Saturday on the Homestead: March 29, 2014

It's a rainy, chilly day here in Tennessee.  I always think that Spring has this built-in radar that makes it nicer during the week and rainy on the weekends.  One of these years I am going to chart it so I have a record of this disheartening reality. 

Jeff is needing to caulk the new greenhouse, but that is difficult to do in the rain!  We have made good progress on it, but we still need to lay weedcover down on the floor, and put 3-4 inches of gravel on top.  We also have to finish closing in some of the last remaining small spots, build whatever shelving we are going to use, and paint it. 

It will be nice next year to be able to use it earlier in the year while it is still cold outside.  Even though it still has open spots, it is already warmer inside of it than the outside temperature.  I have taken some pictures during the renovation, and will include them when it is done and I can give a final finished picture.

We are taking another load of trash off today.  Jessie is determined to clean off the "trash hill" I talked about in a previous blog.   That would be the hill my in-laws used for years to dispose of their trash instead of hauling it off.  There are layers and layers of it.  I wish her luck in conquering it.

While we are in town, we will also be picking up some spark plugs and wires for Jeff to tune up our Nissan.  I am so thankful that he is able to do things like that for us instead of paying someone else to do it.

When we get back, I am determined to start tons of tomato and pepper seeds that I haven't been able to get to this week.  Jeff said if we have too many, we will stick them in the ground somewhere out of the garden even if we only get a small harvest off of them.

We are probably not going to be too productive today other than that because of the rain, and we have a couple of movies to watch, which we don't do too often. 

This is a picture of lattice that we added to one side of the entrance to my garden.  You can't really see it, but there is a new red climbing rose bush that will hopefully flourish up the lattice this summer.  I will post a picture when it does.  It is the only rose bush we currently have.

I hope everyone has a marvelous weekend with friends and family!

Blessings,
Debbie, Home at Serenity Springs

All-natural Healthy Recipe for Homemade Mouthwash

I made a quart of this recipe today, but didn't put all of it in the bathroom at once.  I had a small empty maple syrup jar that I put it in and labelled it.  It took me no more than 5 minutes from start to finish, once I assembled the ingredients.

Here's the recipe:

1 c water
2 t baking soda
1/2 t myrrh tincture (I didn't have this for this batch, so I skipped it and it was fine.  It will just be a lot more medicinally effective with it included)
4 drops tea tree oil
4 drops of one of these (cinnamon oil, peppermint oil, lemon oil)
1 t vodka (I didn't use this either, but I may next time)
1/8 t stevia (If you don't mind unsweet mouthwash, you don't have to use this.  You can also start with less, if you don't want it very sweet)

You can also add a drop or two of any or all of these:  clove oil, spearmint oil, rosemary oil
You can substitute the water for mineral water to make it even healthier.

I used cinnamon oil, and it has a bit of a hot bite to it, but I like it.  The oils I actually ended up using were:  cinnamon oil, lemon oil, spearmint oil, and a micro drop of clove oil because that was all I had before it ran out.  You can make the recipe as is, or add or delete as you desire.  I almost always do something different.

I have found quality oils at a reasonable price at planttherapy.com.    These oils are steam distilled with  no chemicals added.

If you prefer, you can get several of the oils if you click on the More Than Alive logo on the side of my blog.  They have lemon oil, peppermint oil, and clove oil, which would be sufficient to make a good mouthwash.  Also, if you have a health food store in your area, they may carry essential oils.

You can get stevia at Wal-Mart or Kroger that would work to sweeten your mouthwash.  Just don't get a blend which has other sweetening ingredients, which may not be good to leave on your teeth.  You could also order it HERE.  This is pure stevia, with no added ingredients like glucose, which you will find in a lot of stevia in grocery stores.   Glucose may not be good to put in a mouthwash to sit on your teeth, so it may be best to buy pure stevia, or leave your mouthwash unsweetened.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we have!  Feel free to share this post with your friends.

