Goodbye 2017

This morning I woke up thinking about all the things that have happened over the past year. It was super easy for me to focus on all the negative things. I let my mind wonder for a few minutes and decided to stop that line of thinking and start thinking of all the good things that happened. Even though it was a rough year I am still standing. .

As I started making a mental list of all the good things that happened I realized that the list of good definitely outweighed the bad. I have an amazing family who love me. Seriously do you need anything more than that? I have amazing friends who love me. Our oldest daughter got married and we gained a son in law. We got to see them purchase their first home. My baby boy graduated high school and started college. Both of my college kiddos are doing great in school. I have no idea how I got such smart kids. We grew more of our own veggies this year. We raised more of our own meat this year. I could go on and on an on.

There are just two things that I want to accomplish today to end my new year happy. One is to make a tinted lip balm that I love. I had one failed attempt, like it didnt add color to my lips and it eventually molded.  The other thing is to make a quilt. I have never made a quilt and I am sure I could just whip one up in a day. I am just kidding about that. I was going to be more realistic and make a quilt block pot holder.

As you look back at your year today please try to not let the bad outweigh the good. If you are still standing you are doing fine. When making goals or resolutions be realistic. Would I have preferred to grow all my own veggies and have canned enough to last us through the winter? Of course but because I didnt that does not mean I failed. Every time in the coming year when I use my quilt pot holder and will smile and realize one day I will have a quilt on my bed that I made but for right now the smaller one is just fine.

Restoring TIme

As we are only two days away before that ball drops and we ring in a new year I have been thinking about time. All the time we waste on things that don't matter, like being angry, perfectionism, worry, what other people think and the list could go on for days. As I focus on my word RESTORE its a little sad to think I cant restore lost time. Oh the things I would like to tell myself in my 20's and 30's to save myself from a lot of lost time with a few of the things I mentioned above. Even though I can not take back time I can sure make more of it in my life to enjoy the things that matter to me.

If you get easily offended please skip this next paragraph. The best way to manage our time more wisely is to have a schedule. If you wake up at 6am every day then you should continue with that trend on the weekend. Thats right no sleeping in. I know this is making a few of you a little mad thats why I told you to skip this part. When you have  set time for waking up it will eventually give you a set time for going to sleep. Thats of course if you dont take a nap. Dont worry I am not going to talk about your naps,

Our alarm is set for 6am on the weekdays. We are actually normally awake before then but as winter days get colder its nice to stay under those warm blankets as long as possible. Today is Saturday and both of us are awake and up at 6am. In fact its not even 8am and we have had breakfast, morning tea or coffee and two loads of clothes are washed. The breakfast dishes are drying in the drain as I type. Even though we are early birds we are still in our pjs and take the mornings slower on the weekend. I am a firm believer your weekends should be as relaxing as you want them to be. If you keep your same sleep schedule on the weekends when your alarm goes off on Monday morning you may still not want to go back to work but at least you dont look like you got hit by a truck.

I mentioned having a schedule. write down a few things that you wished that you had more time for. Post the list somewhere you can easily see it and easily add things to it. The first thing and only things on my list right now is blogging. I enjoy this and if I have it scheduled right it will not take up that much time. We will discuss our lists later after the new year but a few other thing on my list are meal planning. I know that may not side like fun but I like to cook and honestly if you have a good plan it opens more time for other things. I really want to start experimenting more with new recipes and trying some old forgotten ones as well. 

You may have noticed the clock in the above picture runs backwards. It says its 8:03. The boy loves watches and clocks so I had to grab this one for him for Christmas. It was less than $9 on Amazon. It takes a bit to get use to but its the perfect example for this post, When trying to tell time with this clock you have to really stop and think about reading it, As we are rushing around checking our phones or our cars for the time stop and think about if what you are rushing to do really that important. Why are you rushing and running late and how are you treating those around you in your rush?

Enjoy your weekend. We are going to the feed store in a bit for chicken and rabbit feed, maybe a stop over at Lowes and this afternoon we will be headed to Mellow Mushroom to spend $10.50 on $25 worth of food. Yay for Groupon deals and cheap family dates.

An Evening on Mrs Ladybugs Urban Farm

Tonight our children ages 18 and 20, so not little children, have went out. Mr Ladybug, don't tell him I called him that, and I are bout alone and the house is so quiet. There is a fire going in the wood stove, a kettle on top with water in it ready for tea whenever I want some. The dogs are snoring and the cat is pretending to be asleep but ready to hit anyone who walks too close with his paw. I honestly never could fathom this sort of evening. We are finding ourselves alone more that not these days. I actually thought when this time came I would be really sad. Even though I miss reading stories to little ones, its hard to be sad when your children are growing up and doing what they are suppose to do. As for the stories, I sometimes download free ones from Amazon and read them to the cat and dog. They don't seem to mind.

Twenty five years ago, when we first became parents, if you had asked what we would do when we had a free night with no kids we would have said sleep and watch tv.  I am happy to report that we are doing something a little more productive than that. We have discussed ordering our seeds for this years garden. Mr Ladybug finished a book he was reading and I started knitting a dish cloth on my loom. We have never been known as wild and crazy. Well maybe a little crazy. 

My cousin posted something on Facebook last night about what would be our word for 2018. Normally I think of the new year as a new beginning but after really giving her question some thought I think my word will be RESTORE. We are so quick to restart and to get something new that we don't even think about restoring what we have or use to have. I pass by an old building several times a week that they have started restoring. Its actually one of my favorite things to do. My husband recently said it would have been cheaper to have torn it down and build something new.  I don't know anything about construction and he could be right but so much would be lost if they did that. This building has history, it has character. I for am glad to see it will continue on and I hope that its new occupants will love it as much as other had when he was originally built.

In 2018 I want to restore relationships, old traditions, old ways of doing things. Be prepared for those sort of posts. You have been warned. Are there any things you wish to restore? I asked a few friends a few weeks ago what were things that people just don't do anymore. I got some really good answers like big Sunday afternoon. after church dinners, Elaborate dinner parties, sending people cards and thank you notes, sitting on the front porch just to name a few. What would you add to this list? Anyone care to join me in restoring some things in the coming year?

What do we Americans spend 30 billion dollars on each year?

As you can tell by the picture its pizza. Lets be honest, its fast, easy and you can eat it with your hands. We love pizza at our house but when we order it it can get expensive. The hubby wants whole pepperoni, onions. mushrooms and cheese cheese cheese. The girl is veggie only with peppers, mushrooms onions and stuffed crust, the boy is chopped pepperoni, ham, mushrooms, and stuffed crust. I am whatever is leftover from making everyones and I like thin crust. So when we order pizza we are lucky to get it under $25. I can easily make these pizzas for less that $7 total and have gotten it to an art of getting it completed start to finish in about an hour. By the time I order. pick up and get back home you are looking at an hour and if I ordered and tipped the delivery guy and you should always tip the delivery guy I chose to make it and save the money. Plus lets be honest it does taste better homemade.

