Is God Calling...or Am I Just Crazy?

Ever have a completely

HAIRBRAINED

idea and wonder if

you're losing your marbles

or

if God is calling you to

do something odd?

I HAVE

Then I start wondering:

If I did it, would it not end up

being odd at all?

I really hate when people do weird

stuff and say God called them to do it.

But here I sit wondering if I'm

about to be one of them!

What is this hairbrained idea, you ask?

Well, it's like this...

This crazy idea keeps surfacing.

It keeps coming up.

I keep wanting to research it.

I keep wondering if I could do it...

If I SHOULD do it...

GO ON A MILK AND JUICE FAST

I'm not sure if that's what I would call it.

Milk and juice FAST

makes it sound like I am going

to abstain from milk and juice.

What I'm considering is

ONLY consuming milk and juice

UNTIL CHRISTMAS.

Before you go weird on me,

I want you to know I've already

gone weird

on myself!

One reason I am wondering if God

wants me to do this is because, well,

I kinda LIKE FOOD.

I have NO SELF CONTROL.

and

I can't imagine being able to

actually do it - NOT EAT

for almost a month.

THERE IS NO WAY.

I've looked into it a little bit.

There is a diet out there called

the Milk Diet

where people literally only drink milk.

But they drink raw milk, which is

not practical for me, so I would

need to drink O.J. to compensate.

The other important part about the

"diet" is that I am supposed to rest

as much as possible while on it;

as if recovering from illness.

This piqued my curiosity.

This is the point where my engines

started working overtime and the idea

started getting obsessive.

WHAT A MARVELOUS IDEA!

What better way to prepare my heart

for Christmas!?

REST and reflection

on the past year.

REST and single-minded focus

on the year to come.

I've often admired various

religions for their emphasis

on

NO DISTRACTIONS.

The Amish

and

Tibetan Monks

for example.

Without having to wonder what I'm

going to be eating every moment of the day

I will free up that part of my brain

to focus on God

and the birth of his only son.

By AGGRESSIVELY resting, I am

taking care of and listening to

my body,

which (in theory) should help me

to differentiate between my own

HAIRBRAINED

ideas...

and God's.

I think I may have just

talked myself into this

CRAZY JOURNEY.

I'll start December 1,

and I'll end with Christmas Eve dinner

(because no way am I missing

potato dumplings!)

Maybe I'll blog about it.

Maybe I won't.

So what do you think?

Hairbrained?

Or God?

What would YOU do?

Just Amy

Prim Stacking Boxes Giveaway!

Head on over to

A Primitive Place

for this cute Christmas

stacking Box giveaway.

Then stick around just because

the eye-candy is SOOOO yummy!

Happy Thanksgiving!



Quilt-along Block Two FINISHED!

I am done with block two!!

AND EARLY EVEN

I know...don't faint.

Maybe blogging the progress

was a good idea after all.

Guess what?

Not only did I get Block Two finished,

But

I made a BONUS block too!

Doesn' that just take the cake?

Hope I don't need those pieces later

or I may cry...

and you will have to listen to me.

So here are the pictures:

Block number Two

I actually like this block even better than

the first one:

Block number One

However, I do not like them TOGETHER,

if that makes any sense.

I put them next to each other and

I didn't like it.

So NOW I am working strictly on

FAITH

that the finished product will have

a cohesiveness that I do not

yet see!

It HAS to...I am using a Jelly Roll

after all.

Then after I was done with the block,

I noticed several elements left over.

SEW...

I tossed 'em together to create

THIS

(and have NO idea what I'm going

to do with it)

Bonus block

There were SEW many ways

to fiddle with the left-overs,

but this way won.

I love to play spin the block!

How about you?

Did you finish?

Did you make a bonus block from the

left-overs?

Are you saving the left-overs until

a later time?

DO TELL!

For those of you following

along...(chirp, chirp...awkward silence)

find Block Three in 

the series

HERE

Thank you so much to

Moose on the Porch Quilts

for coming up with the

idea and blogging this first!

You rock, girlfriend!

Really, you should check her out.

Toodles for now.

Just Amy

Soap Making 101

I was running low on the laundry soap

and had to make more.

SO...

I thought, why not try to document the

very simple process and

post it for all of you who say you

can't do it.

First of all, I got my "recipe" here.

I also got the soap from them as well.

There is a recipe for powdered soap - which

would be even less time consuming than

liquid soap, but I don't make it that way

because I have a machine that wouldn't

be able to use powdered soap.  Just

FYI.

I actually do all the grating and measuring

of the product one time.  I just place the grated

soap in a quart size baggie, the powders in another

baggie and toss them all together into a gallon

freezer baggie. 

