We are back!

Three and a half years ago we MOVED! Then this summer we MOVED back! What?

A dear friend of mine had a large rental just outside of city limits with 2 acres! We took it! All 2200 sq ft. During that time I learned a lot.

I learned that:

Extra "stuff" is the enemy. Not square footage.Usually

Depression can attack no matter where you live.

No matter how much people say, "It's not a disability, it's an ability" if you were once "normal" and suddenly or over a course of an illness, car wreck, etc. you have to adjust to your new normal "disability" it can be a depression train wreck waiting to happen.

We chose to move back for financial reasons. The Miro-Mansion is paid, free and clear. Also, my Mom and Pops live across the street. Their health is poor and they need assistance. We moved back just in time for Pops to go into the hospital for a surgery. He never came home. We said good bye to him one month ago. So it's just Mom and her pack of dogs living across the street now.


Here is a post I started working on years ago, before we moved.

Seven years we have lived in this tiny house. Seven years I have struggled with all the problems that living on top of each other causes: short tempers, irrational expectations, organizing, smells, dirt, budget, depression, anxiety and contentment. This list is not exhaustive (just give me a few minutes and I'm sure I can add to the list). Let's break it down... Short tempers: Bumping into each other (all the time) gets old, I don't care how much you love the other person, at some point you will reach your boiling point. While statics tell us that summertime is the worst for domestic violence (no folks, none of that around here) due to the heat; wintertime is the worst for a family cooped up without enough square footage. As our son has entered teenage years and become a decent drummer, the sound level has risen in our small home. Also, for the past three years I have babysat our youngest granddaughter on a daily basis, so add more toys, noise, and another body to step around, over, etc..

Can you tell I was at my breaking point?


My hubby and I moved back with a 17yr-old son, two young grandchildren(that are with us A LOT)ages 2 and 6, one aging boxer, and the evil kitten.

So what's the different? First, the smelly carpet was ripped out and tossed! Brownish-yellowish nicotine stained ceilings were all primed and given a fresh coat of white paint. Next we painted as much as possible before our move-out date arrived and we purchased new sinks and faucets to replace the old cracked leaky ones. That gives me hope! We have much more to do and much more to unpack and toss but we are happy and cozy!

More updates and pictures coming soon!
Have a great Thanksgiving!

Sunrise Ramblings

I watched the sunrise for the first time since, since….I can’t remember. I am not a morning person AT ALL. Mornings are when I sleep the best. But for some reason (duh, I hurt) I didn’t sleep well last night and keep waking up.

During my tossing and turning my mind had taken me into prayer, praise, and then the inevitable happened. Homeschooling concerns invaded my personal brain space. Curriculum concerns, teaching techniques, scheduling, discipline, and on and on it goes. That’s when I finally gave up and got up.

Gliding gracefully through the house….hee,hee,ha,ha….stumbling around like a bull in a china shop, I try not to wake the rest of the family as I headed to the coffee pot and then the computer. The electronic box of knowledge that gives me answers at the tap of my enter key. Oh great box please tell me what I should do to solve all my homeschooling/parenting/housekeeping/ (you fill in the blank) problems I face. I wait with great anticipation as my Google search page loads. Then instead of one simple answer I have thousands of possible answers to wade through, sift, chew, reject or accept. Good grief.

When I was a young mother raising my first batch of kids out in the country, life was simpler. If we wanted to research something we went to the library and if they didn’t have what we were looking for it must not exist. Now years later I have a child that makes my first three look comatose, and a computer that offers more info than my soggy brain could ever hope to process.

Here are a few of my random thoughts after my early morning of meditating, praying, and web surfing:

1. Teaching to your child’s learning style is more important than the curriculum you use.

2. Select curriculum according to your child’s learning style.

3. My child does not learn social skills simply by being around other children. We have to teach skills to him as the opportunity arises. So yes it appears that I am in the middle of things.

4. I refuse to apologize any longer for my sons ADHD. I am sorry if your kid can’t hang with my son’s ricocheting mental process. Don't worry - Wiley Coyote never caught the Road Runner either(at least for very long).

5. I also refuse to apologize for my son's idiosyncrasies. We really are trying very hard to help him recover from all he witnessed (endured) prior to us adopting him. Yes, we discipline him, we just have to pick our battles so we can survive each day. On the other hand, no we do not discipline him too much or without feeling or thought. I refer you to #3 and then add to the mix the diagnosis of Oppositional Defiance Disorder. Think about it.