I am not going to lie and say we never order pizza. If its a rough day and I have no idea what to do its pizza. I got a great deal on pizza from Groupon, like $25 for $10.50 so we will be grabbing a pizza this weekend. With all the seed catalogs coming in and my hubby and I snuggled up in front of the fire planning an even bigger garden the $18 I save each time I choose not to order pizza can be used to order seeds. We have only made decisions on cabbage and onions and are ordering 3 different kinds of each. I dont even know how many varieties of tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, radishes and herbs we end up with.

 Do you know how much you spend on pizza either homemade or ordering each month? I would love to know how much of that 30 billion each of us are responsible for. There are something like 61,269 pizzerias in the United States as well. I wonder if someone has it on their bucket list to visit them all?

So the broccoli sprouts look very  much like they did yesterday. I plan on seeing a difference starting in the morning. I actually went to bed and forgot to drain and rinse them so I had to get up and do that. It was not fun being all snuggly warm watching youtube videos on how to grow the best onions and
having to touch the cold wood floors.

I turned them sideways because I saw this lady do it on Youtube and I thought it made more sense. You can leave them straight up if you like.

I am off to the grocery today. I have a menu, my Shopkicks app ready, my Ibotta deals downloaded, my price comparisons made and am ready to start the new year with saving. Wish me luck. Have you any grocery goals this year. I would love to get out weekly grocery total down by $20 a week, I would love to earn at least $25 a month from Ibotta and $5 a month from Shopkicks towards amazon purchases. I find it hard to make lots of money off of either since I dont buy lots of prepackaged foods. If you do you should really check them out.

Planning Ahead

The other day my husband was watching Jas Townsend on youtube. He was showing you how they made sauerkraut in the 18th century. My husband commented to me that back then you really had to plan ahead for some things. If we want sauerkraut we just have to go to our local grocers. You can even get the fermented kind, similar to how Mr Townsend was making,  at some stores today.

I watched a first episode of a cooking show with Martha Stewart and Snoop Dog last year and they were having a cook off on who could make the best fried chicken. Snoop explained his recipe as get some chicken add this and that and fry it. Martha's instructions started with soaking your chicken in a brine for 3-4 days prior to cooking it. The other people on the show asked her who know they were going to eat fried chicken 4 days from now? They thought she was crazy, she thought they were crazy Its was pretty funny. You should look up the episode. It seems they both fried up some good and very different chicken. 


This weekend I want to have shrimp tacos. Even though I can go to the store and buy some cilantro I have several packets of sprouting seeds in my cabinet. They take about 4 days to grow and I am using things I already have and that I need to use up. I like to think I am a bit like Martha and have things planned a little better for my meals.


Sprouting supplies can be a little pricey and can easily be made at home for most of us. All you need is a canning jar or any glass jar that's tall and some loose woven fabric like cheesecloth. To start you just have to place sprouting seeds in your jar. I just did 1/2 Tablespoon and a few inches of water for them to soak 8-12 hours. Since I did this around 7 this morning I will drain them and place the cloth over them later this afternoon, set my reminder to rinse and drain them again in the morning. I will repeat this process of rinsing and draining for about 4 days until we make our tacos.

I will keep you updated on how the sprouts are going. I am using Botanical Interests sprouting seeds but I also have some seeds from Mozybeau Farms and I have used raw sunflower seeds that I have gotten from the grocery store as well. The only negative thing I have to say about the Botanical seeds is that the detailed instructions are inside the package. That makes it a little hard to read without tearing up the package.

 I highly recommend Townsend and Sons videos. They are interesting and educational. They also have a website where you can purchase some of the things they use on the show. I especially love the homemade whisks in the videos. Let me know what you think.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axFFUdQdyJg

One less thing to buy

As I think back sipping my tea my first thought is "why did I make a rule that I can not buy anymore tea until I have drank at least half the tea I already have?" and then I give my self a mental slap and think about all the things I have accomplished this year. Every year we try to be more self sufficient, make more of the things that we use to buy and try to make less waste and recycle more.

There are so many things we make instead of buying like soap, shampoo, laundry soap, toothpaste, deodorant and a few other things that slip my mind because I am probably thinking about what I will do if I run out or Earl Grey. My daughter sometimes gets a heat rash in the bend of her arm and my hubby has been knows to get one as well. He asked me if I had anything for a heat rash and I found a recipe that's suppose to work for diaper rash as well but lets not tell him that please.

RASH CREAM

Use equal parts coconut oil and corn starch. Whip the coconut oil with an electric mixer until its light and creamy, about 8 minutes. With a spatula mix in corn starch. When you have it mixed then you can use the mixer again. If you don't mix it first then the corn starch goes everywhere and your bowl looks smokey like you have dry ice in it. True story! I didn't want to make a ton of this so I just used 2 Tablespoons of each. Once it's mixed I added a few drops of lavender because it smells so good and a few drops of peppermint oil for its cooling effect. Its light and creamy and smells wonderful.

Notice how I label the container. That's very important when you make so many different things. Its not like if you use the wrong think it will harm you but I wouldn't want to brush my teeth with this and it does look a lot like my homemade toothpaste.

My hubby used the cream and did say it worked. Its always good when things work. That doesn't always happen.

Merry Christmas

The past month has been so busy. I started a little business, got all the things done that need to get done to have Christmas, was in a car accident (no one was hurt with the exception of our car), survived Christmas and got to celebrate Christmas with my favorite sister in the whole wide world for the first time in several years since she moved out of Kentucky. Okay so maybe she's my only sister but she's still pretty awesome.

I am also blogging to you today from a Chrome Book, I don't, even know if that's suppose to be one word or two, that my kiddos got me for Christmas. They said now I look like a real blogger and they also said they thought that I  might not even like my gift when they read on my blog that I didn't think I needed anything new to type on. That's about the time I burst into tears because my kids read my blog and they think of me as a real blogger. We will see how happy they are to have to help me figure out this thing in the days, weeks, months and years to come. I am a little slow.

Now that all the celebrations are over and the presents are unwrapped its time to move on to the coming year and reflect on the one that's almost over. I will talk about that on another day. Today I thought I would share a recipe to get me back into the swing of things.
There was this amazing French Bakery that we use to love to go to before they closed down that served chocolate filled croissants. They were delicious and expensive. Starbucks also has them. The boy and I decided that we could make them at home whenever want and save a little money.

