Hair Cut For My Lil Man

Peyton has basically always had long hair. I think I’ve only cut it four times in his 9 years of life. We had been having trouble with it getting extremely tangled, like trying to turn into giant dreads, so we decided it was time to cut it. Here’s before!! 

 We measured it and decided to cut enough to donate, so I put it in a braid. 

His hair is SO thick, it took forever to cut through it!! I’m so proud of my handsome guy!! 



 We are going to donate to somewhere we just don’t know where yet… I’ve heard some bad things about locks of love, which is where we had planned to donate to…. Have you or someone you know donated hair? Where did you donate to? 



The Apron Obsession 

I’m that girl, that girl that loves the ambience of wearing an apron!!

 I have a few super cute ones hanging in my kitchen,

but I was in search of a new one. A girl can never have too many right? I came across an apron like I had never seen before, but suddenly somehow needed it so badly! 

I found this apron on Etsy, fell in love with it but….. could not bring myself to pay that much for an apron. Then started the obsession, I would get on there periodically and look at it and think, maybe I should get it, I mean I like it so much! But no, I can’t justify that… So I thought you know what? I’ll just make one! Yep! So while we were in Shipshewana, Indiana I picked up some super affordable linen. With the greenhouse done and a kinda yucky day last week, I finally got motivated to make a pattern and make my apron!!! So after a lot of measuring myself in the mirror and funny looks from my three year old little girl I ended up with this pattern. 

 Woo Hoo! I haven’t made a pattern in years!! I decided since this was such a simple old school apron that I would hand stitch it. I also made a smaller pattern and made Edyth a matching apron!! Here she is trying on the plastic pattern lol 

 It was so much fun creating these aprons with my little girl! What a great thing to share with her!! Here we are in our aprons!!!! 

 Do you have a favorite apron? Or a fond memorie of someone who loved aprons? I’d love to hear your stories!!! Happy Creating!! 

A Dream Come True!! 

I’m that girl that loves an opportunity to build something!! So, I told you a little while back that I was planning toward building a greenhouse, and it is finally finished!!! It took some planning since we didn’t have any blueprints, only pictures of what I wanted it to look like but we did it!! 

Here we were getting the supplies! 

The process looked like this



And this 

My chickens even joined in the fun!! 



 It was so much fun!! I had some nice days and foggy days and rain to work with, but nothing got in my way! 

And…… Ta Da!!!! 

It is a dream come true to have a greenhouse! I couldn’t be more pleased with myself and everyone that helped make this happen! As I stood outside staring at my greenhouse (that’s right, my greenhouse, I still can’t hardly believe it)  the sun was going down and made my greenhouse glow! What a sight!!



Do you have a greenhouse? I’d love to see your pictures!!! Happy growing people ✌️❤️😃

Giant Eggs!!

My chickens typically lay a nice mixture of large and jumbo eggs. 

 We have gotten our fair share of those extra special double yolkers! 

 I’ve had some pretty huge ones! 



But today I found the biggest one yet and a green one at that!! 

It’s sooo big! Lol I tried to put it in the carton… 

It didn’t fit…. At all…. Lol I didn’t even know a chicken could lay an egg that big!! I think it’s safe to say that my chickens are pretty great!!! I love that my chickens keep surprising me! Happy farming people!! 

 

Homemade Ketchup

I have been so into making anything and everything I can. Today I decided to tackle homemade ketchup! I have wanted to do it for a while now and we were finally out of store bought. What a better time?!?! If you follow my blog you already know I make my own tomato powder and onion powder from tomatoes and onions I grow. I also make my own garlic powder from locally grown garlic. So of course that’s what I used to make my ketchup!! Yumm right?!?! 



Here’s the recipe I used- (though I wana change a few things next time) 

12 oz. tomato paste (which I made from my tomato powder 12Tb powder & 6Tb water) 



1/2 c. Honey

1 c. Vinegar 

1/2 c. Water (a lil more or less depending how thick you want it) 

2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. onion powder

1/4 tsp. garlic powder 

Combine in a saucepan and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. (I used my immersable wand blender thing to smooth it out, homemade onion n garlic powder can be kinda chunky)  Store in the fridge and enjoy! That’s its! It is that easy!! 

Made about 2 1/2 – 3 cups



Look gorgeous doesn’t it?? 

Have you ever had or made your own ketchup?? I’d love to hear about it!!! 

 

Our Trip to Michigan

We went to the New Era, Michigan area this past weekend, my husband grew up there and his best friend was getting married. So we left a few days early to do some sight seeing, and sight see we did! Winter here in Ohio is nothing compared to winter in Michigan! The farthest north I had ever been was Battle Creek, and had never traveled north in the winter, so this was an extraordinary experience for me. There was SO much snow!! 



We went to the sand dunes! I have heard so much about them but I really had no idea how incredible they were. 

