About those candles~~

Last year, I ventured into the world of candle making. I had some fun. It was a lot of work. Hot work. I thought I was set for the loss of power that we frequently experience out here in the boonies.....not so much.

We burned through those candles in record time ~ or lost wicks in record time. And it wasn't long before I found myself running around with flashlights trying to find enough candles to light our way through an evening of no power......again.

It was time to re-think it. It was time for another back up plan....and time to hit the Flea Market.....We picked up this beauty for $8.00 and a big jug of Lamplight Oil for about $3.00~~



And then we found this one for H's room ($2.00)~~



And this one for the upstairs landing ($8.00) ~~



And picked up this one at Wally World for about $7.00 ~~



They're all wide wicks and burn cleanly and slowly and provide us enough light to see what we are doing.....lantern oil is a whole lot less expensive than candles....and lot less work intensive then candle making..... my plan is to eventually have a lantern in every room of the house and a box of matches stored conveniently close by.

I've got my eye on a couple of antique lanterns at that Flea Market but the budget just doesn't cover them at the moment.....I've started my Christmas list though....

Reflections Part II

Simple, Green, Frugal Co-op: On Self-Sufficiency and Small Steps
This morning, as I drank my coffee and read my daily blogs, Simple Green touched a chord with me and as I went about my daily chores, I started reflecting on our own path towards increased self-sufficiency. Looking back on our semi-drop out of the rat race; initially the most important reason we did it was a sense of suffocation after 22 years of living in subdivisions.

From Backstory Although David and I never really talked about old houses while we were dating, we realized it was a shared love shortly after we were married and had purchased our own first home, .....we just had never really realized it until we found ourselves living in a subdivision on a 90 X 120 lot with neighbors on all sides and found ourselves shutting the windows whenever we had an argument.........! Suddenly, an old house in the country was being discussed.....often.

But, it was more than just the issue of privacy during heated discussions...i.e. it was little neighbor boys who snuck into your backyard while you were at work and took your german shepherd off the run line to wander about the neighborhood where said german shepherd took to doing his "business" in other folks yards.....not a good thing. In fact, one of our neighbors thought it was so far from a "good thing" that she shoveled up the evidence, stomped her way across her yard, then the street, up across our front yard...knocked on the door, and when David opened it, she threw the evidence at his feet! (she was thereafter referred to in conversation as the "shit lady".....)

And then more recently, there was that meth house that was just across the cul-de-sac~~~and the increasing restrictions put in place by the homeowners association. Anyhoo~~we were also dropping out to get back to what he and I had both known as children; a quieter, slower paced life where one could see and hear and experience nature with every fibre of your being; we were going back to a place where if you wanted to let your grass grow and have goats to "mow" it for you, you could; we were going back to a place where if you forgot to bring in your trash cans you found your neighbor had done it for you instead of a nasty letter in your mail box; we were hoping to give our children a sense of a life where you communed with nature instead of your neighbors stereo, where you had a sense of freedom instead of one of restriction....before they moved out and onwards in their own lives....

From Backstory David grew up in what could loosely be termed "country" - his childhood home was inside the town limits, but it sat on two acres of river front land.....and it was 60 years old when his folks bought it (1966)....that house had quite a history as it had been built for the Mayor of the town at the turn of the century and had a spot being a Retired British Soldiers Home before his parents purchased it and made it a single family residence once again...I grew up an Air Force brat with a South Carolina Farmer Boy father and an English School Girl mother....we never spent very long in any one place, but whenever we could live off base, Dad made certain we had an acre or two (or three) and that those acres had hogs, chickens and horses. During my childhood we lived in two old farmhouses, one in South Bend Indiana and one in Canton Ohio.....!

When we first moved in, our efforts were mainly to make it "ours" adding our furniture and photos and books and "our" colors on the walls; planting our roses and sago's. But soon, as we watched the farmers around us work their fields and our special farmer across the street began to share the fruits of his labors with us - bringing us sweet corn, peas, beans, squash, tomatoes and other marvelous tastes -

From March 2004 Mr. S. has a personal garden and has brought us fresh vegetables almost every day; cabbage and beets and carrots and broccoli. He is now planting his spring garden and will soon be bringing over tomatoes and onion and peppers and squash...I think I have found a little heaven on earth.

