Celebrating Sedar Supper

Last Saturday our family (minus our son Nick) enjoyed remembering some history of the Old Testament.

Our church celebrated Passover with a Sedar Supper lead by a Jewish Rabbi!

Though we are Catholic it was truely a very blessed evening of food,wine,song and reliving old scriptures and prayer! As Catholics, we also recall the Last Supper the Lord had with HIS Aposiles during Passover.

Jackie was a hoot when she said,

" Momma can we just leave here now and go to a restaurant to get some fancy food?"

There was some real food there to eat after the prayers and such....but all she ate was the apple pie,bread and some fruit!

I will be taking Holy Week off from blogging to enter more fully in prayer as I  

remember the Passion of our LORD.............. feel free to brows my older posts and/or leave a comment.

I will get them in e-mail!

Jesus was crusified.
HE suffered, died
and was buried.
On the third day HE rose again from the dead
HE ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the father!
HE will come again in Glory to judge the living and the dead!
HIS kingdom will have no end!

See ya after Easter!

Peace and Blessings,
Georgiann

Balance Update....Week 3 and 4!

If you are just joining me...I am having a personal challenge over the month of March...to see if I can stay out of the grocery store and cook meals with only what I have on hand!

I have done fairly well I think.

There are some things that need to replenished every few weeks. I am feeding a family of 8 and the basics need to be bought each week....but I tend to buy to much!


Well Week 3 was by far my best week!
I only spent $30.00 at Safeway!

I bought:

cheese,tortillas,cereal and some fresh fruit!

Week 4

I spent a total of $98.36

Here is the break down

$56.00 at Safeway

bought

bread,soy milk,almond milk,3 boxes of tea

fresh fruit,5 dozen eggs, tomato sauce

some juice as a treat!

I then spent $42.36 at Safeway

to buy

lettuce,spinach,onions,sunflower seeds for salad,potatoes,large package of ground meat,

cheese and bread!

This past week I managed to get one large ham and some veggies out of my freezer!

We ate ham and baked potatoes

Ham and potato casserole (with mixed veggies and 1/2 bags of hashbrowns I had in the freezer)

Ham and eggs

Navy bean and ham soup

I have also done very well staying away from the non food extras that tempt me!

Peace and Blessings,

Georgiann

A Blog Giveaway~

Hurry there is only a bit of time left to go enter this quilt giveaway!

Second Wind~

This is Jackie one of my garden buddies!

She was such a sweetie and cleaned up the mess after we both planted the side garden!

She said, "I will take this to the recycle!" :) I love my girl!

After a 70 degree day yesterday and a 65 degree day the day before, I got busy and planted my

cold weather crops! I was just going to clean and plant my back bed.....but after watching the evening news the weather man said cool and rainy for the next week!

Since it was still fairly warm at 6:00 pm, I decided to clean and plant my side bed. With the help of Jackie,(my almost 5yr old daughter)together we planted my lettuce, onions, garlic and my 2 bok choy plants that I ran out of room for in my Cabbage bed!

Jackie said to me last night:

"Momma, we had the best garden last summer, I can't wait til summer!"

We ate from our garden almost every night!

The kids made forts and even homeschooled out there under the cosmos!

Peace and Happy Planting (when the weather is right for where you live)

Georgiann

Plantin' Time~

This is me......cleaning out the planting bed!

Noah was out and about the yard taking pictures!

This is me planting!

The black buckets in the picture are for my potatoes.

Last year my back bed was home to my root crop, this year it will house my Brassicas.
I still need to clear out my other raised bed to plant my onions and lettuces.
Hubby still needs to build my berry bed so I can transplant some of my berry bushes and plants!
My main bed will be home to flowers,beans,peas, and my root crops.

I won't be planting that crop for about another 4 weeks. (Mid April)
In large patio containers I will plant tomatoes,peppers,herbs and potatoes!
I will buy my pepper and tomato starts in May sometime!

Well the weather has been just delightful today! Warm and sunny at the same time! 70
Perfect time to put on the gardening gloves and clean out the raised beds along the back fence.

Yesterday I decided to get some cool weather plant starts ie:

Broccoli 27 plants

Cauliflower 27 plants

Cabbages 2 kinds (9 of each Purple and Green)

Chinese Bok Choy 2 plants

Kohlrabi 9 plants

Swiss Chard 9 plants

Garlic 6 plants

Red Onions 9 plants

White Sweet Onion 9 plants

Romaine Lettuce 15 plants

Red Lettuce 9 plants

Hood Strawberry 1 plant

Tristar Strawberry 1 plant

Hecker Strawberry 6 plants

Hubby still needs to till up our main garden spot and build my berry bed. He has has about 4 weeks until it will be warm enough to plant the kinds of crops that will go there.

