Adventures in Laundry

Last week, my dryer broke. Now, if it had been during the Spring, Summer, or Fall, that would have been ok, because I have a (somewhat small) clothesline. BUT, it's in the middle of winter. I decided to try the clothesline anyway.....

.... and by the time I had these few things hung up, they were already frozen stiff! And so were my fingers! :-) I WILL say that even when your laundry hangs on a line in single digit weather for roughly 24 hours, and gets frozen solid, and THEN you bring it in and hang it from your ceiling fan (which is turned on), EVEN after ALL that, it still smells good, like laundry hung out on a sunny summer day to be dried in the fresh air. :-)  

 I WISH I'd taken pictures of our laundry spinning slowly around on our bedroom ceiling fan, but I didn't. It was pretty funny, and more than once it scared me when I glanced down the hallway and saw movement where there usually isn't any. ;-) 

 The point of this post, however, is just to say that God is good, and blesses us with even the unimportant things at times. Our landlord found a brand new dryer for a great price and got it for us, and now I can do all of our laundry without overloading our ceiling fan. :-) 

And before I go, Cleo says hi!!! :-)

Fallapalooza Blog Party ~ And Fall Is Here In Ohio!!!!

Ok, I'm really excited about the Fallapalooza Blog Party going on at Below the Plateau!!! I just posted about it on my other blog, so instead of re-writing it here, ya'll can just head on over there if you want. Don't miss out on the fun! It's going to be a blast. ;-) The giveaway opens for entries on September 22nd - THAT'S ONLY SEVEN DAYS!!! So yeah, go on over there and find out how to enter. :-)

                                           

Something else I am VERY excited about is that........... FALL IS HERE!!!! The trees aren't really changing yet (although I have seen a few twinges of color!! :-), but the weather has turned cool, the goldenrod is blooming,

the corn fields are turning from green to yellow,

and I am barely resisting the urge to PLAY CHRISTMAS MUSIC!! (Yes I am one of THOSE people)

My sunflowers are almost done blooming.

I LOVE sunflowers ;-)

The ones this color are my favorite. :-)

For those of you who love in warmer places ( I mean YOU you Florida people ) don't be discouraged, the heat will soon give way to beautiful cooler weather, the pumpkins will be out, the grass will no longer need mowed, the leaves will need raked, and before you know it, Christmas songs will be playing on the radio. :-)

And now, for some pictures of my kitchen, which underwent some re-organization last week. I told my dear friend ( you know who you are ;-) that I would post pictures, so here they are:

This is me ( duh) getting ready to tackle the cabinets....

My lovely apron- a gift from my Aunt Polly :-)

My first victim, I was always struggling to get what I needed out of here.

And here it is finished!! I decided to move my pots and pans here because it was much easier access than the one they have been in. :-) I can even get to my pancake griddle now!! Woohoo!

This is where I used to keep my pots and pans... I like this much better :-) Now to make some sort of curtain to cover the opening. :-/

Can you believe ALL of this came out of these TWO cabinets?? I couldn't. :-)

That's much better. Yes.

And here are all the others all cleaned up! :-) I am very pleased with the results!

And now I must go do some laundry and pick up the house. :-) Have a LOVERLY day girls!!!

~ A Page From My Favorite Book! ~

Care And Affection

On the battlefield, in many terrible battles during our late horrible war, I always noticed that those boys who had been reared under the tenderest home culture always made the best soldiers They were always brave, always endured the severe hardships of camp, the march, or on the bloody field most silently, and were the most dutiful at every call. They resisted the frightful temptations that so often surrounded them, and seldom returned to their loved ones stained with the sins incident to war. They were always kind and polite to those whom they met in the enemy's country. Under their protection, women were always safe. How often I have heard one regiment compared with another, when the cause of the difference was not comprehended by those who drew the comparison! I knew the cause- it was, the home education.

The same is true every day in the busy life of the city. Gather one hundred young men in our city, and spend an evening with them, and you will know their home education. Watch them as they approach young ladies, and converse with them. You will know who has been trained under the influence of home education and politeness, and who has not.

Affection does not beget weakness, nor is it effeminate for a brother to be tenderly attached to his sisters. That boy will make the noblest, the bravest man. That young man who was accustomed to kiss his sweet, innocent, loving sister night and morning as they met, shows its influence upon him, and he will never forget it. When he shall take some one to his heart as his wife, she shall reap the golden fruit thereof. The young man who was in the habit of giving his arm to his sister as they walked to and from church, will never leave his wife to find her way as best she can. The young man who has been taught to see that his sister had a seat before he sought his, will never mortify a neglected wife in the presence of strangers. And that young man who always handed his sister to her chair at the table, will never have cause to blush as he sees some gentleman extend to his wife the courtesy she knows is due from him.