I probably should have taken a picture of it

all together, but I'm new at this and

didn't think of it.

Next time it's a cinch!

So here we go:

I take my bar of grated fells naptha...

Not that you care, but next time I am going to use

ZOTE.  It's pink and more fatty and smells a little

like citronella.  I currently use it only on stains,

but I am going to try it in place of the Fells...

ANYWAY...

I put it in a medium sized saucepan and cover with water.

Do not freak out about how much water like I did

the first time. 

Just cover the soap by an inch - like you're

making chicken stock or something.

I put it on the stove on low.

You don't want to COOK the soap, just

melt it.

After a few minutes it looks like this:

Yum!  Fight the urge to whisk it.  Just gently stir or

you will end up with too much foam on top and

won't be able to see if the soap is melted.

Once the soap is melted into a clean-smelling watery

concoction, it's time to mix it all together.

I haven't looked at the actual recipe for probably

a year, so I do this step differently every time.

It usually turns out the same.

What I do at this point is:

I take my Borax

 you can find this at your grocery store laundry isle.

and I take my Washing Soda, which is in the same area.  I

am sorry I don't have a picture...I don't

currently have a box handy.

DO NOT CONFUSE WASHING SODA WITH BAKING SODA!

It is NOT the same thing.

I dissolve them with very hot water from my tea kettle in

this bucket:

I DO use a whisk here just to make sure it's good and dissolved.

While I'm doing the whisking, I am simultaneously filling up

my clean dishpan with hot tap water.

When the powders are dissolved or when my pan is overflowing

(whichever happens first)

I add the melted soap to the powder,

give it a few whisks to make sure it's

combined well...

And then add the dishpan full of hot water to the bucket.

I usually have to fill up a couple of pitchers too...

to get it nice and full.

And stir, stir, stir to make sure everything is all combined.

How do you like my fancy stir stick? 

Hubby made it for me.  It's a 1X4 (I think)

and he was nice enough to duct-tape the other end

so I don't get splinters when I am stirring my "cauldron"

as he says. 

We are all about SIMPLE here. 

At this point you could use it right now if you want to.

I usually do not need it immediately, so I cover it and let it sit

in my kitchen until someone big and strong comes home to

move it to my second story laundry room...

OR

sometimes it will sit there until I trip over it one too many times

and I will carry it up myself, cursing all the way up

and apologising to my Lord all the way down...

But that's just my house.

You are surely more organized and less

LAZY

than I am!

I am not quite organized enough to be able to tell you exactly how long

it takes us to get through a 5-gallon bucket of laundry soap.

I would say it's more than a month...but less than 6?  I should really

keep track.  But I won't.  I just know that

I have been doing this for over a year and I have only

had to purchase more washing soda and Borax

once.

With this last batch, I did use up the Borax, so I will

go get that and washing soda again.

I ran out of Fells Naptha as well, but as I said at the beginning,

I will be using another bar of laundry soap

next time, and if it works I will

have 8 more batches ahead of me before I need

to purchase any more soap.

I really like making my own laundry soap.

I hope you found this at least a little helpful...

if not, well, you can always follow the directions. 

Hehe.

Toodles for now!

Just Amy

Maximize Your Mornings Challenge Week Two

UGH!

I know it is only the second day

of the second week, but

I am ready to

THROW IN THE TOWEL!

First of all, I get up, uh, well...

GROUCHY

INCOHERANT

and

HATING THE WORLD

That's just how I am. 

I need at least 30 minutes

to resemble a human being.

I doesn't matter WHAT TIME

I get up...

Second of all, this is not the first

time I have tried to work through

the maximize your mornings program.

I've tried numerous times on my own

and twice with Kat.

Because I know that for me to be a good mom,

I need to be up before my kids. 

I do not want them to see me

acting like The Beast.

SO, there are two options I am going

to try before I completely give up

FOREVER.

One option is that I will just get up

at 6 or 6:30, but not plan to do

anything until the kids go to

school.

Kat promised me that my kids

would learn to respect my

quiet time, but that ain't happening!

I can't even get to the quiet

time without losing it.

I've tried going outside.

I've tried LOCKING MYSELF outside.

I've tried planning my day in bed

so I can pretend to be sleeping

when they come check on me...

It all just makes me ANGRY

because the kids are pounding

on the door or lifting up

my eyelds "Mommy?  Are you awake?"

People laugh and think I'm kidding.

I AM NOT.

So I thought if I just get out of bed,

make lunches and breakfast,

dress myself and take them to school...

and save the planning and the God and

 the exercise until they're gone,

maybe that would work.

AND IT MAY.

But thats Plan B for now.

This is because not only am I useless

when I arise in the morning...

I also peeter out in the early afternoon!