First you need to buy some canned croissants. These will have to do until the boy and I decide we want to make them homemade. Unroll them all and place 8-10 chocolate chips in the center and roll them up into a croissant shape. Bake as the instructions on the container tells you. While they are baking take 1/4 cup of chips and a teaspoon of shortening and melt it on your microwave or on the stove top. Once croissants are done drizzle chocolate on top. Yummy and delicious!  The boy did these all by himself and whenever I don't have to cook something myself that makes it even taste better.

Crockpot bread

Several years ago our life was crazy busy with three small kids all in at least one sport and multiple after school activities. I started using crockpots to cook alot of our meals. Now I have three crockpots that hardly get used. I decided to either start using at least one or get rid of them.

I have seen several crockpot bread recipes and they show this golden brown top and I know for a fact that will not happen in your crockpot. But nowhere in the reciped does it say they brown it in the oven or with a blow torch. Yesterday I found one that does tell you to place it in the oven to brown the top under a broiler. Here is my experience.

Ingredients
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 packet of yeast
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons oil
1 cup warm water

Mix all dry ingredients together, mix the oil and water together, then mix everything together.

Mix until it starts to looks its stickiness. If it seems too sticky add a little bit of flour. Once its mix place on a table top dusted with flour and knead 5-6 minutes.

Line your crockpot with parchment paper, place dough ball in the bottom, put on lid and turn to high. Cook for 1 1/2 hours.

The recipe I followed said the bottom should start browning and thats when you take it out and place it on a baking sheet and place under broiler until brown. This will happen fast so dont walk away. My crockpot is older and I am guess like most things everyones in differnt. Mine had barely browned on the bottom so I left it a few minutes longer. I then took the bread out and put it on the baking sheet and popped it in a 350 degree oven. We like crusty bread. I brushed melted buttern on it at as well. I baked it for 10-15 minutes. I kept an eye on it.

We really loved the bread and the round rustic look to it. I will experiment more with this recipe.

Candle Holder Idea

When we bought our home I absolutely hated the light fixture in our hallway. It was actually the little globe but for some reason it drove me crazy. It was just round and glass. I think it was slightly tinted and gave the hallway a weird rosey yellow glow. But it worked and if it aint broke dont fix it. I did replace the globe a few times with ones from yard sales and Goodwills but never loved the thing. A few years ago a friend changed our her light fixtures and asked if I wanted one. I jumped on that deal quick.

Once my husband took the fixture down and placed in it my hands I couldnt get rid of it. It had been here since the house was built in the early 1950's. I had done a good job of lighting the way to the bathroom for over 60 years. I would certainly now want anyone to get rid of my after 60 years. Especially now with that age approaching faste every day.

Then one day it hit me. Its  a perfect candle holder.  A few years ago my sweetie bought me some natural beeswax sheets and wicks and I made lots little rolled candles that can fit perfectly in my little holder.

Some times shiny new things distract us and we overlook old fashioned things and ideas. I recently asked if anyone would like to learn how to make homemade soap and have been blown away by how many people want to learn. Its something so simple that use to be a pretty common thing to do. I was recently driving downtown and saw an outfit on an Urban Outfitter window. It was an outfit I had worn almost 30 years ago. A large flannel shirt with holey jeans. So maybe I will hold on to my candle holder a little longer and put it back in  its orginal place in the hallway when it comes back in fashion. For now it will be a useful little light for a candle lit dinner or a warm glow as the nights get colder and longer.

Maybe tomorrow I will show you the last wall we stripped all the paint off of but didnt have to heart to take down the last of the wall paper that was originally in the house.


Lots of Love

Mrs Ladybug

Repurposing

When people walk into my house for the first time, they either say this house is so you or they say nothing because their mommas have taught them manners and if you cant say nothing nice dont say nothing at all and they wonder why on earth I would do some of the things I do. I call my style ghetto chic. I know that sentence is all kinds of wrong but if you are southern you understand.

In my 27 years of marriage I have never owned a brand new couch. We bought one when my hubby first came back from Desert Storm but it wouldnt fit through our weird door way and we had to send it back. We bought another new couch and upon delivering they broke the legs off of it. After arguing with them for reimbursemnt we chose to not buy another one from them. We purchased a floor model couch that we had seen and once delivered it had a huge stain on it that was not there when we saw it last. We were told it was as it and blah blah blah. There were all from different companies over the span of 5-6 years.  We decided to just forget about funriture compaines all together and bought used couches from people we knew, were given a chouch from parents and finally the one you see right now.

This baby cost me $30 bucks mattress included. It came from a home of a relative of a friend and she would not have told me about it if she thought it was gross or anything.  With giant outdoor cushions for the back and an $80 comforter I got discounted for $30 6 years ago we have this couch and have for several years. When doggies run in from outside with dirty paws and run right for the couch I can just throw in the washer. When you and your hubby are sitting on it like last night reading a book or knitting and he spills coffee you dont freak out and end up divorced. It can sleep perfectly its a bed. When you dont have a guestroom its perfect for that too. There is a trundle for underneath so it can make a king size bed but I gave it and the extra mattress I had to a college kid who needed one. I used it for storage underneath. The coffee table in front is a $3 wooden toy box I bought a church rummage sale. I will talk about it another day.

I have friends with beautiful homes and beautiful furniture that look like something from a magazine. That is awesome for them. Thats what they like. But some of us like to create and repurpose and thats okay too. The important thing is that you have a place to gather with those you enjoy spending time with. It doesnt matter if your couch cost $30 or $5000. Seriously, there are couches that cost even more!

Your home should be what makes you happy not what magazines and tv shows tell you are in this year. Like I said if that makes you happy thats fine but if you find your house lacking when comparing it to others I encourage you to stop. Be unique, quirky, whimsical l and most importantly just be you.


Lots of Love,

Mrs Ladybug

One Chicken, three meals.

I was at Walmart and walked by the deli and they had a rotisserie chicken marked down to $2.99. That was too hard to pass up. I took it home and cut off most of the meat from one side and chopped it up, reheated it and put it on corn tortillas with black beans corn, chopped cilantro, onions and sour cream. One of us is a vegetarian so three of us had the chicken on our tacos and all four of us ate for less than $5.


I cut the meat off the other side of the chicken and put it in a freezer bag. placed the rest of the chicken, bones and all in another freezer bag and froze them until I wanted to use them. A few days later I thawed the chicken without the bones and heated it up along with some cooked rice I seasoned with garlic, onions and chilli powder, I topped the rice with the chicken, black beans, avacado, cheese, sour cream and a heated tortilla. Another meal for 4 people for less than $5.