6. I don't like arm chair disciplinarians any more than any other conscientious parent. However, by the time you have had to correct/redirect your one Polly Perfect child, I have had to correct/redirect my son at least a zillion times.
Also, I do live with the aftermath of a spinal cord injury. Just cut us a little slack.

7. Do I appear angry to you? I am not. Just frazzled. I refer you to #'s 1-6!

5. As always I can not take a single step without my Lord Jesus Christ!

Be Blessed and hug a hyper kid today!

Change

This blog is under redesign...hang in there with me...it might get better!

Frugal Thoughts - Homemade Laundry Soap

Wash Day at the Hoyt Household. No, I do not use a wash board, yet. I really do love my old apartment sized stackable washer and dryer, it's just my electric bill that I am not in love with. My Grandmother Murphy is to blame. She was the most frugal do it yourself person I ever had the pleasure of knowing.

I found this old photo of George and I during our hippie days. That's me playing the washboard.

Just fooling, it's not us! Just couldn't resist. Ok on with my purpose.

About a year ago while pinching pennies I discovered that even though we are only a family of three we were going through a minimum of $16 dollars worth of laundry soap a month. Usually we spent $20 to $24 a month. Just not acceptable here at the Micro-Mansion. How ever can I afford my Chocolate Bon-Bons spending that much on soiled laundry.

So I Googled and Youtubed and prayed and low and behold the Lord sent an answer in the form of my friend Dana Thorne. She had been holding out on her home-school group! Right under our very noses she had been making laundry soap for the past year. She graciously agreed to demonstrate, and the rest is sudsy history.

So here it is the recipe for A Bucket Full of Laundry Soap. I really like it and I have only spent $16 to $20 dollars on laundry soap (total) in the past year. For really grimy clothes (oily, gasoline, cow poop, etc.) I either use more soap or wash clothes twice. Usually I just wash the really nasty stuff twice and everything works out great. I do spot treat for food stains that have dye in the spilled food item. You can whip this out in about 30 minutes once you get the hang of it.

Items needed for Laundry Soap (makes 4 gallons at a time):

Five Gallon Bucket with lid

2/3 bar of Fels-Naptha soap (type of soap made for washing clothes look for it in the supermarket laundry isle)

1 cup of Borax (I have increased this from original recipe to get my little boys jeans to come out cleaner)

1 cup of Washing Soda (not the same thing as Baking soda but made by the same company)

Essential oil (I don't add this. But I might in the future just to help fight bacteria [lemon, lavender,orange act as an antibacterial) and give the clothes a nice fragrance)

Then after you have gathered all your goodies and have grated your soap do the following:

* Select a pan that will hold a quart or two of water easily.

* Measure out 4 gallons of hot tap water into your bucket.

* From the bucket remove enough water to fill your pan about half way
(this is just an easy way to keep the water ratio correct)

* Place pan with water on stove and heat to medium low (you don't want
to boil this)

* Grate soap finely (I use a cheese grater), break up any large pieces.

* Slowly add soap to hot water that is in pan on stove, stir until dissolved

* Slowly add Borax and Washing Soda after soap is dissolved (may foam up on
you if heat is to high, if it does just reduce heat and keep stirring)

* Continue stirring until everything looks dissolved

* Pour pan into your bucket of hot water and stir (add essential oils at
this time if you are using them, just a few drops go a long way)

* Cover and let set overnight then it is ready to use (stir before using)

* 1/2 cup per load (experiment for your washer size, yes this is low sudsing
so it is safe in HE washers)


The soap might look watery or it might be almost a gel like consistency both are normal (humidity causes weird things to happen). Just stir it up good before use. I keep my big bucket of soap stored out of the way and just fill up an old empty laundry soap container with my homemade soap and keep that beside my washing machine. You do need to shake your bottle before each use.

Locally (Oklahoma) you can find items at:
Fels-Naptha soap can be purchased at United or Homeland in B'ville
Borax can be found in most stores in the laundry isle.
Washing Soda can be found at Hometown foods in Pawhuska
5 Gallon Buckets can be found at Atwoods or Lowe's
Essential oils can be found at Walmart or Jude's Health food in B'ville

If you want you can try this for Inexpensive Fabric Softener

Recipe #1

1 Cup White Vinegar
Add vinegar to rinse cycle. Works great. Removes residue and odors. Also helps to keep washing machine and hoses fresh and clean too.
( I use this one once in a while, the vinegar smell dissipates and your clothes just come out smelling clean)

Recipe #2

1 Container of Name Brand Fabric Softener
4 Inexpensive sponges, cut in half
5 gallon Bucket

Pour entire container of softener into a 5 gallon bucket. Fill empty softener container with water twice (2 parts water to 1 part softener). Add sponges to softener/water mixture. When ready to use wring out extra mixture from one sponge and add to the dryer as you would a dryer sheet.