Blessings,
Debbie,  Home at Serenity Springs (Find us on Facebook here)

Things you may not know about me

I love to read blog posts like this on the blogs I follow.  It makes me feel more intimately acquainted with the writer to get a deeper look into who they are.  So here are a few knowledge bits about me:


When I was a kid, I cried every year when Frosty the Snowman melted.  My husband will claim I did it after I grew up too, but I won't own up to that....
 
I am not crazy about pasta.  I would NEVER waste money ordering it at a restaurant (I want meat and sustenance when I eat out!), and when I make it at home for the family, I normally eat something else.

I loved playing softball as a teenager.  I played second base for a team called the Tigerettes.  One time, I made an awesome diving catch that I never came close to replicating. 

As a child, I was fascinated with any body of water that I could swim in.  I learned to swim when I was around 3.  My parents took me to the World's Fair in Knoxville in 1982 (I was 11), and the thing I was most fascinated with was the 15 inches of water that connected two buildings.

I HATE seafood.  This is not a religious belief.  I will eat catfish at one restaurant in town if it is deep- fried and there are no fishy tasting pieces in it.  We do that maybe once every two years, sometimes even less often.  Everything else, YUK! 

I would rather have a non-venomous snake in my house than a mouse or a rat.

When I have a sore throat, I want to drink a soda (even though I have mostly given them up).  Sometimes I give in because the burn makes it feel better.  My children never let me hear the end of it when I do.  Fortunately, I have discovered Kroger's has Zevia, which is a healthier (but not healthy) alternative to traditional soda.  It is sweetened with Stevia.

One of the first things that attracted me to my husband was his hairy chest peeking out of his Coca-Cola uniform (he was a route driver at the time).  I know, TMI!  I don't apologize for my almost 25 year fascination with it (and him) though.

I hate NASCAR, UFC, professional wrestling, professional baseball, and golf.  I can tolerate professional basketball and volleyball.  I LOVE football, but not the drama and junk that accompanies it.

I love the series Monk.  But not all the episodes.  Some we have restricted ourselves from watching.

I love our ClearPlay that bleeps out all cursing and sex from movies.  We still don't rent rated R movies (maybe if it was a good war movie).

I DO NOT play any online games except Words with Friends, which is like Scrabble. I am fairly good, so if you like to play, start a game with me.

I have no rhythm.  If I could choose two skills to have in heaven, I would want to dance and sing a LOT better than I do now.

I have had allergies since I went to Land Between the Lakes in 6th grade.  I sneeze loudly at least 3 times every day.  It's a running joke for those that know me well.  If my kids can tell I am about to sneeze, they stick their fingers in their ears.  They actually warn each other. True story.

I do not like the mall.  I feel spiritually oppressed every time I enter it, so I avoid it.  Once every couple of years, I may go to JCPenney to check out the prices of camisoles and tanks for layering, if I haven't found any at yard sales.

I don't have to spend a lot of money on clothes, and I don't have to be properly "in style."  I like what I like, and I don't care if it's in style or not.

I don't normally wear jewelry.  Every once in a blue moon, I will put on a piece or two that I have had forever, but I don't prefer it.

I do not like to see the toilet plunger in the bathroom.  If I see it, I usually hide it out of sight until someone gets it back out and leaves it out again.


When Jessie (19) was small, I had RK surgery on my eyes, the kind where they actually make cuts with a scalpel.  I had the maximum number of cuts allowed.  I was very near-sighted.  I can still remember waking up in the middle of the night after I had my surgery and actually being able to see without contacts or glasses.

I am the baby of my family.  I have 2 sisters and 1 brother.  My mother-in-law is the baby of her family too.  We both can be rotten at times.

Saturday on the Homestead: March 15, 2014

We had a busy weekend so far on the homestead.  Jessie and I painted the remaining windows that are going on the greenhouse, and Jeff got them all installed, which is a major accomplishment and a HUGE step forward to getting it all done.

Amber and Josh moved 2000 pounds of sand yesterday, and today they took down some fencing that we are relocating.  Amber also cleaned and did some laundry.  She is now upstairs cleaning her room and listening to her audio tapes.  Joshua is on supper duty.  He is making us chocolate chip pancakes, turkey bacon and scrambled eggs.