Finally I grabbed the bag of chicken bones with some meat still on and I placed all of it in a large stock, 8-10 cups of water, carrots, onions. garlic, green pepper salt and pepper. I placed a lid on it and simmered for a few hours. I strained the whole thing and picked out all the chicken. I placed the chicken back in the broth added mixed veggies and egg noodles and cooked for about 15 minute until noodles were done. Of course the vegetarian did not eat this soup but there were enough leftovers for the hubby and I to have it for lunch the next day. Once again under $5 for a meal.

Today I will be cooking a big pot of rice. I will throw in whole carrots, onion. garlic and peppers all from the garden and freeze the rice in bags. I will use them later this month for fried rice, beef with broccoli, mushrooms and gravy, some sort of soups and whatever pops into my head.

Lots of Love

Mrs Ladybug

Gearing up for the holidays

From now until Thanksgiving our lives will move in fast forward. After the turkeys eaten and we are all sitting around like a stuffed bird ourselves we start to freak out at how busy life gets and the million things to be done for Christmas. That use to be me. We dont get all crazy and bent our of shape anymore. Christmas is the season to think about why you celebrate the season to begin with and to be with those you love and help those  you can. Basically its suppose to be Christmas all year long but I wont lecture you on that.

One of the things I started doing a few years back is doubling all my dinner recipes from around Halloween until Thanksgiving. I just figured it out and starting today that would give me 24 meals. Thanksgiving will be 4 days of how to get creative and use up all those leftovers. So from November 25th-December 23 that will give me 27 days all of which would be covered with a meal except for 3 which I am sure will have some sort of celebrations and not dining at home going on.

I will try to post what I am making every day. Tonight I will be making and freezing spaghetti sauce. We arent even going to be eating spaghetti tonight We are all out of the house this evening scattered in different directions but I didnt want to day to be wasted while home plus I am making a few dinners for a friend. I will just take a few 32 oz cans of crushed tomatoes, add a little salt, sugar, pepper, italian seasoning and simmer. I will add cooked ground been and put all in  a ziplock. On the evening we will be eating it while I am heating up the sauce I will boil the water and cooke the pasta. Easy peasy

Remember like the picture at the top of this post, this is what works best for you. Dont worry if my ideas seem crazy. This is what works best for my family. If you dont do it just like me it doesnt mean you are doing it wrong.

I will also be working on homemade gift ideas people can make or buy from me. Which brings me to something else I need to do. I need to set up a little work space that is just my own. Kind of like an office. Unfortunately I have no extra rooms. I need to do some rearranging. This is my setup when I need to blog. A tv table with my tea and breakfast in my bedroom. My kids also think I need to get something better than my Kindle and a wireless keyboard. It works for me though.

I also plan on trying out a new deodorant recipe and will let you know if it works or if people avoid me.

Have a great Monday


Lots of Love,

Mrs Ladybug

Dream Your Big

As the garden is winding down and the last of the harvest is in I started feeling a little disappointed. I had wanted to do more. We grew 30 pounds of potatoes, more tomatoes than last year, onions like crazy, tripple the garlic yet that wasn't enough. Why?

I think it's because when I think of what it means to be an urban farmer it means being more self sustained. Even though we expand every year. I look on the internet at all these other people nailing it and feel inferior. That's actually insanity.

Isn't this what we do in lots of other things? We want to workout but our friends are posting pics of themselves at the gym every day. We only made it once around the neighborhood. We want a tidier home but ours looks nothing like the unlived in magazine covers?  Date nights, game nights, family time, vacations.....everyone else's always looks better.

STOP LOOKING AT EVERYONE  ELSES LIFE AND NOT LIVING AND LOVING YOURS!


The first egg, green bean and tomato I got from my garden made me an urban farmer. The rest is icing on the cake. Today I am going to work on my next dream. If I don't out it out there tomorrow someone remind me of my words today.

Lots of Love

Mrs Ladybug

Weeds Feeds the Bees

Everyone say it with me "weeds feeds the bees". The weed in the above photo is called Aster. There are very many kinds but this one grows in my yard. Its one of the last blooming weeds in my area and its always covered with pollinators. Bees of all shapes and sizes. If you love fruits and veggies and you love the bees don't just leave this plant be, leave it for the bees. I spotted some purple aster near a camping ground near by. You can bet I am googling how to seed that one in my yard.

I love how this one posed perfectly while I snapped this with my phone.

Lots of Love

Mrs Ladybug and the bees

Why I Stopped Going to Church

A little over a year ago my husband and I made the decision to leave the church we were attending to find another one. It was a hard decision especially since we really didnt know why we were leaving. We didnt have an issue with music, the preaching or no problems with other members. We were just not feeling it. We dreaded going. We didnt want to sleep in. We actually still get up at 6am on the weekend like we do through the week,  We even tried to find another church and didnt hate any of the many that we visited. So whats wrong with us?

Absolutely nothing! I feel we have decided that since our issue was never really with our church it must be with the church as a whole, like whole wide world sort of thing. Do I still read my bible? Do I still pray? Do I feel that my leaving the church has made me any less closer to God. Yes, yes and no. When we finally decided that we were going to just stop looking for a church it took a huge burden off. Just writing this is taken even more of one off. I feel like I am not longer keeping a dirty little secret.

In the most simplest way possible to describe what a christian is I would say its believing Jesus and who the Bible says he is. Its trying to live my life like him and hoping others see His light in me. Its loving everybody and not just those most like me or in agreement with me. Thats what I am not seeing in other christians these days. Everyone has their opinions and arent afraid to just throw them out there without any regard as to who they hurt. You can disagree with me on this I just wont argue back.

I recently was at a public picnic. We were sitting at a line of picnic tables. Across from us was an older couple who did not speak english. Their daughter and grandchild did. There was a single mom and her son. There was a single dad and his daughter. There was a young couple with two children, there were homeless people and someone who came as we were about to leave who really stuck with me. They approached very slowly and unsure, they were wearing a dress which was a little odd for this outing. They were carrying a purse which seemed strange in a park and they had facial stubble like my hubby gets at the end of the day. They asked me if the table was taken and I said no and motioned for them to sit down. I smiled big and really wanted to talk to them. They never looked up from their plate. A few days later I was thinking about this situation again and it made me cry. I cried that I could feel how worried that person was to be accepted at the table. What if I had said no you cant sit here, I honestly think they would have walked away. Thats when it hit me. Thats what I am missing. I want to sit in a church with someone who can be wearing a dress even if they were obviously male and they not be turned away. Oh you can say "I would never turn someone away'. You probably never would actually say anything mean to them but our eyes and our actions speak volumes. Since the picnic was in my neighborhood I have been praying very hard to run into that person again. I have been praying for opportunities to chat it up with those who dont fit molds we like for them to. They dont have to worry about me inviting them to church because I dont have one.