So if I'm gonna get stuff done,

I need to start as soon as I'm human

and haul tail, or I won't get

anything done.

That means: waiting until the kids

are in school to start my day is

the equivalent to waking up at noon.

Personally, my most productive hours are

from the time after dinner to about

2-3 in the morning.

THEN I'm like the energizer bunny.

But for obvious reasons, that doesn't work

in this life I've chosen.

Plan A will be (for now):

Da da daaaaa:

I'm going to get up at 5 with the hubby.

He's been complaining that he needs

a good breakfast anyway...

I figure, I don't even have to do anything

until 6-ish, so I should be my

regular good-natured self by then, right?

(unless I make him breakfast, but I can do that

half-dead as long as he doesn't talk to me)

I may even have my planning and God

out of the way...and I can

exercise with the kids

I just need that half hour to become

human...and the kids REFUSE

to allow me that.

So there you have it.

5am tomorrow.  No easing into it.

5AM

I'm going to do a lot of planning

before bed!

Toodles for now.

Just Amy

Quilt-along Block Two

Here is the information

for our next block,

courtesy of

Moose On The Porch Quilts

Block Two, here I come!

Follow along with me.

It's more fun with friends.

Whatever you do,

Be sure to check out

She's WAY more inspiring

than I am.

Just Amy

Quilt-along Week One DONE!

Check ME out!

I finished my first block.

I think I am in love! 

She's so purdy.

The 9-patch in the middle is

accidentally made with the same

print on dark and light fabrics.

I didn't notice that until

I was done.

Then the border is almost

a blown-up version

of the darker squares.

SEW PRETTY!

If you're following along,

you will notice my version

is less scrappy than the original.

I'm all for scrapy, but

I liked it this way better.  lol.

Now we have two weeks

to complete block number two.

I'll post that info next.

Toodles for now!

Just Amy

Discoveries of the day

1. Sandwiching a quilt makes me feel like an old lady.
2. I really love the color combination of pink and brown.
3. or mint and brown
4. or turquoise and brown...I'm quite possibly obsessed.
5. I am more like my grandmother than I care to admit.
6. The back of the van (where the kids sit) is disgusting.
7. I eat entirely too much sugar and sugar-like products.
8. To get a "mother's ring" like my grandma's, we'll have to save for awhile.
9. I have way too much stuff.
10. I am SO tired of the "alpha male contest" in my house.

Maximize Your Mornings, Step One

Well, I did it!

Drum roll please...

I got up at 6 a.m.!

For the first time since...

uh...high school?

Surely I've gotten up that early

since, but this is the first time

I've done it WILLINGLY...ish.

I plan to get up even earlier,

but the book says I don't have

to just yet.

I already did more than

the book recommended

for week one...so

I don't want to take on too much,

get overwhelmed and give up.

Like I did last time.

The ultimate goal is 5:30.

Then I will spend a half hour

with God,

A half hour exercising, and

a half hour planning my day.

Then the kids will be in my hair. 

Then my perfect spawn
will arise to make my day
complete.

Get the book, get your purpose...

and stop by Kat's awesome and

inspiring website too.

Jelly Roll Quilt Along Block 1

Okay, I have my

material picked out!



The Jelly roll is from Moda's

Civil War Homefront

by

Barbara Brackman.

LOVE IT! 

I kinda have a "thing"

with Civil War era fabrics.

And furnishings.

And life...

I may have to get

another one for a

disappearing 9-patch quilt...

ANYWAY

The background fabric

is going to be

unbleached muslin.

I have what I believe

will be enough, but

if I get stuck, it's

only a couple of bucks

a yard AND easy to

match if I need more.

I have not picked a border

yet, but I have a possible one

in my stash.

Never occurred to me to take a

picture, but it's a red toile

printed on off-white.

I LOVE TOILE!

Also have not picked a backing,

but will more than likely

go with more muslin.

So there you have it.

And what did YOU choose?

Here is the link for the

materials list.

See you in a week with the finished

block!!  Whoo-hoo!

Jelly Roll Quilt-A-Long

I am going to do it.

The actual quilt-a-long is actually over.

It ended in August.

She does have a new one going now,

But I have the materials for THIS one.

So here it is.

I'm going to do the



From http://moosequilts.blogspot.com/.

I can't wait!

I looked ahead at all the different blocks.

I'm a little nervous about one or two,

But like mama always said:

I'm "taking it one step at a time!"

How about you quilt along with me?

We can be the Quilt Along Procrastinators Club!

I'll link to http://moosequilts.blogspot.com/

each week so we can be on the same page

and I'll blog about my progress...

and YOU comment about YOUR progress!

Okay?  Okay!

Cheers!

Just Amy