I got the front of my garden door painted and I will do the other side in a couple of days when the rain goes away.  I also got a 4x5 bed of different kinds of salad greens planted and a 4x6 bed of parsley.

Jessie gathered several cans worth of trash on our "hill" where my in-laws dumped their trash when Jeff was young.  I'm not sure if this was a common practice in the country back in the day, but the resulting mess years later sometimes drives me crazy!

My legs are sore from squatting up and down yesterday painting those windows.  I have been hobbling around like a little old woman all day.  I am sure I amused everyone in the family.  I have no doubt tomorrow Jeff is going to be even more sore than me from climbing up and down the ladder all day today.

I wanted to say thank you for all those who have used my Amazon affiliate links to order something.  It is one way a stay-at-home mom can help make extra funds for the family.

I am bone weary, so I am going to make this one short and sweet.  I appreciate you for taking the time to keep up with our family.

Sincerely,
Debbie, Home at Serenity Springs

Raise your children to grow up, not stay home

Child psychologists were told recently of a change in the age group of children they would be counseling.  The age range that they could evaluate changed from 0-18 to 0-25.

25?!  Are you kidding me?  I find this absolutely absurd, and I hope the majority of people who read this do too.  

Our job as parents is to raise our children to be independent, hard-working, well-balanced individuals who can make wise choices fairly young in life.  By young, I mean that by 18 they can definitely choose wisely if they are raised to be wise, and by 25 they should have been supporting themselves for quite awhile. 

Sometimes this support can be in the form of working and paying us for the expense of living in our homes until they get married or until they follow God's call on their lives.    In that scenario, they would still be working hard to help run the household. They would be saving a good portion of that money for their futures, and not blowing it indiscriminately on things they don't need. 


The concept of teenager-ism has not been around that long.  In Biblical times, boys were boys, and then they were men.  There was no expectation of  "self-discovery" or rebellion against authority.  That is actually, I believe, a scheme of the enemy (Satan) to cause chaos in the family, to emasculate men, and to keep them from growing into strong, Godly leaders of families like God intends.

I am raising my son (14) to be strong, to have the expectation to work hard, to save for his future, and to expect to work for funds at the earliest opportunity.  He knows he will be the provider for his future family.  He also knows that if he is still at home until he finds a wife that he will be helping support our household with some of his funds. 

He does not get to veg out in front of media for hours a day, nor does he get to tell us (his parents) when and what he is going to do.  He has things that he has to accomplish each school day, including helping to keep the house clean and organized.  He gets some free time at the end of his school day, and sometimes in between accomplishments.  His weekends are his to order, but he does have various jobs he is asked to do to help out his dad.  He has loads of fun, but in the context and lifestyle of hard, productive work.

In other words, we are raising him daily to be a man, not a boy.  We don't cater to childish, faddish whims, which are normally expensive, foolish, and unproductive.   We don't want a sissy boy-man who at 20 sits in his parent's basement drinking beer and staring at his video screen.  No way.    Seriously, we love him too much to let him waste his youth like so many are doing.  We encourage him to make goals, to hone his skills, to learn new things daily. 

We do this with all of our children, but since girls normally mature more easily and quickly than boys, I am focusing on them.  Because the majority of time-wasting, still-at-home, living off parents without contributing a single dime or even a single ounce of house-cleaning effort are boys. 

Boys that should be old enough to act like and be called men.  I am not even sure why parents would want their children to be perpetual children, never able to support themselves and make reasonable contributions to society. 

Even if the only job my child could find was at a fast-food restaurant cleaning toilets, we would encourage him to take it and excel at it until or if he found something else.  Because regardless of what prevailing thought may be, a job is a job, and that is a blessing these days. 

God says to work hard at whatever work our hands find, and sometimes that work isn't what we might prefer.  But that's okay.  If you are a frugal person, avoid stupid "have to have" purchases that waste your money, stay out of debt, and save as much as possible,  just about any job can support you.