From April 2004 The rose bushes that have followed David since he was a child are now safely in the ground alongside the sidewalk that I uncovered on what used to be the front of the house. And the rose bushes that have been separated out from a tiny little stem Dad gave me years ago are also in the ground, one on each side of a little bridge that covers the ditch separating the driveway from the front yard. All of these rose bushes carry sentimental value for us; David's roses because he had the chore of caring for them as a child; we had these bushes at our very first home in 1982, moved them to our second home in 1990 and here they are with us at our new old home in 2004. My little rose bushes carry historic value for me as well as the little stem they came from were a cutting from a rose bush planted by my great grandparents at Whites Mill in Sumter South Carolina.

-our thoughts began to move towards those things that would allow us to save money and eat healthier and waste less. We had our own lemon tree and kumquat trees and access to several different kinds of orange trees and each time we reached out and grabbed a fruit I would think "I need to learn how to use these more - its too much waste"....and the slow process towards a simpler more self sufficient life began - not just a love of living without the busy-ness and noise of too many neighbors, but a simpler way of living.

From April 2004 It was wonderful to have room for the children to run and play and be as loud as they wanted, with no fear of disturbing the neighbors. We all played croquet, flew kites and threw horseshoes and Darrin, Josh and the kids had a water gun fight (water guns and kites courtesy of Nana).

I think that living in an old farmhouse seeps into your being in some mysterious sense; one begins to reflect on the lives that have been lived within the walls and on the grounds that surround you - where at first I concentrated on the landscaping that I was uncovering layer by layer, eventually I found myself questioning how things used to be for the housewife that cooked in this kitchen and tended the vegetable and herb garden that would have existed for her personal use.

From March 2004 The best of it has been reclaiming the grounds. The trees and shrubs were allowed to become overgrown and I have been in my element trimming and pruning. I have found treasures in almost every overgrown garden, from old bottles and pieces of the old crawlspace coverings to the bricks from the original fireplace and the original pathway on what used to be the front of the home.

...The wind blowing the rocking chair on the front porch has seemed to me to be the old lady, whose parents built the home and who lived here all her life; I imagine her spending a pleasant evening rocking on the old front porch seeing us bring the landscaping back to life.

By the fall of 2004, we were entering the first stage of empty nesting, Dallas headed off to his first year of college in August and Nikki moved into her first house on her 21st birthday in November. Although Hunter was only 8, he has always been our "self-raising" child requiring little or no supervision to complete chores, keep a tidy room, or do his homework. I suddenly had a lot more free time on my hands and therefore a lot more time to think about gardening and canning and candle making....you know, those things that the first housewife who lived here would have done to make this house a home for her own family.

As we worked towards completing the modernizing of the house that had been partially done by the previous owners, I spent my free time looking through country living themed magazines and my new subscription of Grit (a Christmas gift from my dad). I gathered ideas for decorating and gradually transitioned from the knick knacks of modern homes to the candle sticks of old and more utilitarian things like baskets for storage. And as I read about candle making, I realized that already I was living a life where electricity cannot always be taken for granted and that those candles I was placing out as decor were more a necessary item in my home then ever before. And I watched as the economy threatened to collapse.

I read about portable chicken coops and began to realize that we could have chickens here on our little half acre and leave our dependence on store bought eggs behind. As we ate the home grown veggies from our farmer, we began to read more labels and understand the slow poisoning of our systems that we are subjecting our bodies to purchasing the items in our grocery stores. We realized that a single pepper cost almost as much as a pepper plant and much more then a packet of seeds. My garden grew from container tomatoes and peppers to one with much more variety. And I watched as food prices and energy costs soared.


Subdivision Gardening 2003

Farmhouse gardening (with Mr. S.) 2008

Over the last year, I've made my own candles, attempted some canning, and transitioned the family from store bought breads to home baked ones, from cakes in a box to cakes made from scratch, from container ice cream to home made. Not just because I can do it because of the increase in my free time due to the growing up of my children but because of what I saw in the world around me.