Mothers and daughters, wives and sisters, remember that you have the making of the future of this great country, and rise at once to your high and holy calling. Remember that you must make that future, whether you will or not. We are all what you make us. Ah! throw away your weakening follies of fashion, and soul famine, and rise to the level where God intended you should be, and make every one of your homes, from this day, schools of true politeness and tender affection. Take those little curly-headed boys, and teach them all you would have men to be. They will be just such men, and will go forth to bless the world, and crown you with a glory such as queens and empresses have never dreamed of. Exercise your power now, and you shall reap the fruit in your ripe age.

From the section ~ Care And Affection~ in Daughters of Destiny, by Noelle Wheeler

This is a very inspiring part of this very encouraging book. If you haven't read this book I highly recommend that you do. It is a wonderful book for ladies of all ages, in my opinion. :-)

I am excited about the opportunity and the blessing of ( Lord willing) someday teaching and guiding my own sons and daughters to be strong godly men and women. I am excited, but I am also afraid. What a huge responsibility! What an honor to be given this responsibility. Ladies, those of us who do not already have this responsibility need to be preparing diligently for this. We do not want to be learning "on the job"! It's too important for that. I am certainly no expert in child training or marriage, or life in general. :-) I have so much to learn sometimes it seems overwhelming. But ladies, lets take this very seriously and do everything in our power, with the Lords help, to prepare for this high and holy calling. I hope you are encouraged by this, and I would love to hear your thoughts!

Lady Lydia speaks on .... Dressing Everyday ~ Part 1

Just recently I have been thinking about an article that my mom gave me to read a long time ago. It really influenced and encouraged me then in the area of dressing modestly, and it still does now every time I read it. I thought perhaps some of you would enjoy it so I'm going to type it out for you. It is VERY long, so I'll probably do it in at least two parts. I have used the original photographs in my copy. Here goes!

The subject today is one I learned from my children's piano teacher, a woman who was born around 1911. Until the day she died, she presented herself to others as a dignified lady. She was never seen in a tacky tank top or shorts. No one ever saw her knees or the veins in her legs. Don't get me wrong; she was not wearing the styles of the early 1900's either. The week before she died, in her late 80's, she went shopping for a new dress for her next student recital. She kept her wardrobe fairly new, and although her styles were current, she was always modestly dressed in tea-length dresses and pretty hats. She always tried to be an example and an inspiration to the young. Although her students sometimes came to their lessons in awful clothing, she dressed up for them.This is a difficult thing to do in this society, since we tend to relax our standards around people who do not care. While her husband was alive, she dressed beautifully for him every day. She believed you were a bride every day of your life, even if you were not married, so she dressed as though she was a very special person with a special purpose in life. The latter decades of her life were spent as a widow, but she did not forget how important it was to dress as though she was just married. It was this way of dressing that kept her spirits high. She was here to live and work the work that God had given her, and she wasn't going to shirk that responsibility.