I do not intend to never belong to a church again. I miss lots of things about church. I also know I can have fellowship without a church. For this time in my life right now this is right.

Lots of Love

Mrs Ladybug

Learning something new

My husband was recently watching a lecture by Neil deGrasse Tyson and we was talking about all the teachers that one has from the start of school to the finish and how that only 1-2 really influence you and lots of times their influence shapes you into what you do when you grow up. My 25 year old daughter has a degree in English. At an early age she loved to write stories and was fortunate enough to have a few teachers who really encouraged her. My 20 year old is a chemistry major and minoring in French. Once again there were a few teachers in her life that encouraged and helped that grow. My 18 year old son loves History and computers and his major will definitely have something to do with those areas. i would think that their father and I had something t do with their smart little brains and I think we did a good job and encouraging them to do what ever challenges them and brings them joy.

When I think back on all the teachers I had I do feel as if I had some really nice teachers but honestly I am dont think any of them made me passionate about any real subjects. I am not blaming them either. My husband and  I got married really early, he was sent off to the Gulf War shortly after, he came back, got out of the army, we had a child and he went to a trade school. That was sort of the end of our education process and thats how lots of people are and there is nothing wrong with that. But we wanted our children to feel that the world was their oyster. Thats really a strange saying since oysters are actually gross but you get my point. But i guess the meaning of the saying is that you have to crack open the icky oyster to find your pearl? I have no idea.

So in the process of encouraging our children and basically growing up with them I think we found our passions as well and so everything works out. My hubby can build just about anything and he did take woodworking in high school so maybe he did have a teacher. I am always showing him things on Pinterest or texting him something and saying "make this happen".

I was fortunate enough to grow up in a house of readers. My mom, dad, and granny were always reading. I remember walking to our downtown library with my mom and granny to get new books each week. I loved how the stairs squeaked as you walked up them to the childrens section. I can still smell that library. They have since closed that one down and built a few more libraries but my middle daughter tutors once a week there now.

I just recently realized that I love history. We are always watching documentaries and I am always reading books about how to do things like they use to before we had walmart. My husband and I are always looking for something new to try and so we are always learning new things. I have recently gotten into herbal home remedies but I also wanted to learn more about plants and their names. So I have gotten into flower pressing as well and of course my husband made me a flower press. Here are a few of our adventures this past Sunday and what we have learned.

Starting with the top left pic that is as most of you already know Showy Goldenrod. Its our state flower hear in Kentucky and you can use its flowers to make a tincture thats suppose to help with seasonal allergies. Since I had a gallon ziplock bag of it in the kitchen and my allergy prone son got pretty stuffed up I think I will ask his doctor before I try it out on him. I learned that my son like one of my friends is allergice to Goldenrod.

The top right is Giant Ironweed. I love the purple flowers. I have yet to find out a lot about this flower except the bees love it and well I love the bees.

Bottom left is Orange Jewelweed. This one is very interesting. You usually find it growing near poison ivy and it helps with relieving itching from poison ivy. I plan on heading to my secret location of this plant to forage more and make anti itch salve.

The last picture is of Jerusalem Artichoke. Which really isnt an artichoke at all but is edible. I did read that you shouldnt eat too much at at time and you should boil it like crazy. I did not realize you could eat the roots so I just clipped a few of the flowers to press.

If you do not have flower press you can use a big book. I used unbleached coffee filters to  lay my flowers on. This is much cheaper and easier than the special paper they sell online for flower pressing.

Something else I learned this weekend was how to do the pearl stitch when using a loom. I found a great youtube video and I will soon be cranking out knitted mittens on my loom like a boss.

Have a great day and learn something new. You knew know when it will come in handy. Did you notice my pun there from the mittens. I crack me up!


Lots of Love

Mrs Ladybug

Clutter

The past week my mind has been all over the place. I feel like I am being pulled in a million directions. This morning I was sipping my tea and sun was shining through the back door and the birds were chirping I knew I had to go outside. Some people call it grounding, some praying and some meditation. I consider it sort of all three,  I find the perfect spot with the sun shining down on my face and I stand there. The dew is still on the ground and my feet are cool and wet. I put my arms out to the side and just soak it all in. I slowly breath in and out just listening to nature around me and the sound of my own breathing. I replay my week and think about the week ahead. I realize I am repeating something in my head. " Declutter your mind, declutter your body and declutter your home". All three of these things need to be done to live a simpler life. Notice I didnt say easier.

Lots of research has been done on what clutter in your home does to your life. It holds you hostage. You dont want to have anyone over. You can find things. You could trip and fall. You can actually trip and fall if you have pets too. I can not tell you how to declutter your home. I have no idea what your home looks like. I can tell you to walk around look at areas that you try to avoid and start there. I like to cook and I cook a lot. I have a very tiny kitchen. I get things out and do not put them back up, then my kitchen is cluttered and I have no room to work in there. I also like glass jars and I either need to use them or toss them.

I had a great week actually. I had a few interesting conversations with strangers. I snagged some great deals and I had some great adventures with my hubby. When decluttering my mind I need to learn when to stop over thinking. I need to be more mindful of where my thoughts are going, like when I start worrying about things and put a stop to it immediately. I need to take more time in the mornings to do what I did today, pray and meditate.

Decluttering your body for me means being more mindful of what I put in it and to move more. This does not have to be over complicated either. I can get my exercise from haniging laundry, weeding the garden, planting the winter garden, taking the dogs for walks and even walking in my nature with my hubby while foraging. I have a goldenrod tincture I will tell you about later. Simple meals with few ingredents is they way to go with eating. This morning we had chopped up strawberries with yogurt, granola and honey. It was easy and tasty. Everyone is having some sort of leftover for lunch today and dinner will be stir fry.

The best decluttering you can do is think about your time. I love blogging, I love reading others blogs, I love my Facebook and Instgram, messaging my friends but these things can take up time that keeps me from doing other things I need to do. Make time to step away from screens. Learn something new, read something different that you usually do. talk to your neighbors. When I finished with my meditating this morning I looked up and seen my neighbors had someone in their driveway who was looking at me and probably wondered what I was doing. I smiled and waved and said good morning. I am definitely sure I am the weird lady on the street. I am okay with that too.

If you will excuse me I have some counters to clean off and some clutter that needs to be out of this house.


Lots of Love

Mrs Ladybug

Weekend Adventures

I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend. I found mine to be quite enjoyable and will be looking forward to doing it again in 5 days. I am amazed at how many times I hear people say they would like to do something fun but they dont have any money. There are so many things that you can do that dont cost much if anything at all if you just look. Here are a few of our weekend adventures that were free or just about.