Last year we ran out of time to build the berry bed, so I just had to put my berries (strawberries,red currants and blueberries) in other places.

I also have 2 new fruit trees that need planted!

1 Peach Tree

1 Graphed Cherry Tree (4 kinds on one tree)

Sometime at the end of April/Beginning of May, I will plant my beans,peas,flowers,herbs starts

(I will start at home with the kids next week).

My root crops and squash I will plant the directly in the ground from seed.

When planting my root crop, I will shake seeds down every 2 weeks starting in Mid April until June for a continued crop all season.

I'm not sure I will plant any corn this year?

I did not yield very much for the space it took up in the garden.

Well....I think its time to make some afternoon tea, sit out back and watch the kids play with the chickens!

Peace and Blessings,

Georgiann

Growing Lettuce In The Kitchen!

Select Seeds...I used pre-seeded stripes!

It was easy for the kids get even coverage~

You will need a clear plastic shoe box bin.

Add 3 inches of starter soil mix in bottom.

Add rows of seed stripes to cover soil.

Cover seed stripes with about 1/4 inch of starter mix

Dampen soil but not soak.

Place lid on plastic box but do not fasten...it needs air. (or use plastic wrap if the lid is lost)

Place in a sunny window or in my case place on my pot rack...I have grow lights in 2 of my kitchen can lights. $3.00 each at Walmart!

These are the pre-seeded paper stripes~

Cover with 1/4 starter mix~

Its been about a week since the kids and I started our salad tray. The seeds are starting to sprout! We only used about 7 feet of seed....so we have about 8 feet left for next time...

Our salad tray will be some what like grass...we will keep trimming off what we need and more will grow!
The kids and I also started some basil about a month ago and its doing really well!

When I decided to get a pot rack I wanted to make my own. I also knew I wanted to grow lettuce and herbs on it. So I went on a hunt to all the local Antique stores and found a medal bread tray used on an old delivery truck. I'm not sure how old it is put nowadays bread delivery guys or gals use plastic trays! With some chain and hooks from Home Depot and a crafty husband......I now have a one of a kind really cool pot/growing rack!

I hope you have been inspired to grow some herbs or lettuce in your kitchen window or pot rack!

Indoor plants are good air filters and are awesome at improving the quality of the indoor air we breath! So why not plant things you can also eat!? If you are like me and forget to water my indoor house plants.....growing food indoors might just be the motivation you need to look after and remember to water your plants! If your kids are like mine they will help you remember to check on and water the plants as needed! My kiddos want to check on "their" seedilings almost daily!

Do any of you plant things in doors?

Leave me a comment and share.....I'd love to hear from you!

Peace and Blessings,

Georgiann

The Girls Are Laying Again!

It was a great surprise to go out last week and find that at least one of our 3 hens was laying again after going on strike all winter! (not enough daylight and we don't use a lamp)

Soon it will be time to plant my new herbs...I plan to make tea with next fall and winter!

This morning the kids and I made flax pancakes with strawberries and homemade whip cream!

Noah out to collect some eggs for his afternoon snack~

Have a great weekend~

Peace and Love,

Georgiann

~Wellness Giveaway~

There is a giveaway over at Passionate Homemaking .

You don't want to miss out on a chance to get your home stocked with a Celestial Seasonings Wellness Kit! So hurry on over to get entered!

Giveaway ends Tuesday March 23 2010

5pm PST

Peace and Love,

Georgiann

Healthy Eating~

Happy St. Patricks Day~

Today for breakfast the kids and I had Steel Cut Irish Oats topped with cinnamon, real maple syrup and a splash of vanilla soy. I wanted to cook up something Irish since our traditional corn beef and cabbage dinner with all the fixins will have to wait one more day! :( (Hubby won't be here for dinner tonight).

This morning the kids and I also had a smoothie: Frozen strawberries,banana,unsweetened yogurt, honey,ground golden flax, wheat germ and vanilla soy milk. (with the help of Jackie)

I then baked up some yummy Whole Food Blueberry Muffins! (with the help of Olivia)


My house smells like a bakery today!

Tomorrow it will smell like cooking cabbage.....stinky but oh so yummy! LOL


I also have a loaf of whole wheat bread going in my bread machine!

For dinner I will make a shrimp and Asian noodle stir fry with tons of veggies.

Whats everyone else eating tonight?

Peace and Blessings,

Georgiann

March Balance Update~

Over at the blog tittled "which name" I am participating in "a step toward balance".
Go over and read what others are doing or decide to join in!

Make this your best year ever.....one month,one step at a time!