My thoughts now turn to a clothes line out back (and how to deal with the wind swept dust that is a constant out here), a back up system for our water pump should the power go out (or should we be unable to afford to pay for it due to the coming increased costs), a cistern to catch rain water, berry bushes........I have gone from a woman who didn't own a single mason jar to one who now owns dozens......and one who is slowly stocking those jars with the staples of a kitchen...just in case.

It's not just that need to get away from the rat race that has set us on a path to increased self sufficiency; it's not just the mysterious way that life in a 100 year old farmhouse can cause a desire to live more simply and efficiently....its about this world we live in.

Its about a government that seems more about controlling us and limiting our freedoms then about the prosperity of its citizenry as a whole. Its about a fear that in the rush to go "greener" our government will be more about limiting our usage of energy then about discovering new ways to provide it; its a fear that as our government grabs more land and implements more taxes on farmers for the flatulence of their livestock or the dust the winds cause from their croplands and regulates that more of our nations corn crops are used for energy production then for feeding the people, that food will become more expensive and less available.

Its about keeping my family safe in the coming days as much as it is anything else.

The Hippie Couple~~

David and I have been called "hippies" before by our kids friends....only since we "dropped out" and moved down here though. I always just laughed it off because her generation doesn't really understand what that term really meant in the 1960's. There are some similarities I suppose....we have gone "back to nature" in a lot of ways and we do some unusual things...like shower outside in the warm months where we can see the stars or the sunrise or the sunset instead of tile and wall board. Maybe its my Greek husband's hair....almost waist length when wet, its wild and curly and Au natuaral..reminiscent of the male hair of the hippie movement.....and in the ever increasing likelihood that I didn't spend an hour with the dryer and the straightener, mine is just as wild looking... I don't really know...and I really didn't spend much time thinking about it until recently....

A few weeks ago, we dropped into the local music shop for a lesson book or fiddle string or trumpet valve oil or something...we hadn't been in there for several months....anyway, we were greeted by a huge grin and an exuberant..."well, its the hippie couple".

As we got back in the car, I looked at David and he looked at me and we both said "the hippie couple?"......and then I heard it again a few weeks after that! So, we're the "hippie couple" round here.

I think it may have to do with the fact that we're considered city folk to the locals....baby boomers (just barely mind you~~) that have left the hectic life of the big bad corporate world to "get back to nature" growing veggies and living in "Rex's old house". Add it to the wild hair this family has (Nikki's co workers at Chilli's call us "the Hair Family") in a town where cowboy hats cover a short back and sides...and maybe the flip flops we favor where they wear cowboy boots.....I guess to the outsider, we are hippie like.....

There's a few misconceptions in there...we didn't leave the corporate world and a large house somewhere....David still has the same job he did when we came down here (with a nicer drive to it) and we didn't leave a huge house and mortgage somewhere in a big city...we left a smallish house in a crowded subdivision......communal living ( a staple of the hippie movement) would never be for us.... we're conservatives politically and God didn't die and Jesus didn't marry Mary Magdalene......and we don't hate the establishment...we don't always approve of it regardless of the party in power, but we don't "hate" it.....

Still, there were many good things about the hippies of the '60's.....they appreciated the idea of providing for yourself and sharing the overflow; they promoted "love thy neighbor" (although perhaps a little too much:); they believed in living with just what you need and were not into excess in personal possessions.....sometimes I think their ideals and motives were a bit distorted by the drug culture they surrounded themselves in ...but all in all, I find I don't really mind being considered a hippie couple......










#3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament [by] the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength. Thursday, January 10, 1963 [From "The Naked Communist," by Cleon Skousen] Congressional Record, Vol. 10988th Congress, 1st SessionAppendix Pages A1-A2842Jan. 9-May 7, 1963 (from the book)“The Naked Communist” by: W. Cleon SkousenSalt Lake City, Utah: Ensign Publishing Co.C. 1961 , 9th edition July 1961.

In need of warmth and sunshine.....

Its been a long cold wet winter down here is what is supposed to be sunny Florida ~ those of us who live here don't do well without sunshine. If its cold outside but the sun is shining, it keeps us from complaining too much but let that sunshine disappear and a lot of us hibernate~and moan.

I'm moaning today...its raining, its gray and its cold! I'm trying to my best to stay upbeat....I'm putting a positive spin on it....like.....the potato plants just became visible in the fields....I'd take a photo but its too dark and gray outside.....see, I'm trying......but it all comes back around..its a vicious cycle, LOL.

