Prepping and Pantry Idea's

Good morning my friends its 8:15 am on a Sunday. Maryland is gloomy and raining outside. We have had rain almost everyday since Hurricane Florence hit the Carolina's. 

I made a decision to work toward preparedness. I must do at least 1 prep a week. I will admit my list changes and grows according to season, life, weather, economical, children (growing) and family needs. I do alot of online shopping for convenience and thrifting to make ends meet. I will be sharing my online deals as they arrive. I received my 1st shipment of 3 yesterday. I bought 1 Augason Farm Powdered Butter for an excellent price a No. 10 can for $17.00 with long shelf life. 

 Here is an economical idea I bought this glass jar with closure to help preserve and keep ants out of my Sugar. I found this gem at the Dollar Tree $1.00. These are also great to hold spices and other foods. We get ants in the home and this helps to deter them from visiting the kitchen along with Essential Oil mixture of Cinnamon and Water spritzed on the counter tops. Smells great and ants dislike it.

Lastly, I went to the Thrift Store and found this lantern for $5.99 its a Ozark Trail Floating Lantern and works!!! I added 4 D batteries I picked up on the cheap from the Dollar Tree. I do recommend buying alkaline long lasting batteries but the cheap ones are good to test items out. I hope you enjoyed my share towards prepping.

You can do it from a small scale to large. Its not a race rather a journey of change in the way you think, buy, and creating new habits to strengthen your new mind set.

Simple Autumn Home Decor

Autumn brings me a feeling of nesting. All the rich deep jewel tones of mother nature. I long to surround myself with them. I have already begun changes in my home. I had white curtains (fabric shower curtains) in my living room and on my rear sliding doors for summer. 

Time to bring in those warm rich colors for the season. I found these curtains about 2 months ago from the thrift 1/2 price off . Someone donated 6 panels. I bought all six each at $4.00 each. They are a lovely toasted dark tan with white cross hatch look and metal grommet circle. The ones below are on the rear sliding door off to the deck. The other panels grace my living room window. 

The beautiful hanging wreath below I found 90% off from Tuesday Morning I paid only $4.99. I was so happy to had found it months ago while visiting my mother. We no longer have a Tuesday Morning close by so it was a treat to go. The green wreath hanger is from the Dollar Tree.

Remember simple changes here and there make such a statement in our homes. I will be sharing my home decor changes with you as I go. 

Hurricane Storm Surge is Serious

I just viewed a very good video on You Tube to give you a visual of what may happen with storm surge/water rising. These are real dangers! I hope you use this as an educational tool for understanding how quickly water can rise and its effects.

Why didnt I.....Hurricane Florence

                          In the face of incoming Hurricane Florence

I wasn't ready. What I needed here is my list.

-Needed more Water (family 6) = 180 gallons a month

1 gallon per person a day

-no cook foods (protein bars, snacks etc)

-tarps for broken windows or leaking roof

-better secondary form of cooking

-propane heater (winter event) propane tanks empty

-food and water in upstairs location in case of flooding

-emergency car bucket not complete nor updated (changes seasonally)

-self contained meals just need hot water (close package and wait)

-several other forms of lighting (led,flashlights, wicks/oil)

-not enough preps on our boat (food,water, etc)

-relocation of first aid for easier access.

-extra gas for car and generator

-did not start canning my own food for extended foods in pantry

-battery or hand crank radio and clock (mine is in the basement) need to find it!

-more organization

-grab and go important documents 

-clothes line system and 2 large buckets to wash clothes by hand

-face masks and eye protection (swimming goggles)

if yellow stone erupts. 

I shared in my video Dollar Tree has great tarps and sternos for cooking (2 hour use) that I should of already had in my stash but none where to be found. I paid 18 bucks for 2 tarps from Ace hardware.  I need to work on my list and get these items into my preps. On my learn a new skill list is canning foods/meats for my family. Now, I'm sure I am missing some things on this list. I will sit down and give some much needed thought to our needs. I challenge you to look at your home and your families needs. Make a list of what is missing in your preps and start chipping away to get your family ready.

PBS The Miniaturist

I was browsing my subscriptions on YouTube. I saw a new show featured on PBS. I nearly jumped out of my chair when I saw the Dollhouse in their new show called The Miniaturist. It is based off the novel written by Jessie Burton "The Miniaturist". I have never read the book but just down loaded a free sample read on my kindle. The book costs a bit on kindle so I may go to the library to try my luck. 

The description provided on PBS:https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/shows/the-miniaturist/

Working on my Prepping Food Stock

A while back I shared that I found a food dehydrator at the Goodwill for a great price it looked brand new in the box with all the paper work. This was one of my things on my list to help with my pantry. 

I believe in stocking up for a rainy day. I had 5 bananas that were needing to be used. I have never dehydrated bananas before so this was a new venture for me. I've checked on the progress and its looking pretty good so far. I am about 4 hours into them. See the picture above.

I am taking on learning new skills and this is one of them on my list. Next, I will be going through my pantry(s) and taking inventory. I will be changing things around and move the foods that need to be used to a different location in my kitchen. I believe this may take me a few weeks a little bit at a time. At the end I will have a clear picture of what I need for my family and what I have on stock. 

Yesterday....time lost or memories created

Yesterday, was a busy day for me. I feel I loose special moments with my children because of the mundane chores. We need to carve out time for our children. They require alot of guidance, love, and support. They enjoy reading times, playing outdoors, creating art, and so much more. Lets take that time for those simple things that seem time consuming and know its a lifetime investment in the character building, memories, and growth of our children.

The picture below you see a mother who stopped to sit outside and play with her child. I often dont slow down enough to capture these moments. They are so fleeting. 

A gentle reminder to savor time with your children, family, and friends.  

