move forward.  Appointments need to be driven to, classes and functions need to be attended, new friendships need to be nourished, and I need to spend more time with my husband.  With all of this busy time, we need to purposefully set aside time to spend together.  I'd love to snap my fingers and have everything done to my liking, but realistically that takes time and money.  We're doing things debt free, so the changes we make will take time, as money becomes available. Until it is done, we wait, sometimes not so patiently, but in those times God is growing our patience and showing our young folks how to wait for things until the money is available.  The fruit will show itself in due time!

God Bless,

That's me trying to get a picture without glare!  LOL  I'm goofy too!  LOL

Culture Shock or Culture Love?

Moving on from Pennsylvania has been interesting.  Our main reasons for moving south were to be closer to my husband's family, to get better health care for our son, to get out of debt faster, and to allow my husband to get out of the career mindset he was in while working in the PA state corrections system.  These reasons have not only brought thankfulness, but also challenges of their own.

Currently, we live a few hours from my husband's parents and brother.  We haven't had a chance to go see them yet with 4 animals needing to stay here with a house sitter.  We haven't found a house sitter yet.  We're hoping to find one soon so that we can go down to see them soon.  It has been too long!

Health care for our son has been met with the challenge of a Dr. who is only in our area 3 times per month.  If we needed anything, like a signature for a pre-authorization for medication, we'd have to wait until he came back in to town, otherwise he's unreachable.  Ugh!  So, we're switching Dr's to one that is more reachable.  The advent of more technologically advanced practices down here has been an eye opener.  Some of the Dr's in this practice do a type of Tele-conferencing where you just show up to the office for your appointment and sit in front of a computer screen with the Dr in their office--where ever that may be, and have your appointment with them.  Definitely an interesting change from Pennsylvania!   Fortunately, he is getting the care he needs and we're able to move on and get him in to a program for vocational training.

Originally, our prayer was to be able to buy a house outright, without debt.  But, after looking at countless houses, including foreclosures and HUD homes, we decided that a small mortgage with a 10 year loan from a local bank was the best way to go.  We tried larger banks, but for the small amount we needed, they would not lend to us.  They would not be making much money off our loan, so they would not lend to us.  Go figure!  So, here we are with a modest loan from a local bank, getting ready to pay extra on the principle balance to pay it off early--5 years instead of 10.  Will broach the "why" at a later time.

Our current house has been dropped in our laps, filling our needs quite nicely and many of our wants, in a very quiet little town with a quaint blow of a train whistle about 1/2 mile away a few times a day and once at night (confirmed by my daughter since she hears it at night from her bedroom).  LOL  The challenge, as I'm sure you may have read or heard from me has been that this house, while fitting our needs, has needed quite a bit of work.  The cockroach infestation has been mostly controlled, but we had to wait for a bit to put the kitchen items away for a good 2 weeks, sometimes longer in some cases, due to the infestation.  There is a cupboard that I won't use to this day because when I open it and clean the dead roaches, there inevitably is more once I open it again.  They are getting in from somewhere, but due to the spray my husband put down, they die within a foot or so of being inside the cupboard.  So, I clean them up every so often.  They don't get any further than that, fortunately.

Another issue has been ants!  Not carpenter ants, but the little bitty brown ants.  They've come up through the smallest of holes and gone after the dog food.  One morning Gus was barking at his dish and upon further investigation, the dish had ants marching in it and continuing to it from a tiny crack where the floor met the wall!!!  We had a good laugh, pitched the food, cleaned the dish and within minutes, he had more food and it was relocated.  Another incident with ants inside the house was on the "clean" dishes on the counter.  We followed the trail and found that they had gotten in where the addition meets the main house.  It only takes a small pinhole for these things to get in and they came up through the grout in the kitchen and made a trail to a wooden spoon that was just barely wet from being washed the night before.  Once again, my husband sprayed and they're all contained.  More ants though!  In the vehicles has been the roughest area.  They get in to the engine after the sweet smelling antifreeze, then make their way in to the main part of the vehicle.  If you don't stay on top of things, getting all the trash and wrappers out from a Mega shopping trip, then the next day you have a stream of ants forming a line to some small crumb laying on the floor.  Whew!

Lastly, my husband has been retired from corrections for 6 months now, thankfully.  His spirit is more at ease now.  He is much more relaxed and content.  He now has a new name that the locals gave him, "Mr. C____ from Pennsylvania."  He beamed when he told me.  He is no longer identifying himself in the former job he had, which I will not repeat the name he dubbed of himself which is very demeaning to himself.  He is such a visionary man.  He is a leader when leadership is called for, otherwise he is a Mr. Steady, going with the flow.  These have always been a part of his nature outside of corrections, he just didn't see it.  He was saved on December 30th, 2012 and now he's able to relax, away from the corrections environment, and allow the Holy Spirit to grow him.