STARGAZING . Okay this is sort of expensive if you dont have a telescope. I learned where are few stars were in the sky a few months ago and I have become very interested in constellations. We went to a free sky gazing monthly meeting in our area and there were 5 people there with pretty nice telescopes who would let you look through them and point out things in the sky for you. My husband had to have a telescope. We researched and watched a million youtube videos and went with one that was around $180. But if you think of it as how much does it cost each evening we go out and look at the stars instead of heading to a coffee house it doesnt take long to  see that you could save up for a telescope if thats what you wanted to do. I have found out that with astigmatism which has something to do with how my eyes see light especially at night looking at a telescope at a bright object isnt really all the clear to me. We did get to see Saturn Friday evening and you could see a ring around it. It was very cool even if it looked like a bunch of beams shooting out of it thanks to  my eyes. If you are interested in constellations like I am you dont need a telepscope. Just need a great place to see the stars. Learn where a few of them are and you can go from there locating the constellations and its free!

READING OR LISTENING TO BOOKS There are websites that will tell you what books they are making into movies. I found one that tells you about movies coming out in 2018. I thought this was the perfect time to start reading ones that I would want to see. I am working on reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I fell in love with this book instantly.  Its written as letters back and forth from a young woman to a group of locals on Guernsey Island who survived Nazi occupation. I am a little over half way through and I really dont want to finish because I am going to miss the characters so much. Its historical fiction and I have stopped reading so many times to google something to see if it really happened. I am learning lots of things reading this lovely book. They had it my library so its a free read. I am also listening to Murder on the Orient Express which will also be a movie next year.

Game night. Saturday evening we all met at my daughter and son in laws and played Mario Uno. It was lots of fun. I think I see a Game of Thrones Clue game being bought in our future.

I found this dvd at the library. Its called Victorian Slum House. A group of people move into a Slum House set in the 1860's and they have to live like the people did them. Its very interesting and eye opening and each episode explains a different decade and you learn a lot of things. It was free at the  library as well.

A few weeks ago I encouraged you to talk to strangers. I was recently at a local coffee shop and saw a flyer hanging on the wall for a tea club. You follow them on instagram and they tell you where to meet. I looked them up and this Sunday was the first time I was available to attend. I was actually nervous about going not because I was afraid of people but more of what they would think of me. In the few pictures shared on their page I was old enough to be their mothers. They  may not want an old lady there or what on earth would we have to talk about.I even messaged them and said if you have an age range in mind and I am way over the limit I will not be offended in the least bit. I decided to not think so much and just go and I am glad I did. There were 4 of us total and it was just nice to sit outside and sip green teas and talk tea with them. It goes to show you that if you try you can find something you have in common with anyone. One was a high school senior, one was a college freshman and one was a single mom of a 10 month old. We are all at different stages but all enjoyed talking about our favorite teas and tea shops. I also brought some honey from my bees and made homemade shortbread cookies just to help me be able to stay. Who can say no to homemade cookies?

Easy Shortbread Cookie Recipe

1 cup of softened butter at room temp
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla

Mix ingredients together, use teaspoon to measure and roll into into balls, smash balls with bottom of a glass and bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

Maybe I will get brave enough to attend a Stitch and Bitch group, thats seriosuly what they are called, they meet and crochet or knit. My stitching is not very good I am very basic but I am sure I can do the other part just fine.

Have a great week, go on adventures and talk to strangers.

Stop to smell the flowers

Yesterday the hubby and I went to a park to walk. This park use to be a farm and they have just mowed paths in a field and you stay on the paths and then are surrounded by natural over growth.  Rabbits sometimes hop out along the path and birds that like to stay on the ground. You see lots of butterflies as well. If you have severe allergies I would not recommend this park. By the time we got home my sweeties eyes were itching him something fierce.

We are walking along the path and my hubby sees a white flower. He said he wondered what it was and I said it looked like a morning glory but on further inspection it wasnt on a vine. it was on a stem. We still have no idea what the flower was but when we looked inside and there was a little green bee.

It has been my experience lately to see people walking and even jogging and looking at their phones. Sometimes they are even walking their dogs or with their children while looking down at their phones. I was walking my dog once and my husband was calling me and just trying to answer the phone I fell down and skinned both my knees. In falling I got wrapped on the dogs leash and someone actually thought my own dog was attacking me and of course this had to happen on a pretty busy street so I had lots of spectators.

I am not one of those cell phone haters. I actually love my phone and find it super handy. Its not just our phones that distract us. It could be a bad mood or busyness that keeps us from noticing the wonder that is all around us.

When I am walking my german shepherd in our neighborhood he normally is pretty focused on walking and looking at other pedestrians like "dont touch my mom and I wont bite your arm off". But on ocassion he will want to stop and let someone pet him. Most of the time its someone who has a story on how he looks like a dog they had when they were young. Once there were three city workers putting in a new stop sign.  Atlas, thats my dogs name, wanted this one man to pet him who was terrified of dogs. His coworkers pet him but he wanted nothing to do with Atlas. I finally said could you just please touch him so he will continue on. A quick tap on the head and we were on our way. Atlas doesnt care to stop and smell the flowers he likes to stop and get petted. He usually just wants to tinkle on the flowers anyway.

Stop and smell the flowers yourself, look inside for little creatures, only take your phone out to snap a pic to identify the flower or creature later, talk to passersby  and experience the wonder that is all around you just like when you were a little kid. We have a checklist of different things we like to keep up with. There is an app you can keep track of birds you identify. Map my walk lets you add pictures of things to remember your walk. We have a checklist of viewing the different parts of the moon, you know those dark spots you see on it when its full? Those things have names! I want to start snapping pictures of different constellations. We will probably start documenting bee sightings too. Get out and enjoy the day and hopefully the cooler weather.

Lots of Love

Mrs Ladybug

Homemade shampoo, warming muscle rub and chicken soup

I have been looking for a homemade shampoo recipe for like ever. Unfortunately I will continue to look. The one I a made though may be really great for dry damaged hair so I thought I would share it. Since I made a bottle of it I am going to continue to use it once a week as a conditioner.

Shampoo
1 cup coconut milk
1/4 castile soap ( I like Dr Bonners and any scent will due)
a few drops of your favorite essential oil ( I used rosemary)

Put in a container and shake with each use. Use the same amount as you normally do.

I will probably give this another try and use the light coconut milk instead of the full fat.


I could eat soup every day. This cooler weather has me wanting to make every soup  I see on Pinterest. Last night we had the simplest chicken noodles soup ever and it was cheap! I made a small batch. It would server 4 people but three of us ate it and just had bigger bowls. You know its a hit when your hubby asks if there was any leftovers to take in his lunch.

