FLYLADY - The Office Continues

 Good morning, everyone!

I'm getting closer.

Here is a picture of what the Scrapbooking/ Etsy corner looked like before:

And here's the after:

I had to get this corner done for two reasons. One, the Etsy cart was buried and I needed to be able to set up my scale and get to the drawers for packaging orders.  Two - there are two 5-drawer carts to the left. One holds Halloween and one holds Christmas items for junk journals. I needed access to the one for Halloween to do the August Junk Journal Challenge as well as prepping items for my shop.

This week, I'm headed here:

This is mostly done on top. What I have to focus on are the mixed media items below that need filed. I also have this tub (on the bottom of stack) to go through and put stuff away:

As I said, it is a work in progress but I am ...

Enjoyoing the Journey!

~Kelly

PREPPER FRIDAY - Zucchini!

 

Courtesy of Pixabay

Good morning, friends!

While the above picture did come from Pixabay, those could have easily come from my garden. I've been picking an average of six zucchini about every other day. 

One of my favorite ways to enjoy zucchini is sliced thin, tossed in seasoned flour and fried in butter Crisco. I do my green tomatoes the same way... nice and thin so they come out of the oil like a veggie chip. YUM!!!

I can only eat so many fried zucchini. I also love shredded zucchini in Morning Glory muffins. I didn't want to take up freezer room so I went in search of whether or not they could be dehydrated.

Yes!  Those thin slices will dehydrate nicely. Not sure how they'd reconstitute and fry but I'm going to try.  I'll keep you posted.

However, the ones that have become quite large, I'm going to shred and dehydrate. From there I can either reconstitute the shredded for those muffins or grind up to a flour for all sorts of fabulousness!  Might even be able to sneak some in to things so Bob will get more green veggies. :-D

Here's the video I found. I'll also link Victoria at A Modern Homestead blog. Mind you, this is not her video.

Now if the tomatoes would just start coming in. 

Do you have a favorite zucchini recipe. Please let me  know in the comments below.

Enjoy the Journey!

~Kelly

FLYLADY - Still in the Office

Good morning, everyone!

I've had a productive week of sorts. To be honest, I can't remember much of last week  I did get the work table cleaned off. I also worked on my novel almost every night for a couple of hours.  

Before the clean up

Almost there!

The boxes in the far upper right are kits I need to finish. The teal is a planner organizer that will go on top of the planner shelf when that's finished this aftermoom. Stuff in the foreground most just needs sorted and filed into the ScrapRack. This should be completely finished by this afternoon.

There is still a lot to be done in the office but I'm taking each area one phase at a time. 

Taking one area at a time helps prevent over-whelm... which then prevents anything from being accomplished. It's the age old story of taking things One Bite At A Time.

The work table (which is worse than in the picture above because items were added to that empty space on the left during sorting of the filming corner a couple of weeks ago) is my main focus this week... and the surrounding floor area. I want to get back to my junk journals this week and I have deadlines for getting stuff in the shop.  A lot of fall-colored items go up this week and I hope to have at least 1 more journal and coordinating kit by the end of the week. 

I know from exeprience that my items sell once I put them in the shop so that has to be something I focus on. 75% of everything I make in the store goes towards paying off the house over the next two years. My greatest wish would be to get our loan away from PNC bank but that isn't going to happen. Interest rates are much higher now than when we refinanced five years ago, so I'll just have to work with them for as short of a time as possible.

That's my story for this week. I have to say I am enjoying the process and being able to have space to create again. 

My wish for you this week is to...

Enjoy the Journey

~Kelly

 

PREPPER FRIDAY RETURNS! Making A Plan

 Good morning!

I dropped the ball on this last fall. For some reason, the fall season just ceased to exist for me. I couldn't seem to get footing. I just wanted to sit and veg.

Not so this year. 

As I approach 60 and Bob's retirement only a couple of years away, I've decided I need a two-year plan to lay in as much supply of non-perishables and paper products as possible. I'm also gradually adding home-canned/ preserved/ dehydrated to the pantry.