Read here to see what other things I have done since January to find balance.

For March my goal is to keep out of the grocery store and use the food I have in my freezers and on my Costso shelves. Make meals from what I have.

So here is the update for week 2~

• Walmart $40.00 (cheese sticks and frozen food like potpies, tater tots and fish sticks)
• Safeway $105.96 (fresh fruits and veggies)

So a total of $145.96 for week 2.

A great improvement from my first week!

Peace and Love In Christ,

Georgiann

Creativity At Its Best!

This is Jackie my very funny and creative 4yr old!

She can bring a smile to my face by just being!

(four is such a fun age....one of my favorites!)

Enjoy your children today~

Peace and Love In Christ,

Georgiann

Baby Doll~

In our house we believe there can never be to many babies! {including doll babies!}

The other day when I was out at the market {Walmarket}lol  I spotted a brown haired doll.

What really caught my eye was the purple clogs the doll had on. They looked liked Crocs!

Most dolls I find have blonde hair and blue eyes, so I picked up the box (that was riped) and went in search of a price. I was not able to find any more dolls like that one.....I searched the whole toy section!
So without knowing the price I still decided to buy it!
The cost ended up being under $20.00!

A brown haired baby doll for my sweet brown haired daughter!

Blue and Purple are her favorite colors too....it was a perfect fit!
Added bonus feature of the doll...
Hair that smells of vanilla....I'm not sure why? The box did not say anything about it.

Olivia decided to name her dolly "Alley".....she is pictured here trying to give Alley a piggy back ride.

{Olivia loves piggy rides from her brothers...so she wanted to share that love with her new baby!}

I know it won't be long and the girls will asking to through a baby shower for our new baby!

When it comes to babies real or not we love to celebrate life!

Have a great Sunday~

Peace and Love,

Georgiann

Bonding With Books~

Once upon a time there was a little girl who wanted her brother to read her a story.
Brother lovingly said, yes! Thou brother is only 10 he knows the importance of reading and enjoys sharing time with his sister making memories with her that will last a lifetime~

Do you remember books and stories from your childhood?

Can you still see the pictures in your mind even though you may not have seen the book in years?

What was your favorite story or book as a child?

My mom was hard of hearing so she really never read to us much.....but I remember my first grade teacher Mrs.Pen, she wore her hair in a cone shaped bee hive. It looked like the top of a ink pen. LOL

She read Eric Carls "The Very Hungry Caterpiller" to me for the first time and it became my favorite childhhood book. I loved all the holes on the pages, there was something magical about them.

My favorite page is Saturday!....and of course the end were the caterpiller becomes a butterfly!

I was so thrilled a few years back when Carters came out with baby clothes with the Hungry Caterpiller theme! I bought a few things from the collection....some new and some from the thrift store....I do my best to keep them in good shape as they are family heirlooms~ LOL giggle giggle!

Have a great Friday and a safe weekend!

Blessings,

Georgiann

Confessions Of A Embarrassed Housewife~

OK here goes......

I have a hard time staying on track or budget when it comes to the grocery store!
My goal this month was to stop hordeing  start empting the freezers of all the stuff I managed to stuff in there!
For instance the 2 large turkeys I got on sale at Thanksgiving......the Ham and Prime Rib that was on sale at Christmas. I wanted to use up all the 1/2 bags of nuts and  frozen veggies I stored up for the winter.....kind of like a squirrel~LOL

Am I the only one out there that does that?

I was striveing to eat up all the food from my freezers. Like the lone burrito and hot pocket that made its way to the back of the cooler making way for the Costco lot~
At my house the last few snack foods get striped of there box and tucked into the nooks and crannies. I vow not to forget them but some how months pass and well you know......

Now for my confession. I only made it 6 days into my goal and then blew it BIG time!

I did not feel the need to go to the store but, was needing a few ingredients to make Cheesey Chicken Enchilladas Verde and all the trimmings of a Mexican style dinner, for 2 families, I told I would bring dinner this week.
One of my church friends just had her 7th baby and another friend (from MOPS) was grieving a miscarrage and I wanted to honor both by bringing them dinner.

So on Sunday March 7, 2010 I set out for Winco (I rearly shop there because you must bag your own stuff.)
My hubby says, Winco has the best prices and prefers I shop there! I prayed as I entered the store....knowing I would have to report back if I blew it......and even that was not enough to keep me from blowing it BIG time!

Did I tell you that I'm a book hound? and that Winco has a really sweet Christian book rack?
Did I tell you that they have a really large bulk food area.....with whole grains and herbs?
Did I tell you that they have herb seed packets I never saw any place else? And they even had the starter mix I was needing to start my lettuce up on my pot rack in my kitchen?