Chicken Noodle Soup

1 cup of cooked chopped chicken
32oz of chicken stock or broth
2 cups of mixed veggies or you could just use peas and or carrots.
3 oz of vermicelli pasta broken in to 2 inch pieces.
1 Tablespoon butter
2 Tablespoons flour or seasoned flour

Place your soup pan on the burner and turn on med high heat. Add butter and once it starts getting soft add the flour making sure you get it all mixed in well. Start adding about a cup of the stock and whisk to make sure there are no lumps. Add remaining stock and throw in the rest of the ingredients and simmer until pasta is done. Usually in about 10-15 minutes.

When I calculated the cost of this meal with my ingredients I had gotten on sale it was less than $5 to feed us and that includes the addition of crackers. I will make more for my hubby to take in his lunch. I think eating a home cooked lunch for a little over a dollar is much better than running through a drive thru.

A few months ago I pulled a muscle in my neck. Its was crazy. I had to turn my whole body to see things. After a week of that and lots of neck yoga it got better. Who knew sleeping could be so dangerous?  Monday morning when I woke up with a stiff neck again I decided that maybe neck yoga needed to be an every day practice and that I should make up a muscle rub. You can find some neck yoga exercises on youtube. You can find the muscle rub recipe below.

Muscle Rub

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 Tablespoon beeswax
20 drops of each of these essential oils peppermint, eucalyptus, clove, ginger and black pepper. If you have a hard time finding the ginger or the pepper you can add 1/4 teaspoon of ground. I had those oils so I can not say if the ground is as good or better,

Place a jar that will at least hold 1/2 cup in a pan with water around it. put coconut, olive oil and beeswax in the jar and heat water until they are melted. Then add the essential oils and let cool, You could probably use a microwave to do this but I dont have one.

Sorry there are no pics with this post. Things are not cooperating this morning. Have a great day and dont let the little things get to you.


Lots of Love

Mrs Ladybug

Being Thank Full

I feel like letting my religious freak flag fly (try saying that 5 times fast) a little this morning. As I was eating breakfast a bible verse came to mind.

This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24


I am sure this is one of the many verses I memorized in Sunday School as a child. I also remember singing a song with the words during worship service. One of my favorite memories of this verse was when I was just learning to cross stitch and I made a gift with this verse on it. It was a window with flowers sitting on a table and this verse stitched on it. I even put it in a frame. I gave it to my great grandmother and she placed it  in front of a window where she sat in her rocking chair and where she read her bible and wrote letters. She told me it was one of her favorite verse and I believe her because she lived it every day.

 She had gotten sick and was not able to safely live on her own so she lived with us. Even on the days that she felt her worst she never complained. In her long  life she was always helping people and putting others first even when it cost her her health. She was a special person.

If you are a christian there are so many verses that tell us we should be thankful. If you arent a christian there are so many studies that that show that being thankful and being happy where you are can be very beneficial to your health.

This morning as I ate my breakfast in the picture above I thought about what it really means to me. Every single ingredient came from my backyard. The eggs, chives, red onion, tomatoes, dried peppermint tea and even the honey to sweeten it. My goal is to grow as much as my own food as possible. We have been gardening for about 5 years. We are not there yet. I could easily get down and ask whats taking so long or I can be thankful for how far we have come.

There are many other things we take for granted or forget to be thankful for. I could look at my bank account and wish there was more there or be thankful that I have a bank account. I could wish my house was bigger or be thankful for a roof over my head. What would happen if everyone was thankful for what they had or where they were at right now. You would not have things like envy and jealousy.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with setting goals and having plans to be more successful in anything you do. Just dont forget to enjoy where you are at right now. Dont forget to help others out who are where you once may have been.

Every day is a new day with new possibilities and adventures all its own. Dont be so busy wishing for what tomorrow may bring you dont enjoy what you have and those in front of you today.


Lots of Love

Mrs Ladybug

Homemade Substitutes

I had baking powder on my grocery list.  While at the store I decided to try a different brand. I have tried every brand they make from the most expensive to the cheapest and honestly I do not see much of a difference. Anyway, while looking at the Bobs Redmill section of the store I got a little distracted. The store I was at had like all their products it seemed. I was looking and touching every package. I gave myself a mental slap and got back to the task at hand. I grabbed the baking powder and came home. A few days later I was making pancakes and grabbed the baking powder and it was baking soda. I even wondered how on earth I could have grabbed the wrong thing. FYI look carefully when buying the Bobs Redmill brand. The baking soda and baking powder are very similar in packaging. Now I understand why other brands have the soda in the square boxes and the powder in the round ones.

So whats a girl to do? It was pancake Sunday and both my guys were expecting pancakes! I knew I had read that you could make baking powder but I had never made it because I never had cream of tartar. That is an ingredient some recipes call for in meringue, which by the way I hate meringue but had bought some to make my hubby a pie. So I mixed the powder and the cream of tarter together, put in a recycled spice jar and used my normal amount. While waiting for my butter to melt in the pan to cook the pancakes my batter had risen in the bowl. That never happens.

The pancakes were so light and fluffy. I have made them one other time since Sunday and they came out just as beautiful. I think I will just be making my own baking powder from now on.

Its kind of funny that I never made it before because I am one of those people who think things should have multiple purposes. I dont buy brown sugar because you can make it with sugar and molasses. Molasses is a great ingredient to have when baking. Put a little in our baked beans next time or make ginger snap cookies. Yum!
I dont buy self rising flour because you can make it with your regular flour and baking powder.

Baking Powder

1 part baking soda
2 parts cream of tartar


Brown Sugar

1 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon molasses

Self Rising Flour

1 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Notice my bag clip on the baking soda? Its another one of those things I think should have multiple purposes.


Lots of Love

Mrs Ladybug

Take that step.

I set a goal for myself for the day after Labor Day. Thank goodness it wasnt a weight loss goal or I would be in tears right now! Lots of distractions have popped up along with my gift of procrastination.  I am talking a deep breath and a first step towards my goal today.

I know that I am not the only person with a goal or a dream out there. Whatever it is you have wanted to do just take a little step today to make it happen. A little step could be writing it down on paper, telling someone, asking someone for help or just a tiny start on that goal.

Think about all the things you have ever had to take a step of faith for. I think about marriage. When I got married I had all these crazy ideas what it would be like. It nothing like that. Throw in 3 kids. multiple animals and bills and it kind of sucked sometimes. I never thought it would actually suck. But we kept moving forward. Sometimes my husband had to drag me and sometimes I had to drag him. I am happy to say that just because things did not go according to my plan they did at least turn out better than I had thought. 