Lake Michigan was frozen almost as far as the eye could see! While these kinds of places are beautiful in summer, there is so much beauty in winter! 

We even seen those adorable little ice fishing shacks on the frozen lake!!! 

There was one guy drilling a hole for ice fishing and we got to watch him! 

One spot called the ovals, we walked out on the beach and could actually see waves off in the distance. It made me well up so many times to see such beauty! 



 Reuben took us through this town called Ludington, where we saw these HUGE ships! What a sight!! 







There was this giant weathervane in one town. 

Snowmobiles are everywhere up there! They have trails for them and in a lot of the parking lots there’s  snowmobile parking, just like we have motorcycle parking here! Wild!!!! 

 There was a snowmobile ride for kids even!!! 

While we were there we stayed at this quaint little motel called the Montgomery Inn. It was a fabulous little Inn that I definatly recommend you stay at if you are up that way! 

 We also ate at some really fun places, I didn’t get pictures of all of them. But I did get a picture of this Brown Bear place, good burgers there! 

 So many things in this part of Michigan are different than what we are used to here. Like they have markers for their fire hydrants so they can find them under all the snow!! Who knew?!?! We saw people snow blowing off their roofs! One of the biggest differences I saw was fruit fields, or orchards, I’m not sure what you call them, but they are everywhere! You drive around Ohio and you see corn fields and bean fields but not in Michigan, it’s a rare sight to see a corn field and the few people that have them, have them to feed their animals. 

 It was a GREAT trip!!! 

Have you ever been there? I would love to hear about what it was like for you!! 

Shipshewana Indiana

We took a road trip this past weekend to Michigan. On our way we stopped and spent a short time in Shipshewana, Indiana. It’s this adorable little Amish town. I wish we could have spent more time and the weather had been nicer (it was super cold). However I plan to go back as soon as the weather is better. Anyway, the Amish people fascinate me, I don’t know why, but they do. Maybe it’s their simple way of living, maybe it’s their mystery about them, maybe it’s their mode of transportation. All along the road on our way through town is a huge shoulder, buggy lanes! Who knew?!?! Everywhere are buggies and horses and people on bikes! I LOVE horses! The regular sound around there is the clop clop clop of the horses hooves and it is wonderful!! I learned a few new things, like there are buggy buses and buggy trucks and trailers for your buggy, AMAZING!! Here’s a couple pics that I managed to capture.





They have these wonderful little shops. Our first stop was Yoders popcorn store, and we bought a 50lb bag of ladyfinger popcorn, it’s our favorite and we got it super cheap!!! 

 It is hilarious and odd all at the same time to have a feed sack full of popcorn!!! We also went to the bulk food store and got flour for super cheap! Then there’s this Davis Mercantile. The building is amazing, the way they built it, Amish craftsmanship is an incredible thing. Wood pins to secure everything! A giant tree in the middle of the building! I took a few pictures but of course you just have to see this place for yourself. 

The doors in the first picture are automatic sliding wood doors, beautiful! But the most amazing thing about this building is, they have a carousel on the top floor! 

 I hope some day y’all make it out there to see this beautiful town! 





A Trip to the Laundry Mat

I have very fond memories of going to the laundry mat when I was a kid. Where I grew up we had water problems, something about the side of the river we were on, I’m not really sure. Anyway, there’s just something so magical about all those washing machines. Like they held something fascinating inside those shiny drums. You can watch your clothes go round and round in there, the soap suds grow and swirl around and the carts you load your clothes in to push them over to put in the huge dryers, fun stuff!!!!! I love it! Today my mom, daughter and I took a trip down to the laundry mat and had a blast!!! 

 





Who knew a trip to the laundry mat could be so much fun? 

I did!!! Lol 

Winter Storm #2 



    We were greeted with another great snow storm to end out our season right! Another 6-8 inches, I think is what we ended up with! The temperature was just right to be out playing in it, so that’s just what we did, all day long!!!  







   Yes, we are on the road in that last one, can you tell?? Lol 

 



Mom even captured a picture of me taking pictures!!! Lol



   My Aunt, Uncle and cousin along with her kids came to join in the fun that afternoon and we had a blast!! 







   Happy snow fun everyone!!! 

Growing a Pineapple from a Pineapple

I’m that girl that’ll try most anything once! You say it can be done, I want to try it! About three days ago mom gave me the top off her pineapple, so I’m going to try to grow a pineapple from a pineapple!!! I got on Pinterest, we all know I LOVE Pinterest, and did some research. They say to put the top upside down for a week and let it dry out. So here it is just hangin out upside down waiting and drying. 

 In a few days I’ll put it in water and try to get it to grow roots!! Have you ever grown a pineapple? I would love to hear about your experience!!  Thanks everyone and happy growing ✌️❤️😃🍍