Trying to be productive despite my gloomy mood, I decided to look into the Amish Fireplace this morning. We've seen the commercials several times over the past few weeks as our downstairs heater struggled to keep us warm and we'd put some serious thought into buying one or two of them as part of our overall project budget this year. We loved the idea of a space heater that could sit out all year instead of having to put it away once the season ended...and we thought "hey! we can pretend that the p.o's didn't take out the fireplace in this old farmhouse" while we waited until putting one back in became part of some future year's project budget.....

My google search didn't turn up much of anything good.....the distribution company has an "F" rating by Consumer Reports because of the length of time they've been in business, the size of the business vs. the consumer complaints, and some "iffy" advertising.....in their favor though, they've resolved all of the complaints in a relatively short space of time.

We try our best to "buy American" - and one of the cons of this product is that the heater is imported from China...now I don't know about you, but I'm getting quite *wary of things imported from that particular country...dog food, baby food, vitamins and toothpaste issues should make all of us *wary.....

And, apparently, until very recently the "all wood" mantle built by the Amish wasn't actually "all wood"....which I guess means that they used an oak veneer on the things until Consumer Reports got onto them about it.....

And the only way the thing actually saves you money is if your regular heating source is NOT working....which would have been great for us on at least four days this winter because our heat source was definitely NOT working....but Consumer Reports is investigating the "uses about the same energy as a coffee pot" claim.....and although we could have used it a couple of times this year, overall we wanted it to enhance the warmth in a room not be the only source of heat.....and our goal is to use less energy, not more of it....

The old adage of "if it sounds to good to be true, it is too good to be true" is once again proven....

So, we won't be pretending that we have a fireplace after all.....instead, we'll be designing our project budget around completing the insulation (blowing in more in the attic), finally taking down the too damaged to be fixed plaster in the closets and re-insulating the walls etc, and putting in a large padded area rug in the Master Bedroom (which is directly over the front porch and a very, very cold room!).

All of this to be done when Spring finally rolls around unless our ship comes in early.......all I have to say is...come on Spring!

*The word is "wary" folks.....have you noticed the number of commercials and regularly scheduled programs which are using the word "weary" in place of the proper word? It drives me crazy!

Todays English Lesson:

wary A adjective 1 wary marked by keen caution and watchful prudence; "they were wary in their movements"; "a wary glance at the black clouds"; "taught to be wary of strangers" 2 leery, mistrustful, suspicious, untrusting, wary.......

weary adj. wea·ri·er, wea·ri·est 1. Physically or mentally fatigued. 2. Expressive of or prompted by fatigue: a weary smile. 3. Having one's interest, forbearance, or indulgence worn out: weary of delays. 4. Causing fatigue; tiresome: a weary wait.

And don't get me started on the corruption of the correct context of the use of the word "bring".....or my own increasingly frequent use of run on sentences....LOL.

Frugal Living Part II

Yesterday Hunter had an all day Band Learn-Athon....so, since I had to be up and out of here so early, Nikki and I met up at the Flea Market....We got to hear some good old country singing by some of the locals (karaoke) - which always reminds me of my dad and our trips to the local version of the Grand Ol Oprey on Saturday evenings. We saw some cute puppies, bartered with some vender's who refused to come down on their prices and with others who would.

After most of my trips to the flea market, I leave empty handed; sometimes I pick up a great buy (i.e. a restored antique 12 inch cast iron skillet) and sometimes, like this trip....I come home with a truck load of good stuff. All of it needs some TLC but for $17.00 who cares............

Best Buys

1. Chair = $5.00 (possible re-upholstering here, but I kinda like the cover - good cleaning needed)
2. Ottoman = $2.00 (covered with a blanket for the moment)

3. Two wicker chairs = $5.00

4. Two throw rugs = $5.00 (no photos as I haven't decided where they'll go just yet)

Worst Buys

1. $3.00 bag of boiled peanuts that got thrown away....don't know what happened; usually this vendor's peanuts are to die for, but not today....the bag contained both under-cooked and over-cooked peanuts....and a very small amount of perfectly done peanuts....oh well.