Here is the break down (pun intended)

Winco Total   $274.15

Of that I only needed to spend  $49.06 on the things needed for the dinners I planed to make.
Money I spent on non-food wants was $56.60.
That leaves $168.49 spent on food that I will eat but did not need right now.

It gets worse.....I forgot to buy kitchen trash bags and I wanted to use up some nuts and unsweetened coconut....I planned to make some magic bars....but I needed some sweetened condenced milk, so off I went to Safeway! I ended up spending a total of  $39.57 at Safeway.

Yesterday since I was already across town to take dinner to my church friend, I decided to stop in at Costco! The plan was to get some more of my Organic Vanilla Soy Silk,a large jug of salsa and some lunch at the snack bar for the kiddos.

I ended up spending $91.37 at Costco.
Of which $43.96 was on non-food want items.
$15.80 was spent on food I needed and some jugs of milk.
So that leaves $31.61 spent on food we will eat but did not need!

I do just fine if I don't set foot in the store. I'm always temped by the non-food wants the grocery stores carry.
Though it seems I blew my goal BIG time I will still give my no shopping for food goal a go!

It is only March 9 and I have enough food to last me for quit a while.....I will use what I have.
I will not give up just because I blew it.

It did feel good to use up all the 1/2 bags of this and that in the first week...before I went on my willy nilly spending spree!

Well, keep me in your prayers as I continue on my journey this month!
I will dig in my freezer to see if I have a cornbeef for St. Patrick's Day coming up.

I know I have cabbage.......Well have a fun filled day and remember to never give up......there is always hope, with the Lords help!

Peace and Love,

Georgiann                                            

Painting The Stations of The Cross~

My kiddos love to paint ~ In our home the paints are on the kitchen table more often than any food!
I printed the color sheets of the stations of the cross over at The Cathiloc Icing.
I pray everyone is have a safe and healthy weekend.

Well I'm off to bed with my book and a bit of hot tea!

Blessings,
Georgiann

PS I have not shopped for any food this week....hubby did pick up 3 loaves of bread and a carton of eggs....my chickens have not been laying yet this spring (I don't have a light in the coop).
I have also been doing some deep spring cleaning.....and a bit of purging (9 large bags total so far). We dropped the bags off tonight after church! Boy it feels so good! I even found a few pair of shoes I forgot I had! God is good....I was praying for some "new" shoes. LOL
.

Signs Of Spring and The Victory Garden!

Well with the cherry blossoms in bloom out here in the great Northwest most of us can taste spring....

Spring for many of us means plantting time.

.

The smell of freshly dug dirt and the sweet smell of a freshly mowed lawn is only a few short weeks away!

So with gardening on most of our minds..... it couldn't have been a better day to have

ED HUME the famous garden goo-roo from our area speak at our MOPS group on the topic!

It was funny to see all us ladies get so excited to talk with and ask questions to the famous local gardener!

It was heart warming to hear and learn the years of wisdom gently spoken from this sweet old man!

Mister ED HUME brought a car load of his new book

{signed by him}

Northwest Gardening Made Easy.

Lately he has been filming for his TV show

 Gardening In America. 

See here for local air times in your area!

Mister Hume told me that he dicovered his love for gardening when he was only 10 years old!

It was during the second world war....when his family grew a Victory Garden!

A child is never to young to be included and involved in a family garden!

My girls love to be out in our garden....you can read my post from last summer....here!

{Please remember to silience my play list before starting the video!}

Ed Hume was and is such a blessing to many folks...thanks for stopping to talk with us!

Peace and Love,

Georgiann

Balance....One Step At A Time~

As a Christian wife and mother I am always trying to improve myself and find balance.

I challenge myself to try new things. Over the past few years I have started baking bread almost daily.

I try to eat vegitarian a few meals a week...even started raising chickens for eggs.

I got my kiddos invloved in  growing a large organic garden!

In January, I gave up coffee and high sugar French vanilla creamer.

In February, I started going blanket time with my youngest 3 kiddos...I have not posted about it yet....

I have joined  the blog "which name?" and other blogs in a monthy challenge to find balance in our lives.

Each person posts at the begining of the month what their personal challenge will be.

Everyone will be working to simplify and find balance in their own way!

Every person will post something different....join us if you will?

Read what others are doing....get inspired~

Make this a year of change....one baby step at a time!

I will report how my month goes as I go along!

For me the willy-nilly spending party is over!

For the Month of March

I challenge myself~

 I want to see how long I can go with out spending money at the grocery store.

I want to live out of the pantry and only cook what I already have!

I want to keep track of my food budget better than I have in the past!

I will keep you all updated~

Peace and Love,

Georgiann