Dollar Tree Diy Projects for the Home

I wanted to share what I created while visiting my sister. I made this Blessed Wreath and Acorn Mirror. It felt great to create and bring home a personalized piece. I will post my video down below if you like to hear all the details of my how to. 

The wire wreath I purchased from the Dollar Tree along with the center picture that says Blessed. This was a picture that I took off the wood backing trimmed then added ribbon detail. The material used around the wreath form was long strips of Muslin fabric that I 

cut then tied into knots. That created a sunburst look. I used hot glue on this project. Lastly, the colorful autumn pick was from Micheals 2 seasons ago that I had not used yet.

This is a mirror from the Dollar Tree (you can use any mirror). I picked up 3 packs of loose acorns from the Dollar Tree. I hot glued the acorns to the frame and to the caps side by side. I love this look!!

Pantry Challenge Prepping Time

Prepping is a serious topic for me. What would you do if
your experienced even on of these events in your life:

1. Loss of Job or job injury that incapacitates you for life
2. Loss of life (main income person)
3. Loss of Savings or Retirement
5. Suffered a weather event (flooding, hurricane, winter storm, tornado, earth quake, volcano eruption (Super Volcano Yellowstone in America).
6. Loss of Medical Insurance (You may have a serious condition that needs treatment and medicine monthly).

These types of events will make you refocus your priorities and expenditures very quickly. My immediate reaction as a homemaker would be take stock of pantry (foods, spices, condiments, drinks, and dry goods), medicines, and other daily supplies we use to figure out how long you can stretch things out to make ends meet with no income etc.. I'm thinking of doing some video's where I will pose these questions and see what your feed back would be. This would be very interesting for all.

Side Note: I just read a good book that is a quick read on
Kindle called Over the River and Through the Woods by Susan Gregory. If you read it let me know what your thoughts are. Another friend on YouTube recommended The Journal by Deborah Moore. I haven't read this one yet it is a series.

My Personal Experience with a Hurricane:
I have been without electricity and water due to a hurricane. I can recall the feeling... it was like I lived in the Flintstones era (big smile). Whatever needed or could be done had to be started at sun light and finished by sundown. There was alot of interaction with one another. That was not the norm in the household. You looked to gardening, books, cards, board games, diaries, sketching, cleaning, organizing, crafting, and singing songs. I recall it was hot with no wind to give us a chance of cooling of during the day. The evening's were the only time for a bit of  fresh air. There was no showering and/or water. So, it wasn't pleasant to say the least. I found myself doing things that I would not normally do because of television, phones, or computers that may have taken up my time. It really opened my eyes to the monopoly played by social media/television/and computers. How much we tune each other out instead of tuning in. Just fruit for thought my friends. 

Pantry Time:
Here are some of Pantry Items I bought and shared on a video (see the video below). Now, these may not be what a typical prep item may look like.  Every little bit helps to extended your food stock and supplies. Each family or person will have different things they may concentrate on for example: if you live in desert you would focus on water first etc... I hope this helps kick start a family into the right direction to love, care, and nurture the ones you love by prepping.

Dollhouse Miniature Room Updates 1:12 scale

My mans room. I made the bed and have a video under my playlist on my You Tube channel. Now, some of the new things I did are:

1. Touched up the mirror edges with a brown marker created from cardboard and Washi Tape and glued the bottom that started to separate a bit
2. Changed the rug from an oriental to a solid light green fabric rement.
3. Made some clothing for the dresser and opened a drawer to peek inside
4. Made a Shade for the window
5. Made a draped curtain treatment 
6. Added the luggage under the window table from Michaels I hauled a few months back.
7. Placed a flower arrangement on the window table ( I removed the boat previuosly show until Hubby cuts the wood down).

                                        Mans Room (Before)

This is the first step to my window treatment I created a type of blind look with lace detail. 

It makes the window look better and the room more warm.

This is the curtain I created for the window. I wanted a large presence and provide coverage for the dark sports on the wallpaper. I wanted to use some of the colors found in the room.

The window Treatment is complete. Now, I will admit I have never made a detailed window treatment before. So for my 1st time I dont think I did too badly. Now, I'm not sure how I am feeling about the green ribbon so I may change this and try to recreate with some of other fabric. Im glad I tried something new.

In this photo you can see the luggage under the table I bought from Michaels. The dresser has a drawer slightly open with clothes I made.

Meal Plan Recipes

This week's recipes where found in Cheap Eats Budget-Busting Ideas That Won't Break the Bank by Sterling Epicure, Delicious Dinners $5.00 by Haystack Media and lastly Taste Of Home Magazine 2016 Summer. Some of the recipes did not have photos.

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Turkey & Wild Rice

Quick Creamy Gnocchi

Chicken and Sqaush Gratin

Steak and Guinness

Breand and Butter Pudding

Morning Coffee Be a Wise Woman

My day starts simply with morning coffee creme brulee and a cinnamon stick. As a list of things to do pop into my thoughts. I decide to slow down and enjoy the sound of the coffee maker and it's steady dripping sound. Pushing the mundane chores to the side for a moment. I hear my children  talking and enjoying their toasted raisin bread with sweet cream butter. I just turned on the wax melter in the kitchen for some aromatherapy. A moment with God is next.

Proverbs 14:1 The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.

Think of good ways to bring joy and comfort to your home. Have a beautiful day my friends.

Dollhouse Miniature 1:12 Scale Diy Mans Room Mirror

As always I'm looking for creative ways to use what I have and recycle items. This week I decided to focus on the mans room in my dollhouse. I made this mirror from packaging, washi tape, and redline tape from the Dollar Tree. It was very easy. Please see my video below for my process. I have a list of items I want to create for this room and many others that I will be sharing on a Budget.