2. $2.12 for a can of Pepsi poured over a large amount of ice - the whole can didn't fit in the cup so she kept it to top off the next drink sold.....told Nikki we needed to set up a stall in competition - this lady was making a killing...about $20.00 a case depending on what she actually paid for the cases herself......(usually, I bring in my own drink from home...forgot to do that this morning - won't forget again!)

I'm thinking a coat of the red paint on these (after we fix the legs)
and then a painted throw rug to define the sitting area......

As in most things we find in this life, there was trade off...lots of good things and a couple of not so good things.....but all in all, a good day for frugal living.

Frugal Living

Good Housekeeping Magazine devoted much of this month's issue to surviving the economy....I was pretty much bored with it. Now, don't get me wrong, it was a timely edition of the mag and I'm certain there are a great many folks out there who needed the information it contained. As a SAHM for the majority of the last 24 years, I'd already lived the money crunch....I could have written some of the articles.

Let's take a look at some of what the mag talked about.....

1. Make relatively painful budget cuts....okay, meal planning and shopping with a grocery list. I used to be a pro at going through the grocery store with a list and a calculator and coupons and although I have to be less painstaking in my shopping trips today, in the early days of parenting, I would shop for a week on less then $50.00. There were countless times that I went back through the store to put back what could be termed as unnecessary to feeding my family for the week just to stay on the budget. I still shop with a list and stick to it (unless I take one of the kids or the hubby with me, then it gets a little bit trickier!)

So what would I have added to this step in the article? Do an inventory of your pantry and your freezer. You may be surprised at what you'll find tucked away in your pantry or forgotten but still edible in your freezer. Last time I did my inventory, I found three bottles of ketchup - two in the pantry and one in the fridge, two bottles of ranch dressing - both opened in the fridge, several boxes of crackers, cheese I'd forgotten in the freezer just for the short list...that's what slacking off and shopping without a list and an updated inventory had gotten me.

Tape the inventory to your fridge and update it throughout the week...I have mine in three columns....1) On hand 2) running out of 3) need to buy now.....this inventory is right next to my weekly menu. Since I gotten back into the habit of shopping wisely, I've saved an average of $200.00 per month.

I'd also add that one should learn to make those restaurant dishes at home.....in the early days, David and I were lucky to go out to eat about 3 times a year. Whenever I had a wonderful taste bud experience, I'd pay special attention to the dish, ask the server questions like "what is this seasoning?" and then go home and experiment with it.

Some of our favorite family meals were the result of this money saving technique....take for example the chicken salad we eat quite often with warm Italian Bread and Honey mustard. Or the two versions of Potato Soup that is a winter staple in our house....or even my version of Chilli's Quesadilla Explosion Salad...or El Potro's Nachos Supreme. (With the exception of the Explosion Salad, it costs way less to make these dishes at home then to take the family out to eat.....and still feel as if we've been treated.)

We also have Mom's Magical Homemade Pizza on Friday nights......This delicious tradition even earned a write up in Hunter's journal in elementary school!

2. Debt.....David and I have been pretty good at keeping down the credit card debt, outstanding loans etc. We operate on as close to a cash only basis as we can. In fact, most of our debt is a direct result of the children and their various needs....for college etc. We renovate this old farmhouse with cash and not credit cards. We drive cars until they literally die of old age. In 26 years of marriage, we've had car loan payments only four times. Although we qualified for tens of thousands of dollars more then the loan on this house, we knew what we could comfortably afford and what we couldn't and didn't let temptation and emotion cause us to buy more house than we needed or could live in and not be "house poor".

3. Shopping at discount stores....I hate shopping at Walmart for various reasons, but I continue to do so for two main ones.....Ovaltine sells at $2.77 vs. Winn Dixie's $4.87; Purina One Lamb and Rice....a 35Lb bag costs about $27.00 at Wally world while Winn Dixie wants a dollar a pound! Every two weeks I have to buy both of those items and I'm not overspending on any product because I dislike the experience. That is the heart of frugal living. I could list many other items where Winn Dixie is outrageously over priced - but I think the point is proven.

I also buy our clothing during great sales....a good sale won't get me out of the house (cuz I hate shopping with a passion unless its for antiques!).....I only go out for the 50% off clearance price kind of sales. We get the name brands doing this AND we save even over the Outlets.