As we have met people and talked with them about our lives, they've asked us, "What brings you to Southwestern Georgia?  Work?"  We say, "No, God  brought us here!"  That small statement has opened up so many wonderful conversations about God's work in our lives and His goodness toward us.  What a balm to our soul to find that just about every person we come across has enjoyed hearing about God's work in bringing us here.

We will become members of Sherwood Baptist Church on December 6th.  We have found our church home and look forward to being stretched and challenged by THE Word of God in a hope to continue becoming more like Jesus.  The pruning of our hearts and minds are about to begin.  Yes, pruning hurts, but we truly believe the Lord has brought us here to this point in our lives.  Because of that, our willingness to lay down our "self" and willingly submit to His loving pruning should be cause for celebration.  Thank God for His loving kindness!

In Christ,

Pictures Updated as Promised

With my last post in mind of all the things we've accomplished, I give you these pictures to show you what we've accomplished.



Starting with our bedroom~

When we first moved in and got our bed and dressers in place this is what the room looked like.  It looks a little different now with the rest of our bedroom brought down here.

This is the hallway from the sitting room to our bedroom.  The baby gate is so that Gus would leave Rustie alone.  Our bathroom is to the extreme right and Rustie likes laying on the floor in there.

Our Bathroom~

Where you see the baskets straight ahead, I have a wicker shelf where I'm going to put those baskets to store small things that I get with coupons that belong in the bathroom.  I have so much storage in this bathroom already, but I could just see my wicker shelf right in that spot.

My walk-in bath tub complete with a container of Epsom Salt and my essential oils in the baskets.

The other side of the bathroom.  I love baskets and I love my essential oils.

Sitting Room~

My hubby working on the floor in the office/sitting room.  It turned out beautiful!  My youngest son has been helping by cutting pieces, doing the up and down, running out to the garage to cut pieces.  :0) 

Office~

The sitting room above is the office now!  This is the change that has taken place!  I love the flooring!  I can't wait until the rest of the house gets done!  :)

Kids' Rooms~Coming soon!



Living Room~(I'll get a better one soon.  I have a few things to take care of in there.)

This is one picture taking looking from the dining room to the living room.  It's the only one I had right now, but it is coming right along.  I'll get more pictures of that room when it has more work done in it.

Kitchen~

  

My kitchen is coming along.  I've added a little color here and there so far.  I'm patiently waiting for the rest of our things to come down from PA so I can put all of my serving platters and odds and ends away.  Then I can get rid of the boxes and bins behind me and to the left in this picture.

Finally!  The boxes are off the counter and all of my things are here in Georgia!  This is my kitchen right now.  My goal for this room is to use as much color in the things I use as possible since everything is white.  Just to give you a wee bit of a "tour", to the mid-left is my sink.  Above my sink is a pass-through to the sun room.  In the far corner is my Bosche mixer, all my sprays and oils, as well as my home made Trim Healthy Mama blend and oat flour.  Where you see the aqua blue frying pan is a flat top stove, then to the right of that is my Trim Healthy Mama cookbook.  The floor to ceiling cupboards to the right is where we store bulk foods, our dishes, baking dishes, plastic items, and other condiments and so forth.  Beside the refrigerator out of sight except for the little bit of white sticking out is a little counter top.  As I've been unpacking, I've found extra plates and bowls that I don't know what to do with, so they're sitting there until I figure out what to do.  LOL

Dining Room~in mid-October

As promised, these are the updated pictures of the house.  The dining room has the rest of my things in it and less boxes.  I just wanted to get the pictures up for all to see.  :)    I figured I'd better get pictures up for everyone to see so that everyone can see how our house is coming along.

The living room needs an overhaul of sorts.  The flooring is still bare concrete.  My hubby found 2 beautiful braided rugs at the yard sale next door a couple weeks ago, so we bought them to put in the dining and living rooms.  I know what once the flooring gets done, with the rug in here, it will give the room a homier look.  I would like to pain the walls and yes, a couple different colors, but at this point in time, I'm not sure what to do.  I can do the more rustic look, but for crown moulding I'm at a loss.  I've been watching "Fixer Upper" with Chip and Joanna Gains to get some ideas.  I just really don't know about mixing the rustic with the formal--ie: crown moulding with a distressed rustic look on the walls and a few antique end tables and coffee table.  Right now it is a hodge podge of colors and textures.  I would like to paint before we do the floor and put things on the walls.  I'd love to do that in the next couple of weeks, but I have a feeling we'll need to wait till after the new year to get it done.  I do know that we want to replace the windows in the house, so I may wait to do anything in there until we get the windows replaced.

For now, I'll let it grow on me until I decide what to do.

Until next time,