When we spend our parenting years catering to our children's every whim, every technological advance, and every spoiled name brand clothing desire, they grow up with a too-elevated standard of living expectation.  They are going to need to start their jobs at $50,000+ to maintain what they are used to. 

Ridiculous! 

Kids don't need nearly as much as they think they do, and despite popular opinion, they  DO survive not having everything they want.  It also makes them  MUCH nicer to have around while they are growing up, and after they are grown as well.

The moral of this story is to resist being a "keeping up with the Jones" type of parent.  Make your children work hard and play hard.  Instill wisdom in them regarding media, set limits and standards and stick to them no matter what. 

It takes time and effort to raise kids properly, and be willing to invest that time.  Resist the prevailing "I deserve lots of ME time" baloney that has infected families.  Our kids are worth the extra time it takes to raise them to be strong, disciplined and ready to leave and make their own families when the time comes.

If you see that your kids are addicted to some kind of media while they are still home, do something about it.  If you see that they are disrespectful or won't obey when asked to help out around the house, do something about it.

We are the parents.  We are the ones in charge.  Not them. 

They get to be in charge when they have their own households that they are paying for.  The standard of living that we can provide for them is a privilege, not a right.  They have a right to be clothed, fed, housed, and educated.  Anything above that is a blessing, and they should be taught to see it as such.

It's okay to take away ipads, ipods, smart phones, and video game systems as consequences for poor behavior.  It is also okay to never purchase these things in the first place.  Or to let them work hard and save up for them.  This actually makes possessions more valuable to them, and they end up taking better care of them. 

Let's have a revival of good old-fashioned parenting. 

Parenting that is not afraid of tough love for the ultimate benefit of our child.  Parenting that is willing to turn off the television (that we are watching) to enforce something that we have told our child, but he isn't listening to us.  Parenting that knows that doing without certain things is actually beneficial to our children, and parenting that isn't afraid to make them work hard for something they want. 

Chances are if they have to save for it themselves, they will often decide that they didn't need it so badly after all. 

Parenting that is willing to deliberately think out reasonable consequences for actions that are undesirable in our children.  Parenting that expects obedience throughout childhood and adolescence without the expectation of rebellion.  

Teach them to be adults, not teenagers.  Train them to work hard.  Give them consequences for disobedience.  Love them wholeheartedly by not giving in to their every whim.  Have high expectations, and lead and guide them when they fail. 

Let's raise a generation of well-adjusted, hard-working, non-media-addicted adults who can go out into society and not need CHILD counseling at 25 years old. 

There are enough non-productive child-adults living at home at 40.  Let's not add our children to those statistics.  "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."

Click HERE for some books by Bob Schultz on how to raise young boys to be self-disciplined men who work hard.  (affiliate link)

Blessings,
Debbie,  Home at Serenity Springs  (Find me on Facebook here)

Why college is not for everybody

It is what is expected after high school.  It doesn't matter what your skill set is, what your calling may be, or what you actually WANT to do with your life.  There is this unreasonable expectation that you must attend college or you will not amount to anything worthy.

I call it being a lemming, named after an animal and also an old, old DOS computer game about creatures that follow along with the crowd blindly without thinking for themselves.

Anyone that knows me well knows that I am ANTI-follow-everybody-blindly to the max.  If everyone is buying it, doing it, watching it, or going there, odds are great that I will probably think long and hard about it, and most of the time I won't be following along.  I like being different, and I like knowing that I am my own person not easily influenced by popular culture.

I disagree wholeheartedly with the idea that college is for everyone, or even that college benefits everyone.  Some people don't benefit by it at all, and some even come away having lost their faith, their virginity, or their health from drinking/drugging/sexing too much.

I attended college on a full leadership scholarship.  All throughout high school, I never considered any other options, and no other options were presented to me by anyone else.  Within a semester and a half of graduating with an education degree, God called me to homeschool my daughter, who was then in public school in first grade.

The rest is history.  I won't say that my education up to that point was wasted, because God can use anything, but I could have homeschooled them just as adequately with my high school education. 