We still get to buy antiques on occasion, but we don't emotion buy in the process....take our dry sink for example. We saw it in our Favorite Store in January of 2005. In February of 2006 it was still in the store so we approached the owner and told him we'd been looking at it for over a year....he replied with the statement "make an offer!". We got it for less then half of the original asking price. While this technique doesn't always work, when it does it is a wonderful feeling...like the old motto "patience is its own reward".

4) I don't buy the name brand cleaning supplies.....I use the 67 cent bottle of ammonia and mix it with water to clean my floors, I buy the 70 cent bottle of vinegar and mix it with water and use it and newspaper to clean the windows....I use baking soda (in the huge box) to freshen my carpets (I apply it using my sifter before I go to bed and vacuum it up in the morning), I use a cap full of bleach to disinfect everything. The only name brand item I buy on a regular basis is the one with the bubbles that scrub so that I don't have to for the bath tub. There are times that I've decided to live it up and buy the "good" stuff (like Pine Sol because I just love that scent), but eventually I end up right back with my staples...the same cleaning products my grandparents used to use.

5) And just one more for the books......we buy our school supplies AFTER school starts and AFTER each teacher has been spoken to about their supply list requirements. Not only do we save money because the rush is past and the supplies are going down in cost, but we eliminate buying stuff that will go unused for the year. It is a little known fact that the teachers all send their individual lists to the office where those lists are COMBINED and then sent out to the parents at the end of the school year or over the summer.....the unaware among us are buying items that THEIR child's teacher doesn't want or need the students to have.

I'm not perfect at this frugal living thing, I splurge every now and then just because....but I will say that I am pretty good at it. I have spent my adult life thinking about every penny we spend, turning off the lights and adjusting the thermostat.....I have friends who have never had to think too much about what they spend who are now having to learn to live frugally.....that Good Housekeeping magazine was written for them.....but I least I got a blog post out of it!

Candle Maker....?

So, two weeks ago in preparation for Tropical Storm Faye and any of her brother's or sister's that decide to make their appearance in Florida, I began an adventure in candle making.

First, I gathered up all the candles that were melted down to almost nothing, or those which had lost their wicks; then I sorted them according to color and/or scent. Once that task was completed, David and I made a trip into town to prepare in other ways...stocking up on water, peanut butter, hot chocolate and various comfort foods as well as batteries and water proof fire starting methods....and we stopped into Michael's for candle making paraphernalia.

We purchased a roll of wick, some sticky stuff and the little metal thingies and a thermometer, pouring pot, and a few molds. Back at home, I gathered up various containers to use as candles which included a green McCoy vase, old jars from Yankee Candle, chipped tea cups etc. A quick search on Google for candle making tips (including what hazards I should be aware of in using those various containers) and I was ready to go.

Two days later, I had about 10 candles made - one tall pillar, three votive and the rest were in some of the containers I'd gathered. Now was to come the test of just how well I'd done in this new adventure............it was a bit more difficult and tricky then I'd expected and I was a tad disappointed in the results, but I learned a lot in the process....here's some of what I learned in the order in which I think of them as I type....:)

1) It is a very hot job and is one that would be better suited to the cooler days of fall or winter.

2) Getting the wicks to the correct size for good burning of the candles is tricky...leave too little and the wick burns itself out in the melting wax...leave too much and you get a lot of smoke. But, its best to have too much then too little...

3) It is very time consuming...there is the first pour, then 30 minutes later, there is the second pour, then two hours later, there is the third pour, then 1 hour later, there is what could be the final pour but only additional time and vigilance can really tell you if a final final pour is necessary. Two of my candles appeared to be fine when I went to bed the first night, only to wake up to a huge "well" in each of them that had appeared while the house slept.

AND,

each subsequent pour must be at the same temperature as the original pour or you have lines in the candle....

4) When you add the scent is important. If you add it too soon, the heat dissipates it...so you have to get the wax to a higher temperature then you want it at pouring, then remove the wax from the heat source and add the scent and stir until melted at which point, your wax is hopefully at the correct temperature for the container you are pouring into.