Have fun experimenting with ways to be a good steward of your resources!
I always feel so domestic and useful when I make my soap! LOL

Blessings my friends and happy soap making!

One Tough Cookie

All my thoughts are with my Granddaughter Rhian. She is recovering from a surgery to deteather her spinal cord, so her torso can grow. Her mother, our daughter, is wiped out from her long hospital stay with her daughter, but has kept us up to-date via blogging and facebook (such amazing communication advancements).

Having gone through a surgery myself that involved messing with the spinal cord, I can sympathize with Rhian. It is no fun. I have had 8 surgeries in my life and the one involving my spinal cord was the most difficult. Hard to imagine my granddaughter having to endure this, yet thankful that the doctor's think this might be the solution we have been praying for.

To read more about our courageous little Rhian visit Kathryn's blog in the sidebar "Dresses with Boots".

Rhian's rapid recovery and successful surgery is a wonderful Christmas Gift!

Thank you Jesus!

Sniffle,Snort, Sneeze!

February is the shortest month of the year, yet this month, this February has dragged on forever! Maybe it's the never ending to-do-list or maybe it's just all the "Bugs" we seem to be catching around here! The latest battle has been with the common cold, and it is taking offense at the word "common" and trying to outdo its self this time! So here I sit with a box of tissue on one side and a box of disinfectant wipes on the other, trying to contain my bodies production of germs. Fun. Poor George he keeps repositioning my wastepaper basket just hoping I'll actually hit it with my version of tissue basketball. He's taking it easy on me because I had a tooth pulled just before the cold hit. I'm so Blessed.

January seemed to be much the same. There have been a lot of changes begun around here...then stopped, as you can tell from our youngest son's expression in the picture above even he is ready for spring!

Stay Well, and God Bless!

Seven Random Things About Me

I've been Tagged! Oh my confessions in cyberspace...ok hang-on I'm really weird. It's truly a God thing that my children are sane.

1. I have a tactile aversion to any fabric that is rough, slimy, or scratchy. Also, if you inherit my "hand-me-downs" all the tags will be cut out of them!

2. My "Blanky" is approx. 24 yrs old. Don't even think of using it. It's thread bare in places but it's still my favorite blanket and has just the right texture (see #1).

3. Denim - Created by God just for me. I won't take our daughter (Kathryn a.k.a. Dresses With Boots) shopping with me when I need to find new clothes. Why? Yes, I know she has great taste...but she won't let me buy anything DENIM!

4. I love Houses and floor plans and gardens. The fun of transforming a wreck in to a...a...a...MICRO-MANSION! We are not there yet, but eventually this place will live up to it's name!

5. Fall - Oh my favorite: apple cider, bonfires, smores, leaves turning colors, fruits and nuts to harvest, football games, wrapping up in my favorite blanket and sipping hot chocolate...etc...etc...

6. Vehicles should only come in one color - Bronze or shades thereof to hide dirt. As if to prove God has a sense of humor, we now own 2 white Vans. Hummmmm....should I wash mine or just let my friends and family continue to think the Van is two tone?

7. I have (had) two rare health conditions with which I deal with daily and do my best to overcome with the Lord's help and grace. First I am a Spinal Cord Tumor Survivor (crushed cord from C6-T2)and against the odds and because of the Lord Jesus Christ's Grace I am now walking. I deal with some neurological issues and waddle like a duck but that sure beats quadriplegia!
Second, I have Trigeminal Neuralgia a disorder of the large facial nerve. What's it like? Well sometimes it's like getting hit by a lighting bolt, other times it's like have a throbbing earache/toothache/sinus headache combo. Most of the time the medicine keeps it in check so that it's just an annoying throb in my ear with a little cranial pressure thrown in just for good measure. I received both of these diagnosis just this past year, so I am learning to live with it and in spite of it!

At the time of this posting I do not have anyone with an active blog to tag that has
not already been tagged. But I will keep my eyes open.