• Frugal Living - Homemaking - Natural Wellness

    Wellness Wednesday: Seven Wholesome Soups and Stews

    As I sit down to write today’s Wellness Wednesday post, a cold drizzle is falling outside. The leaves are almost all down from the trees, and we have had several gray, cloudy days in a row. The crisp but sunny September and October days are over, it seems, and a more wintery feel is moving in with November’s arrival. This being the case, soups and stews are showing up on my weekly meal plan more often! My family can’t eat canned soups, since many contain gluten, MSG and other additives that give us various health issues. But healthy, wholesome soups…

  • Frugal Living - Homemaking - Life as Mom - Life in General

    The Reluctant Cook’s Guide to Meal Planning: Homemaking Series, Pt. 6

    In this final post in the Homemaking for Real People Series, I am getting really, really real! I am going to admit that I don’t like meal planning. But I still find it absolutely indispensable to the general health and happiness of my family, not to mention the maintenance of our budget. I also have to admit that I actually am not a big fan of cooking. Eating, yes. Cooking, not so much. It’s not that I can’t cook. I am actually a pretty good cook! I just don’t love it. I know some people who go bake or whip…

  • Frugal Living - Homemaking - Life as Mom - Life in General

    Intro to Homemaking for Real People: Homemaking Series, Part 1

    Do you ever look at images on Pinterest or Instagram and ask yourself, “Does she ever do anything besides clean or cook and take pictures of the results?” Or maybe you are more tempted to ask, “Why can’t my house ever look that picture-perfect?” Either way, going down that rabbit hole of comparison is a dangerous path to take, isn’t it? We have to remember that those little pictures are not the whole package. We can only see a small piece of someone else’s life, and what we see may or may not reflect real life. Why write about homemaking…

  • Frugal Living - Life in General - Uncategorized

    Kitchen and Dining Dreams and Inspiration

    Last week we signed a contract on a house here in Middle Tennessee. We had been looking and researching for a little while, but we weren’t really quite planning to buy so soon. However, the right house in the right location came up, and the price was right, too! So we jumped at the opportunity, and now we are waiting on all the inspections and such, hoping to close sometime before the end of March! The house is structurally in great condition, but the paint colors and carpet are sorely in need of an update. So my husband and I…

  • Frugal Living - Natural Wellness - Uncategorized

    Simple Soothing Chamomile and Calendula Salve

    This time of year we tend to have lots of dry, cracked skin. My son’s skin was super sensitive when he was an infant, and most ointments made his eczema and dry skin worse instead of better. Finally, I found a soothing salve that worked and actually helped heal his skin instead of irritating it more. The problem was, it cost around $11 for a tiny tin of the salve. And whenever I ran out, I either had to drive 20 miles to get more or order some on Amazon and pay even more for shipping. (This was before the wonder that…