Drive bys

The Inspired Room has posted all the drive bys around the country on her site today. Go visit each of the blogs that are linked on her site. Mine is here. I would like to add that I love to look at all the details of architecture and see how people add a pot of flowers or a wreath or a bench to make a home feel welcoming. While a lot of the homes I photographed are beautiful, I am so thankful for what God has given me. If you are in a small home, or even a trailer, or apartment you can still make it welcoming and beautiful. Not to impress everyone, but to create a place where you can enjoy being and relax. Also, a place where you can be comfortable. Can you imagine cleaning some of these big homes that are over 6000 square feet? I photographed a really small home in the historic district in. It is the yellow one with a full front porch. I don't think it is over 1500 square feet. It is so homey. Take what you have and improve it to it's full potential. Don't ever fall into the trap of waiting till you have more to entertain or decorate. You can find really great items at thrift stores and garage sales to add your personality to your home. I bought a robbins egg blue duck yesterday for our new room. I was looking for things in the blue color in the fabric and it just spoke to me. Not "Quack, quack" kind of speaking, but more like an item that adds an unexpected addition to the room to give it a unique personality.

Learning to be spontaneous.

I am by nature a list maker and planner. I love to organize. When I was a preteen I used to take the catalogs and make lists of what I would buy when I got my own home. I would go through my wardrobe and try everything on to see how I could pair things together to make different outfits. I would write down all the combinations and see how long I could go without wearing the same thing twice. I am the weird one who loves to make budgets.

So, it is not by nature that I live with five kids. I can't plan and organize our days and expect everything to go accordingly. Kids just do not work on a plan and there is always things that were unplanned or forgotten that come up. I am learning to just go with the flow and be able to keep some sanity. You know how??? I plan for it! I stock my house with foods that I can pull out and quickly prepare. I have a tote where I can grab coupons to be cut and filed, magazines to read, and other projects and go. I have a pocket calendar that keeps up with our schedule and appointments. I try to keep snacks in the car. I also have learned to say no to outside commitments and only take on small things that do not require a lot of my time. Yes, for this season, I have given up some of me so that I am here most of the time and not busy with other things.

Yesterday, my 11 year old had a friend that spent the night. My graduate had 5 friends over, my 15 year old asked a friend over to spend the night. The 8&10 year old were in and out with neighborhood kids. I asked one of the girls what her mom was doing and told her to call her and tell her to come hang out with me. That led to her husband coming when he got off work. Then the intern for the summer working with the youth and another girl came by with a youth boy. We were in the middle of cooking hamburgers and hotdogs when all the others came. I just pulled out another package of hotdogs and have the box of premade angus burgers from Sams that I pulled out more burgers. I opened 3 cans of corn, some baked beans and chips. We made smores over the fire. Keeping food like the premade burgers and some can food helps to add to a meal to serve more. If I was making chili I would just add a can of beans and more sauce. If I had chicken I could have made noddles and a white sauce and just cut up the chicken that I had to serve more instead of giving each person a whole piece. While we were cooking in the kitchen one of the boys came in and was searching in my refrigerator. The lady here commented that he was pretty comfortable here. Then later when we were sitting at the table eating, one of the teens came in and got a bag of chips. He was hiding it behind his back and slowly easing outside with it pretending to steal it. I love that they are not scared to ask for what they want or just come get it.

I am learning to be more flexible. God has had to smush on me to make me more pliable and to be able to bend. Hopefully, by the time the 5th grows up I will be all smushy and easy going. I am becoming more comfortable in my own home. I remember when I wanted it all clean and everything put away before I would let anyone in. Now, I tell you to be careful not to trip over the shoes piled by the door and come on in. My bath vanity is still in the foyer. I still have no cabinet doors in the kitchen. We are a work in progress, both my house and me.

Happy May Day

We are supposed to make bouquets or baskets of flowers and secretly leave them on our neighbors door, so here are your flowers! My bushes are just covered with them. I am visiting a lady that moved from our old town tomorrow and I am going to cut her a bouquet tomorrow. Maybe I can cut some for my kids teachers at Friday classes.

Entertaining

Do you like to entertain? Or, do you put it off because your house isn't perfect or you don't know what to serve? I was talking with a group of ladies the other day and mentioned that someone is at my house EVERYDAY to eat. A lot of times it is different groups of my kids friends of all ages. My friend said that she never has her child's friends over because she always stresses over what to fix to eat. Why??? The kids, or anyone else for that matter, don't come to your house to eat. They come to spend time with your family and be a part of whatever is going on. They really don't care if your house is immaculate and perfect. In contrast, they feel like they can relax better if they know that it is okay to make small messes.

Think about it... when you visit with someone who's house is perfect are you relaxed? Or, do you feel like you need to be really careful to watch your crumbs and straighten after yourself? When they have shoes piled by the door, or laundry to be done, or dishes in the sink you just feel like they are allowing you into their life the way they are. No need for make up and fancy clothes. No need for perfect, made up manners. Relax, and be yourself. One of the biggest compliments you can give me is to walk into my kitchen and open my refrigerator or pantry and grab what you want. I know that you feel comfortable here.

I have had friends with beautiful homes that I covet. Everything looks like a decorator came in and found just the right pieces to go with the house. I have had friends that have houses that need painting, with carpet so full of stains you wouldn't let your baby crawl on it. What matters is how you make people feel when they are there. Do you let people past the "parlor" of your life where everything is clean and always ready for the outside to see? Do you let them into your "kitchen" to sit and tell about their day over a cup of tea? Do you let them lounge in your "den" where they have taken off their shoes and have their feet up? Do you even let them past the "door" and into your home at all?