I have here a wedding photograph of the past century. The bride of that time did not look much different on her wedding day as she would on subsequent days. In other words, she did not "let down" her standards of dress. She respected her husband enough to want to make him happy that he married her and never have any regrets on that score. Clothing was extremely important in those days. It was individually measured, sewn and fitted for each person. Women loved chiffon and lace, velvet, satin, flowers, buttons, color, tucks and trims. Men often bought their wives the dresses they longed for as an expression of their love. Women and men dressed in stark contrast to each other. The feminine clothing of women complimented the masculine clothing of the men. The women of this era did not want to look like men but enjoyed their feminine status. It isn't nice to have won the heart of your husband only to let down around him once you begin to live together. How would you like to be given a beautiful gift, perhaps a lovely piece of furniture, but within a few months of having it in your home, it disintegrated? It may have deteriorated through your own neglect. While it is understandable that she will be more relaxed and casual at home during the evenings or early mornings, she should dress as though she were expecting someone important ( her husband) to come to the door. The day she decides to sluff around in her robe and slippers will be the day practically everyone she knows will drop by to see her. There was a time in history when a married woman dressed as carefully each day as she did on her wedding day. This applies to single women also, who can dress beautifully for their fathers, siblings and friends, making the world a lovelier place by example.
To those of you who are having a struggle changing over to more feminine dressing, just pretend you are a bride every day, whether you are married or not, or at least on your honeymoon, visiting a very special place. Make sure you have proper foundations that will cause your feminine dress to drape gracefully and hang nicely on your body. In winter, instead of wearing a hooded sweatshirt, wear a Spencer jacked or long sleeved dresses. This is more streamlined and allows more freedom in your household motions. Even if you are wearing a cotton dress, you can make sure it is fresh, clean and pressed. You can use perfume, and you can fix your hair the most flattering way to your face. You can wear colors that suit you.
If you want to find out what styles and colors are best for you in dresses, try this experiment: wear a different dress each day and note how you functioned and felt while wearing it. Did one item of clothing make you feel more cheerful of depressed? Then begin to build a wardrobe of clothing that you function best in. Don't wear the same dress every day, but rotate your clothing so that your favorites do not wear out. Beautiful outfits are more important than the latest technical gadget, more important than a vacation, and more important than ornaments for your home. When you go somewhere else, such as the grocery store or the new tea room, people can only guess about the way you live. Your clothing will send a strong message about your father, your husband and your home. Your clothing tells what kind of woman you are, whether careful or careless, thoughtful of thoughtless, diligent or lazy. If you have children, your children are going to be either very proud of you, or sullen and rebellious toward you, and your clothing can make a big difference. A woman's dress is a large part of the respect she receives as a woman.
And now a word about age dressing. There shouldn't be a huge generation gap with women's clothing. To many times the youth are separated from the aged, giving them the idea that they cannot be consulted on proper dressing. Most stores now have separate teen sections, and the girls never see the dresses of regular women; in fact, they never see a dress. Both age groups leave a lot to be desired in the way they dress. The clothing on the older and elderly women is not feminine or interesting, and the young women do not want to grow up and dress like them. Is it any wonder that they gravitate towards the styles of the stars? Older women must take upon themselves the personal responsibility to inspire the young women to dress beautifully and femininely, and they cannot do that if they remain in the knit pants and the unfeminine shirts and tops. There is no use saying "tsk, tsk" when you see a young person with spiked hair, green lipstick, black leotards and a top with holes in it, if you, yourself, are not dressed femininely enough to be imitated. You can not have credibility as a teacher if you do not dress well every day.

Fall Decorating!

So this week I've been in a kind of creative mood. I really wanted to decorate the house for fall, so I've gone for a couple walks and collected things to use. There are still some other things that I want to do, but I thought I would show you what I've done and see what you think!


I wanted to do a nice center piece for the table, and since we usually eat in the living room I decided to go big. ;-)

It's all made out of grasses that I've cut, a couple of grape vine branches and some red berries that I found.

I haven't decided yet how much I like it, and I was wondering what you all would think.

Here is my first attempt at making a grapevine wreath.

Here it is after some decorating. I'm thinking it's too thin and needs some more grapevine.

Here is part of the mess I made in my kitchen. :-/ You can't tell here but there were grass seeds EVERYWHERE!

This is a centerpiece I made a few days ago. I liked it because it had lots of color, but it was a little bit too wild or something. It would still be there except the leaves all curled up and started to look bad. Does anybody know how to preserve leaves on the branch?
I am in the process of drying more leaves to string up on the curtains in our living room and scatter in a couple other places. When that's done I'll show you how it came out. I hope you are all having a very blessed week!

Hello everyone. First of all, I wanted to thank you all for your prayers! I know they helped us a lot through a difficult time. God is good! A friend of mine who has had a couple miscarriages reminded me yesterday that the same God who chose to allow that little life to begin also chose to draw it back to him, that His plan is perfect and he will use every situation for good, and that one day we will get to meet our babies in heaven- just after we get to meet our God face to face and praise Him. What a wonderful day that will be! When I think about it I realize that our baby is actually much better off where he/she is. He never had to go through life in this fallen sinful world, but instead he gets to live every day with the Lord! That's so wonderful. It doesn't take the sadness away completlely, but it is a wonderful comfort!
Josh and I moved from our apartment to a mobile home about a mile from his parents farm in Utica, OH last weekend. Moving is a lot of work!! This was the first time I've ever moved, besides coming up here with Josh after we got married. It's a lot of work to pack up a whole house and clean and bring it all to a new house and set it all back up and clean some more. I have new respect for those of you that have moved several times! :-) We were very thankful for Josh's dad, who came and helped move all the heavy things, and Marci (Josh's mom) was a big help to me yesterday unpacking the last few things, hanging pictures on the walls, and doing little things that make the house seem much more homey. It was fun to visit with her too! :-) One of the families from church was also kind enough to make us a WONDERFUL supper with VERY GOOD brownies for dessert so that I didn't have to cook while we were trying to get settled into the new house. If you are reading this, thank you very much again!!!! :-) I will post pictures of the new house soon.
Last night Josh and I went and played softball with friends, which was a lot of fun. Josh always impresses me with how good he is at that game! He plays ball like he does his work, hard and to the best of his ability- and it shows, both in his work and in his skill in baseball. :-) I'm not very good at playing yet, but I'm learning. It's a lot of fun to do things like that with friends!
Today it is raining, and I am thankful because we have needed some more rain. It'll make my flowers bloom too! :-) One of my favorite things about this house is all the flowers around it. I was hoping to go for a walk this afternoon with my friend Rachel though, so hopefully it won't rain ALL day. :-)
Well I need to go get busy. I hope you all have a wonderful day!! ~ Brittany