Courtesy of Pixabay User

With parts of I-70 still under clean-up as well as other natural disasters and a shortage of quality drivers, there is still the issue of getting product. I don't think this is something that is going to resolve any time soon. I don't like to be a fear-monger, but this has to make us think about supply and demand down the line. They are still touting variant strains of the virus as well as the potential for non-vaccinated people allowed in some public places. Seriously? This has to stop somewhere.

In the mean time, we have to take control of our own well-being.  That means taking stock of three areas:

1 - What we use on a regular basis

2 - How much of those items we have on hand

3 - How to break our purchases down into financially manageable chunks.

Take a note pad and pen and go through each room in your home. For me, that would be:

Bathroom

Kitchen

Laundry room

Living room

Dining room

Bedroom

Office

Basemement

I recommend at least one sheet per room.

List what you have on hand that you USE

Pitch everything that is out-dated or that you no longer use

Next, go back through your USE list and determine how many you have on hand AND how many you need to sustain you for 1 year. For now, I'm talking dry goods/ non-perishables. We'll get to the actual FOOD items in a future post. 

I'm working on a PDF that I can offer as a Beta test for a book. You're input would be invaluable.

For now, get reacquainted with your home and as always...

Enjoy the Journey!

~Kelly 

TRAVEL TUESDAY - The Mill Vintage Market

Good morning, friends!

A few months back I noticed those big flags announcing a business along Hwy 60 just west of Elsinore MO. Then I saw the sign shown above.  My curiosity was piqued but I didn't have the opportunity to stop in until a few weeks ago. 

I'm so glad I did! 

Cathy and her husband have set up a unique and classy place to shop. 

Here in the Ozarks most places that offer booth spaces to rent are full of whatever people just want to get rid of or have purchased at an estate auction the Sunday before. In most of those types of places the booths are not kept very well and the merchandise is not displayed to its advantage.

TOTALLY different scenario at THE MILL

Each booth is clean, and artfully arranged. You can tell the sellers take their time with their booths, showing off their items to the best advantage. They also rearrange their displays frequently. 

As I told Cathy, her place has an elegancy that is so inviting -  more like a 'high end market' without the high end price.

Case in point, One booth had a vintage Tupperwear measuring cup... the kind where you can measure one cup of liquid or flip it over for a dry ingredient measure.... and only $5!  Well, I held off on buying the cup.  A couple weeks later I went back to get it... couldn't find it... but found this gem instead...

A perfect find for this junk journal maker (incidently, there is a booth where I lady has junk journals for sale! Nice ones.)

Of course, Bob thought he needed to quiz me... LOL 

The measuring cup was still there, as was a Paper Doll set of Princess Diana with her most important gowns. I couldn't spend much, but the cards had to come home with me. If I'm to have either of those two items, they'll be there when I have a bit more to spend.

You will find The Mill on Facebook & Instagram  You'll also find their hours listed on the FB Page

I'll be making more trips to The Mill. I look forward to seeing how this place evolves with the holidays. I can't wait to stroll through there this fall and into the Christmas season, Maybe I'll find a gem... maybe I won't. But one thing I can assure you of... 

I will

Enjoy the Journey

~Kelly

FLYLADY Week 2 - Office

 

Good morning! Happy Monday!

Technically, this is supposed to be the week I dive into deep cleaning the Living Room, but I've been on a mission.

My office is a total disaster and I'm giving an Organizational Series for crafters on my crafting YouTube channel. If you are brave enough to check it out, the series starts with The Ugly Truth video.

If you watch, please know I've come a long way by the time you see this post. 

Except for an additional shelf I need Bob to put in the paper storage when he gets home, the filming corner is done.

Last week I spent most of my time cataloging and repackaging all of my stamps and putting them away. As you'll see in the video, the sofa was covered in rubber and photo polymer stamp sets. They now all have a home and I can sit on the sofa!!!!!

I've also almost completely cleared off the work table. I had to so I could work on the stamps. By Friday I should be able to start making junk journals again. I hope so because I have a self-imposed deadline to get fall items in my Etsy shop. 

I didn't accomplish much on the kitchen last week. I spent two days with a pinched nerve and muscle spasms in my back. Isn't that usually the way when you have plans to accomplish. Bob left on Monday instead of Tuesday so I had an extra day to dive in. By Monday afternoon my back was starting to send signals and by Tuesday I hurt to walk, sit or stand. movement made me nasueous. Instead, I stretched out in bed on the Sert massager mattress and watched the Olympics. 