I love to have people over. I have long gotten over a perfect house. I can't keep it perfect with 5 kids. As soon as we eat one meal and clean the dishes someone is back for a snack. As soon as I get all the laundry done, someone brings two more loads that they "found" in their room. The work never will end. We live here. I don't work and the kids don't go to school, so my home is active 24/7. When you come I want you to be fed. But, not just food. I want you to feel fed love and warmth. I want you to know you don't have to call -just stop by. I will find something to feed you if it is mealtime. I will stop my day to sit and talk to you. You are more important than my laundry or my cleaning.

What do you convey to others? Are they important? Or, are you too busy "doing" like Martha? Mary stopped to spend time with Jesus. Do you stop to spend time with your friends and your kids friends? They may have parents that are too busy to listen to them. They may not get a home cooked meal at home. They may be on the verge of going the wrong way in life. You can make a difference. Entertain. Today is the day, not tomorrow. Tomorrow may be too late.

Fall Back Meals

Do you have fall back meals? Today my kids went to their home school classes at the church so I ran all over town to all the CVS stores. I met my husband at Chilis for lunch. We both were not feeling well so we really didn't enjoy lunch. Man, we have only had supper at Chilis, not lunch, it was expensive. It was $17.00 before tip, and we both drank water. I got the unlimited soup and salad. It was good but I just didn't feel like eating much so didn't even eat one serving of each.

I picked up the kids from school and had just sat down on the couch and my 17 year old called to let me know that she had friends coming over. She brought home about 8 friends. They hooted and hollered for the last few hours and have all now left for something at the church. But, I have no supper ready. I put on some frozen peas, they will take an hour to cook. For those not from the south this is not English peas it is southern peas- pink eyed purple hulls. They actually taste nothing like black eyed peas, but that is the closest thing that people outside of the south understand. The only meat that I have since I have not shopped this week and I lost my coupons (see this post http://southernseven.blogspot.com/2008/02/i-cant-find-my-coupons-call-911-fast.html ) is smoked sausage and don't want that. I guess we are having peas, corn, and cornbread. This meal saved us from hunger when we were first married. My father in law would give us peas and corn that he grew. I would make cornbread and maybe some rice.

Some of our other quick fall back meals are:

ramen soup and grilled cheese sandwiches
quesadilla- throw in whatever you can find leftover
eggs, bacon/sausages, grits, and biscuits
I keep pizza dough and can sauce for pizzas or garlic/cinnamon sticks
macaroni and cheese- although not enough for hubbie
cereal
PB&J

It is a real blessing that my daughter brings home her friends. It is killing any budget because teenagers can go through food, but I feel it is worth it to have them around. Even when they are noisy and acting stupid. I was really touched one day when my daughter came home from a lunch out with all of them. When they come over I talk to them and then we will go upstairs while they watch movies and then come down after the movie is over. She said that they all started talking and everyone was talking about how they liked to come to our house best. Because we talk to them!!!!! Just when you think that you have earned the dorky parents that are talking to me award. A couple of the kids have million dollar homes with home theatres and pool tables. We don't. I thought that would be the best liked house. I did find out the dad gets his guns out and tries to intimidate the boys. My daughter also mentioned that one of the boys has a house that there is nothing out of place. I said, "See, you need to make sure that it is clean when they come over. They are going to think we are slobs." and she said, "No, I feel like I can't touch anything and am not comfortable." So see, redeeming value of not being perfect at keeping a house- they feel loved and comfortable. Do you feel the hugs?

Using a Gift Box to Save Money

One thing that has saved us a ton of money is to keep a gift box. I pick up all the bargains that I find through the year to keep on hand for gifts. With five kids we have a lot of parties to attend. I like to pick up craft kits, legos, books, art supplies, toys that have been clearanced, journals, cute photo albums or frames, puzzles, remote cars, there are so many ideas!

I also have gifts for adults that I keep like afghans, albums, frames, candles, bath salts, swiss knives, and anything else I find. We do two or three Dirty Santa games at Christmas where we need $5.00-$10.00 gifts. I recently picked up a gift box packaged thermos with two coffee sip cups for $5.00, two floating flashlights for $1.58 each, a chenelle afghan for $4.00, a set of two photo albums for $3.79. These all make great gifts and were over half off original price.

I also try to keep gift bags, tissue, ribbon, and box sets of cards on hand. I recently bought a box of birthday cards for $1.50 at Walgreens. Keep blank note cards so that you can use for any occasion. I also pick up clearance paper plates and napkins. You can use these to make it festive when feeding one of the kids friends or when you have a friend drop by.

Ooh! Love it!

I would love to make some of the aprons at www.vanillahousedesigns.com. Check them out. I love the Friday night apron and the Sunday Dinner apron. What makes them is the fabrics!

I think that this would make cleaning fun. And everything would sure taste better if I cooked it while wearing one of those. I have added this to my to do list.

Impromptu Lunch

My kids asked if they could use some cloth napkins and light some candles for lunch yesterday. I turned around and they had taken a sheet and covered the bar and put all these candles and flowers around. One had a notebook and took orders and they played restaurant.

See the pear candles? We were at a garage sale and I like to pick up candles. Even if it is not something I would want for decorating, I can use them when the power goes out or just for things like this. Well, I asked how much she was asking for the candles and she said $.10. So, I quickly picked them up. When I went to pay my $1.50 for the 15 candles she said that it was $.10 for them all. What a bargain.