The conclusion is this....I really enjoyed the process; most of the candles have burned well and didn't immediately drown out in their wicks. I will do it again, but with a few changes....

1) I will make fewer candles in a batch using similar containers...i.e. I will make the votive candles all in one session, pillars all in one session, and glass jars of similar size in one session etc. This will make keeping track of pour temperatures and times a whole lot easier. A lot of my mistakes the first time around was due to too many needs for too many different types of candles.

2) I was disappointed in the scent that burning the candles emits. I will add more scent to the first pour, I will continue to add scent to each consecutive pour (since bringing the wax back to pour temperature dissipates the scent).

3) I will pay much closer attention to the temperatures of each consecutive pour...I got confused and the evidence is visible in some of the candles.

4) I will do it on a day when I am home alone for most of the time required to do this right.....I was distracted by three kids, a coming tropical storm, a husband and four dogs, two cats and a rabbit coming in for the storm. Next time, I 'll only have to deal with the four dogs and two cats....

Some of the candles I made were beautiful, some a little less then beautiful. I forgot to pour from the same batch into two identical containers so now one is a deep gold and one a light gold. The pillar is probably the best of the lot, with the votive candles a close second. My favorite though is the Green McCoy bowl....it just looks good.

Besides enjoying the process, I was "greener" for the experience. I felt accomplished and self sufficient and like I belonged to this house and the history it holds. I recommend that everyone take a day or two to adventure into the art of candle making.....

Candle Making~

Earlier this summer I cautiously entered the world of canning the fruits of my labors (well the veggies anyway) and had moderate success. I enjoyed myself in the process so even though we had to eat it all up rather more rapidly then if the jars had actually sealed.......it was a rewarding experience.

Today, I'm venturing into the world of candle making.

This summer we've lost power on four different evenings and we've burned through a lot of candles in the process. Our supply was already dwindling from past adventures in surviving without lights and water (no electric, no well, no water!), including the five days in 2004 after Hurricane Francis tore through our area.

When the cypress limb in the power line left us without power for five hours two weeks ago, I suddenly realized just how dwindled our supply actually was....although I found lots of pillar candles (my kitchen table is covered with wickless pillars), I found only about four with wicks that would still support a flame! And guess what's forming down around the Keys? It was obviously time to do something about my candle supply.

In the past, I'd have simply run into town and bought a new bunch of candles, but my new greener self said "wait a minute...can't I recycle the wax and make my own?". I suddenly remembered that David's mother used to gather up the spent candles over the year and then spend a day making candles....if she could do it, then so could I! And so, into town I went and got the supplies needed to do the job; these included a pouring pot, a thermometer, some scent, a roll of wick and the little metal thingies that hold those in place.

The cost added up, but now I'm set to do this again and again.....and the way I burn through scented candles just because I can, I probably will do it quite often. And the way I figure it, I've been spending about $20.00 each on Yankee Candles so money to make and scent my own is money well spent. And, I plan on using the new, greener waxes as I run out of the candles over time...so I'll myself be becoming greener! Always a good thing.

I have four candles made already, and after typing every other sentence, I'm running in to check the wax melting away in my double boiler! My kitchen is filled with the scent of vanilla at the moment and I'm in farmhouse heaven except for only one thing......I think I'll make this a winter craft in the future.....wax melting makes for a very hot kitchen.....even if it does smell heavenly.

P.S. Since I've a random thought process that influences my days and my writings, I've felt a bit restricted by the 70% Farmhouse DIY guidelines......so I've created a second blog for my off topic ramblings.....(and because I just can't figure out how to do the separate feed thingie just yet!).....

The Endless List

As I do my morning chores, I keep a mental list of what each of the rooms is in need of....and every now and then I get frustrated, because it is endless. We've used up most of our stash of candles during power outages so I need to replennish those; the coffee pot is on its last legs; the sheet I'm using for a slipcover on the $5.00 pink chair in my office needs to be replaced with a real slipcover.....

We're a single income family and have been for most of our married life and so everything must be budgeted before it can be purchased...there is very little impulse buying around here. I've written before of our "Necessity or Luxury" list as regards projects for the house, but there is also the same kind of list in my head for the accessory pieces that each room needs.

