Candles at Bona Vita Rusticanda Est

Tim's Mom had a great idea! She placed a stemmed candle holder inside a flower vase to protect the flame from drafts. It was beautiful.

The Garden of Miss Organized

A few pictures from my daughter's garden. The first is of her Teddy Bear Sunflowers (it may be called a Baby Bear). I bought the seeds for her because I have loved this particular kind for years and couldn't resist when I saw the seeds at a local shop. I love her cucumbers crawling up the old ladder (it was my dad's and I am fond of it). My husband made this square foot garden for us a few years ago and more was added this year. My daughter took over the gardening last year and has been doing a fine job with it.

My Autumn Favorites

* Beautiful, bright gold, red, magenta, chocolate and pumpkin colored leaves against a bird egg blue sky
* My brother's apple cider, spicy tea and
hot chocolate
* Autumn Woods and Harvest Yankee candles
* Pumpkins in all shapes and sizes
* Walks in the cool, crisp air with my love...or a moonlit walk
* New snuggly flannel sheets
* Pumpkin patches and corn mazes
* Caramel apples, hot apple pie and caramel popcorn
* Toasting marshmallows on a campfire
* Time spent as a family laughing and playing
* God our wonderful creator

Miss Hannah Apron

Miss Hannah was made by me last autumn. I participated in an apron exchange and made two sister aprons. This is the one I kept. Miss Hannah is a hard worker but knows how to look pretty for more formal occasions. She is made from homespun with a delicate lace to dress her up.

Miss Rosette Apron

She's short, cute and a bit flirty. Hot pink and lime green ruffles dress her up a little more than her sister Miss Rosy. Miss Rosette is springtime, lace and roses wrapped up into one. She looks great on my tiny model but I will need to make a bigger size for yours truly. I have to admit that I love her.....OOh La La

The Miss Rosy Apron

The last couple of weeks have been busy and I have not had time to post. I have been sick this weekend, but wanted to take a moment to post a picture of this sweet apron that I made. This one is for my friend Miss. P. and will soon be on the way to her. I have a few more cut out to make and will perhaps even do a drawing for one here at Thimble Cottage. By the way, this is my 100th post and I feel like celebrating. It has taken me a long time to get this point. I journal when I have a spare moment. With a family to care for and the waiting time involved in using dinosaur-dial-up there are lags in my blogging. I would love to journal more often, but I will be content with what I am blessed with.

Making Your Home Cozy

Jar Soap Dispensers

I love my soap jar dispensers. My husband made these for me. The green one holds my dishwashing liquid and the peach one my hand soap. They really give a little country charm to my kitchen and of course make me think of him.

Ginger

Homemaking Binder

Leah asked about my binder so I thought I would post and tell a little about my plans for it here. I like the half-size binders because they are compact so I purchased a premade one from Walmart. It is a cherry red color and already had the monthly and weekly forms as well a telephone directory. These I will use most from this planner.
Let's move on. I have looked all over the web for the type of forms that I need. So far my favorites have come from Donna Young's website. I am in love with the Excel monthly sheet and downloaded it to use for my homeschool planner. I also printed out her version of a weekly menu and grocery shopping list. I may eventually make my own but for now I am very grateful for hers.
I have looked at several homemaking binders on the web. I love them all. My needs for a binder are a little different. Instead of lots of different sections I need mine simplier. I get distracted easily and if I have to flip back and forth between sections I WILL GET DISTRACTED.
I want everything that I need to deal with in one place. I will be putting everything that I need for the month all together. For example the July section will have a monthly calendar, weekly pages ( for the to-do lists), 5 weekly routine and cleaning checklists (so I can SEE what I need to do), my zones list ( which already has the detailed cleaning list on it), 5 weekly menu planners with grocery lists on the side, homeschool monthly planner for each child, and my monthly budget sheets all together. All the other months will have the same information included.
I think I will have these catagories separate with their own tabs since I will not need each one every month:
Medical
Recipes
Birthdates
Internet
Phone numbers and addresses
Journaling
Correspondence
Children's chore lists
Christmas
Prayer journal ? I may keep this with my Bible study stuff instead.
Well these are my thoughts. I will post more about it when it is completed. Right now I am trying to learn how to work with Word and Excel so I can make my own forms. I have the budget, medical and journaling forms completed so far.
Ginger

Homemaking Binder Websites:

Life With Christ
With the Fruit of her Hands
The Sparrow's Nest
Mrs. Catherine
Home Keeping Heart
Home Works Best (several Links on her page to see the whole thing)
Keeping the Home

Homemaking 101

I am not a perfect Homemaker. I admit it. I have however learned three very important things that make a big difference in your view of yourself, your family and your home. 1) You MUST get out of bed early. 2) You Must shower, fix your hair, do your make-up (if you wear it) and dress in a way that flatters you early in the morning. 3) You MUST spend time with the Lord.
Getting out of bed early will actually make you "feel" as though you are accomplishing more...and you may. It will also make you feel good about yourself. I know that when I sleep in I "feel" as though I am being lazy.
Showering and dressing in a way that flatters you will make you "feel" good about yourself. This must be done as quickly as possible after getting out of bed. When someone just happens to come to the door early in the morning, it will be nice to know that you do not have to greet them in your bathrobe. It is also nice to let your husband actually see the lovely lady that he married so long ago dressed in a becoming way.
Spending time with our Lord is the most important thing that we can do each and every day. There are days that I put off my time with the Lord until later in the day and then get so busy that as I am climbing into bed I realize that I have neglected the MOST important relationship of all.
Honestly, these three things will make a tremendous difference in your life. They will also help you to overcome overwhelming feelings and discouragement. Once you have accomplished them you can easily tackle the others.
More later,
Ginger