On a smaller scale I think about giving up paper towels. It was actually a little hard but we have all managed to survive. We have not used aluminum foil in a few months as well. I will have to post my creative ways to use pie pans as lids in the oven.

Whatever chapter you are writing in your story just do one thing today to get some words on that page. I want you to stand in front of the mirror, look at the face in the looking back and smile at it. You are an amazing person created to amazing things that only you can do. Oh others can do things like you and you like them but only you can do things like  you.

Lots of Love

Mrs Ladybug 

How average are you?

This morning I was reading an article that said the young women are wearing a new outfit an average of 7 times. The reason for this is because they do not want to be seen on social media wearing the same clothes over and over and over again. That lead me to do a little research into what the average money spent on clothes per year. They say to get your average multiply your yearly income by .05. It averages out to about $1700 a year for a family of 4.

So of course this led to another search of the average sized home, the average grocery budget and the average amount of clothes people had in 1830. It didnt take long for me to find out that I was way below average.

This crazy search all started with my daughter and I looking for a pair of jeans yesterday. I refuse to pay over $10 for a pair of jeans. I promise you my family is not running around pantless. I find lots of good clearance sales and since we always wear pants I buy discounted ones even if no one really needs them right this second.

If you pay over $10 for your jeans I do not think you are evil. Your money is your business. We spent around $400 trying to save the bees this year. We spent close to that amount on organic dirt and expanding our garden. Some people like pants other people like urban farming. I bet if I googled the average money people spent on saving the bees I would be way above average.

Did you know that back in the 1800's people had their one outfit they wore daily and their Sunday dress clothes and a other odds and ends that they could switch out? To get a new item of clothing was a big deal. You loved that item and you wanted it to last forever and you did everything in your power to keep it nice looking. Imagine on Sunday morning in your church sanctuary if everyone was wearing the same clothes week after week and that was the norm or when you had any  special gatherings. I remember reading in the Little House On The Prairie books that the girls always got excited when Ma wore a special dress or Pa got dressed up. The girls were over the moon when they got new ribbons to wear in their hair.

I am not going to lie this is actually an easy thing for me to talk about with little conviction. I really could care less about clothes. I own like 6 pairs of pants, 2 skirts, 5 every day t-shirts, 5 nicer shirts, 3 pairs of pjs, 4 sweaters and 2 coats. I only had 3 pairs of socks until I recently bought 6 new pairs. I prefer to go shoeless and sockless. This might seem crazy to you but it works for me. I wont judge your overflowing closet if you dont judge seeing me in the same outfit three times a week.  I also only have 6-7 pairs of shoes some of which are hand me downs from my shoe loving sister.

Before I buy an article of clothing I think about it. I usually walk away from it. Sometimes even wait a few days and go back. Sort of  in hopes they are gone or at least my size is. Sometimes I just hope that I can find it on clearance later.

Like I said if you like clothes, what you spend is your business but if you are always wishing you had more money  clothing is an area where  you can cut costs if you really want. Right now lots of summer things are clearanced. I will snag me 4-5 tshirst for a dollar or two and next spring I will turn my other ones into work shirts in the garden or I will cut them up and knit a rug or cleaning clothes.

This is one of my favorite nicer than a tshirt shirt. I paid $15 for it which is actually extravagant for me. I have  worn it at least twice a week for the past year. Thats like fourteen cents every time I wear it and I am still going strong.  I think from now on all my selfies will be in the car and I can guarantee that anyone who follows me on social media will see this shirt again.

Do you like my shiny lips? My homemade lip gloss is so easy. Get a roller ball tube and poke a hole in 3-4 vitamin e capsules and squeeze them into the bottle. Add a few drops of essential oils or even cooking oils like peppermint or lemon. Then fill with fractionized coconut oil. Use as often as you like. Your lips will thank you.

Forget what your mother said and talk to strangers.

First I would like to let my mother know that I do appreciate her teaching me important things like not talking to strangers. I just really needed a funny catchy headline to get peoples attention. I want to assure my mother that even though I plan on talking to strangers I promise not to eat my dessert first, run with scissors and to still look both ways before crossing the street.

We are taught to not talk to strangers. Thats actually not a terrible thing to teach your kids when they are young. Lets face it we live in a scary world. I sometimes wonder though if that "dont talk to stranger" mentality has carried over into our adult lives and we try to avoid strangers at all costs. Think about it. We can do all our shopping online without having to talk to anyone or we can go through a Uscan and not have to talk to a cashier. We can order our food online and pick it up with minimal conversation. Most of our appointments are now confirmed through text messages. I love all these things and think they make our life easier and faster but it can also isolate us if we let it.

Back in January a family member was in the hospital. I was sitting in a small waiting area waiting for my husband and son. A young man sat down and we said hello to one another. It was obvious he was not from Kentucky with his accent and being the nosy chatty person I am I asked where he was from. He was from New York. Which led to another question and another and another. I am surprised this very nice fellow didnt find some place else to sit. He mentioned having alpacas and that his wife spins yarn from their wool. I was so excited. I asked if she was on social media found out she had an Instagram. He called his wife to get her info for me and I looked her up as soon asi was back home.  I looked and still look forward to her Instagram posts and her husbands since I am now following his as well. I never asked the strangers name.

When we finally lost the last of our first chickens and I found myself with out eggs as I waited for a new batch of chicks to start laying I didnt want to buy eggs from the store I wanted to know the chickens who laid the eggs. I had seen pics of the strangers chickens but was not sure if they sold them. I sent her a message and she did and at an extremely reasonable price! We made plans to go to their farm and pick up the eggs. We got to meet the chickens, the alpacas and her rabbit who she spins wool from as well. We got to see their beautiful cabin on their beautiful land. The strangers are now acquaintances.

I plan on returning for a visit with permission of course. I am not a stalker.  I plan on ordering some things from her Etsy site for Christmas and I hope to meet up again and do some knitting. I look forward to the acquaintances becoming friends. You can find her shop if you go to Etsy.com and type fiberculture into the search.

The quote in the picture up top is one of my favorites. The more my husband I get into gardening and I get into herbs I see less and less plants a weeds. Its amazing the things they can help with. I harvested my first dandelion roots this year. They are a tincture that helps with upset stomachs.  While everyone else wishes to not see the pretty yellow flowers from the dadelions pop up on the yard we are excited about the jelly we can make with the flowers or how soaking them in olive oil infuses the oil and it can me made in to healing salves for dry skin. This quote can work just as well for strangers. " What is a stranger? A friend whose virtues have yet to be discovered".

Lots of Love

Mrs Ladybug