The most glaring "need" at the moment would be the bare floor in the Master Bedroom. That room contains the only floor that has yet to be restored....varnish appears and disappears as your eyes roam over the space. Restoring that floor is a bit down the project list and at the moment 3 runners are the only floor covering. And it isn't working at all. The four fur-kids (the canine ones) eventually end up in there with us most nights even if they begin the night in one of the children's rooms. And my pretty little runners are showing the wear and tear of dog claws. David and I are catching our toes in the snagged ends of these things and it is obviously time to think up a new use for them, like maybe in the eaves to cover the bare wood there.

Besides the danger of one of us catching our toes and not catching ourselves before we hit the floor is the temperature factor.....and perhaps it is the vanished cover crop that brought this whole thing to the forefront of my endless mental "we need" list. Removal of the cover crop is the signal of the end of summer ....and although there are months of high temperatures yet to come, eventually the colder nights of November through April will arrive. And if we don't do something about it before then, we'll not only be tripping over those runners in our slippers, but we'll be shivering as we do it.

We should never have removed the carpet in that room that the previous owners had put in; we should have known that carpet signaled a lack of insulation in the flooring - the room is directly above the open front porch. If the state of the blown in insulation in the attic was any indication, then they either did not blow insulation under the master bedroom flooring or had so little blown in that it was a pointless endeavor. When it comes time to tackle that room, we'll see just what the truth is...but we already have a pretty good idea each winter.

We've been talking of buying a large rug for that room since last January (when we were shivering from the cold) and here it is mid August and we've still not done it...the state of the runners though and the approaching cold months have moved it up the endless mental list.............now to get it in the budget....I can only be thankfull that gas prices are coming down a bit...leaves me a bit more room to get this done........

The Economy and counting my blessings~~~~

I know that almost everyone else is experiencing the affect/effect of our slowing economy in various ways - in our home, the increased gas expense combined with the increase grocery expense ($4.55 for a gallon of milk/$.67 increase in the cost of a bag of shredded cheese - it all adds up) combined with the added expenses for two trips to South Carolina etc., etc., ......have resulted in a sit down for David and me to re-evaluate our renovation budget for the year.

We DIY without financing - in other words, this is our retirement investment and we aren't going into debt to make the investment. We save our money throughout each year; we use bonus and tax returns etc and each March or April, we begin whatever projects we have planned for the year.

Each year, at least one project is begun but not finished due to budget shortfalls of some sort (emergency car repairs, vet bills etc) and we've come to just accept that fact. But, this year, one project isn't even going to be started! That's a little bit harder to accept.

We've been lucky enough to have purchased some of the materials needed for the job, but since it's a bathroom that exists in an add - on to the home (done in the 1940's or 1950's we believe) it is not a project that can be begun and then left until the funding is there to complete it. I mean you can't tear down the walls and expand the footprint (square footage) and then run out of money to complete that portion of the project. And with the increased price of lumber and other construction materials, we've decided that there is just too much risk of budget shortfalls to begin the project this year.

Thankfully, our upstairs bathroom renovation WILL be completed - all the materials are purchased and slowly are being placed in that bathroom.....soon it will be functioning AND beautiful.

In times like these, I've learned to count my blessings to avoid becoming depressed by the change in plans..........

Blessings........(no particular order)

We are not in danger of losing our home as are so many others......

We can put gas in our vehicles and food on our table.....

The outdoor shower project was completed and the upstairs bathroom will soon be as well...living in sunny Florida, we'll be able to shower outside for months yet and then we'll use our beautifully renovated upstairs bath....without danger of falling through!

The roof repairs were completed and we don't have water leaking down through our living room ceiling fans any longer.....

I have new matching kitchen appliances that save us money each month on our energy bill...and look great in the process.....

The house has been completely re-plumbed (except for the downstairs bathroom) and all previous owner contracted plumbing issues resolved......

Both my parents have had their respective surgeries and are on the road to recovery....

I've been blessed with more time to live with my adult daughter and to share in the joys and stresses of her daily life.....my son is doing well in college and my youngest is still a joy in every way.........

So, despite the frustration of putting off a much needed project until next year....I am thankful for the blessings I've received THIS year......

Signing off....Lori (who will be warning guests about the soft spots in the downstairs bathroom for another year!)