A Flexible Schedule

I have found both in my single life as a daughter at home and my married life, that having a schedule is very important, but being able to be FLEXIBLE with my schedule is even more important. If I don't have a schedule I tend to run around doing things all day without really getting anything done. Sometimes I feel like I'm running around like a chicken with it's head cut off, for lack of a better metaphor. :-) I know also from my life before I was married that at times there is just so much to do that without a schedule it is overwhelming and you don't know where to start. Now that I'm married and there is just the two of us at home, and our home isn't very big, I don't have nearly as much to do. That will come though as we ( Lord willing ) start a family. I need to make sure I get in the habit of being on an orderly schedule now so that it's not so hard when I have little ones running around.

However, having a schedule can be more of a curse than a blessing if it is not flexible. Some days the schedule works out perfectly, but sometimes, "life happens" as they say. Things come up, your husband needs you to help him with something or go somewhere for him, or sometimes it's as simple as your husband ( or father ) would rather have something different for dinner than what you were planning to make.

Sometimes I'll have my whole day planned out the night before and in the morning Josh will say, "Would you mind coming to work with me today? I could really use your help." POOF there goes my plan. I say, "Sure I'll come with you!" but meanwhile my mind is racing as I try to figure out what I can make for dinner since I won't be home until dinner time or later, and I'm thinking of the cleaning I wanted to do that day and now won't be able to do. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE going to work with Josh. It means I get to spend the whole day with him, and what could be better than that! And Josh understands that when I go with him the house isn't going to be cleaned up when we get home and dinner might be late. I have to learn not to panic about it. It's really pretty simple. Josh needs ( or maybe just wants :-)) me to go to work with him, so the cleaning will have to happen tomorrow, and I can either put something in the crock pot for dinner or think of something fast to make when we get home (which is why it's also good to have things on hand for making fast easy meals, something I need to get better at!). Schedules are important to keep your day from being crazy, but if you are too strict with it and area unwilling to bend it a little (or change it completely) it will add more stress than it will take away.

I am curious to see if anybody reading this has any thoughts on the subject and if you agree or disagree with my opinion. This has just been on my mind for the last few days as I was thinking about keeping the house clean and inviting, and Josh has had me come to work with him for two days in a row now. :-) It's been really nice to spend so much time with him!

She Does Not Eat The Bread of Idleness!

This is one of the things I struggle with the most. I feel like I'm almost always behind on my housework, and this is even more shameful because I have a very small house and there's only two people in it! I don't want to just get the bare essentials done so that the house isn't a wreck when Josh gets home. I don't want him to smell the trash can when he comes in. I don't want him to walk into our bedroom and say ( or think ) "Man, this room is a mess!". I want this house to be a beautiful inviting place that he can't wait to get back to, not only because I'm here, but because it s a peaceful, sweet smelling, beautiful place where he can come and relax after a hard days work. I don't want him to come in the door at night and wonder what I did all day, I want him to come in the door and think " Wow, it's nice in here!".
Now, I believe that a man's home is his castle. When I think of a castle I think of a beautiful place, well kept, and beautifully decorated. I want to make my husband's castle like that. Decorating is not one of my strong suits, but there are so many inspiring books and articles and magazines out there with so many beautiful ideas that I think even I can create something beautiful here. I do think that it is possible to go way overboard with decorating and organizing. We don't want to have a home that is not inviting and beautiful. It should have a homey, lived in feel as well. A beautiful home that is absolutely perfect in every way is less inviting than a simply but prettily decorated well kept home that shows a few signs of life and wear.
I don't think we have to spend lots of money to make our homes beautiful either! Sometimes the simplest things can make a huge difference. A small bouquet of flowers on the kitchen table can make the whole room look many times better. Just doing basic things, like making sure that the floors are swept, the dishes put away and counters washed, the rugs shook out,the bed made, and the bathroom clean, can do wonders for the overall appearance and feel of the home.
I realize that most of you reading this are probably way ahead of me in this area. I am just writing some of what I have been thinking about for the last couple of days, because I have been convicted in this area. Now I'm going to sign off of this blog because I have a lot of cleaning and reorganizing to do! It's amazing how fast a closet can go from a well organized area to a complete disaster! I have a tendency to hide messes in the closets thinking I will take care of it later and then I never get to it. Well today I'm going to clean them out again and try to keep them that way. Goodbye for now!