The thing to remember is, you can have any kind of schedule you want, but life is going to send you twists and turns along the way. Learn to breathe and ...

Enjoy the Journey!

~Kelly

WELCOME TO MY GARDEN

 

Well, such as it is for now. This is my 32' Roma tomato bed. There are 32 plants here as well as 2 vermaculture worm towers. 

Hi everyone!

I know I've been absent. I just don't blog when Bob is home. This time I didn't get my usual Sunday to schedule posts since he was leaving out a day early. I wasn't spending his last day home with my fingers connected to a keyboard.

So after getting the business stuff rolling then dealing with a back issue, I'm here. Of course, you know those two things set me off track so I'm here tonight (Thursday) seeing how many posts I can get written and scheduled for the entire month. I do have a book to write, after all.

Let me show you where we started.

I got the idea for galvanized tin beds from Homestead Heart. Click on her name to be taken to her YouTube channel.

Unlike wood-sided beds, they won't fall apart any time soon. Granted, they'll rust and deteriorate but hopefully they'll last until I'm done gardening. I did get lucky. A guy I know who owns a restaurant built a patio off his cafe when the pandemic hit. Unfortunately, the tin leaked so they stripped it all off and started over. Leaking wasn't a problem for  me so he sold me the stack of 4x12 sheets for $10 each. We had all of the 2x4s Bob needed to make the corner pieces and I'd purchase stakes a couple of years ago I never used. Bob used them to seam the sides and for supports about mid-wau down the 8' and 10' beds. 

I mowed down to about a #2 on my mower then we mulched everything in with cardboard. I got most of it from two furniture stores - so they were big boxes. When I got ready to do that second bed to the right, I acquired a bunch of heavy boxes from (of all places) a fireworks stand! Sara had her oldest boy load all that I wanted.

That second bed is built but won't be filled til this fall when I'll layer it with mulched leaves and tree shredding to compost down over the winter.

Here is the 16' zucchini bed:

I believe there are 12-14 plants in there and they are going gangbusters! I'll have plenty of dehydrated zucchini for muffins and zucchini flour to last the winter for sure. There may be a few turned in to slices for fried zucchini chips.  This bed was planted around the decomposed straw bales that held tomatoes last year.

Across from this bed I have a double bed (one on each side of a swing set frame sorry - no picture) that holds cantaloupe. They seem to grow well in that spot so I figured why not. This fall, I'll strip off the chicken wire and we'll cover it with Pig fence panel so I'll have a more sturdy wire and all one piece.

Then there is this bed:

A couple of weeks ago we had to make an unexpected 4-day trip to OK. And honestly, the temperatures and heat indexes were killer so Bob and I hadn't been out to fill the remaining beds so we could move plants. I needed to keep everything watered while we were gone.

What you see is a kiddie wading pool filled with about 125 Roma tomato plants... and all are producing!!!!

You know, when I planted seeds last spring I never imagined I'd have 100% germination. That never happens!!

I'm just counting this as our settling in year and we'll be ready to go for 2022.

One picture I don't have... before we left, I took three big cattle feed tubs that I'd used previously for other things and filled with composted straw and potting soil. We planted a Slicer Tomato in each one with a sturdy cage from Menards.  I use THESE  They are much sturdier than traditional tomato cages. We had to trim the prongs down about 10" to fit in the tub and the wire was hard to cut with heavy duty wire cutters.

Incidently, here is the potting soil I have used for everything: Menards Master Garden  This soil is lightweight but has the same composition and time-release fertilizer as the higher priced stuff. I used this to top dress the beds as well as in my 1 qt pots when I transplanted my seedlings to their next stage of growth. It's what those kiddie pool tomatoes are thriving in!

As weather continues to cool down and we can work outside more, we'll get the other 4'x8' beds (5 of those) and the 4'x10' bed (1) positioned and start filling them with mulch, composted straw and all the leaves I can gather this fall. 

I will be back on Monday to get us back on track. Travel Tuesday, I'll take you to Elsinore MO and a special shopping find. 

Whatever you choose to do, Enjoy the Journey!

~Kelly