The point of all of that was to say that I am NOT completely anti-college.  I just don't think it an option for every single high school graduate.  I don't even know that it is a good choice for most high school graduates.  A good number of high school graduates are not even mature enough to attend college with purpose and not waste a lot of time and money partying and floundering around, not even knowing what they want to major in.

I think waiting at least a couple of years for some maturity to set in would help some who need to attend to work in their field of choice.  That time can be used to work, save money for attending, and planning and making goals about what they actually want to do in life.  Maturity levels have definitely decreased in our nation, and most 18-19 year olds are NOT ready to do college correctly.

Correctly as in actually attending classes with purpose, with goals in mind and partying not in mind.  Correctly as in not skipping as many classes as can be gotten away with, and in actually putting effort into research papers and projects.

For those of us who are trying to raise our children in our faith, it can be daunting to send young, immature adults into the anti-religious atmosphere of a lot of universities.  Unless one's faith is super-strong, it can be a dangerous time of testing.

I wouldn't encourage my children to go unless they actually felt God calling them to a specific vocation that required a degree.  Amber, my fifteen year old, feels called to be a doctor, but has decided that attending college in Kenya where she wants to minister is where she would benefit the most.

I am glad, because people actually take their educations seriously in Africa.  I am very much in favor of learning as much as we can about the world around us all throughout our lives.  I am just not in favor of the mockery a lot of universities are becoming in attaining that knowledge, nor do I think that we all need or desire the same knowledge.  I am definitely not in favor of the Socialist, anti-gun, anti-religious liberty cesspools they are becoming.

When you take it apart logically, it really doesn't make sense that one path in life for high school graduates could all be the same.  We are all made individually, with different futures doing completely different things.  A few of those possible choices can be attained with a college degree, but there is no way that all of them require a degree.   And there is no point wasting time and money on something you aren't going to need, all at the jeopardy of being sucked into the anti-religious atmospheres and complete debauchery that is rampant on most campuses.

Some of the persistent propaganda that you will hear on economic reports and the news is that everyone needs a degree to even make enough to life a basic lifestyle.  I have heard and read this repeatedly, and it is simply untrue and incorrect.  A person can have a basic non-degreed job, work hard, live frugally, and stay out of debt, and be able to pay all of their bills and feed themselves and their families just fine.

They may not be dining on much steak and lobster, but there is nothing wrong or joy-robbing about living a basic, simple and peaceful lifestyle free of a lot of the materialistic trappings.  I can say this with authority, because we do it and we know numerous families that do it as well. 

I have heard people scorn those with basic blue-collar jobs, like the only people worthy of consideration and respect are those with white-collar degreed positions.  Personally, I have found that there is more contentment, peace and family togetherness in families whose main bread-winner has a blue-collared job.  When he or she clocks out, he is done and can leave the job behind and focus on more important things. Stress levels are also usually considerably less at these positions, which makes for better health.

Not that it is wrong to find fulfillment in your job, but it is definitely not the source of lasting fulfillment and contentment.  That comes from within, and can be carried with us wherever we go, whether we are working at home, working at being the local trash collector, or working defending clients in court.

You can tell when someone has fallen for this propaganda that high school graduates should attend college when they ask the graduate either what their plans are or where they are going to college.  This is followed by a scornful remark or silence if the graduate doesn't answer the question with "college".  I have experienced it when I was younger, and my older children have both experienced these pointed questions as well.

These are the times when I just wish people would learn to think for themselves and understand that everyone's life walk is not going to look the same, and that is perfectly acceptable and even wonderful. 

Truly understanding that success is not measured in the size of your annual salary, the abundance of your possessions or the initials after your name, is a definite step towards wisdom.  Success is knowing what God has called you to do and doing that thing with all of your heart.  Jesus was a very humble man who wasn't impressed with riches or haughiness, and he definitely wouldn't be looking down and thinking less of those with more humble positions in life.

And we shouldn't either.

Not only should we not look down on them as less successful, we should rejoice that they are individuals who have made their own choices, which are different than other people's choices.  Anyone who works hard deserves respect;  it doesn't matter what work they are doing.

If I could help one young person actually evaluate their lives, think about what their natural giftings and interests are, see where God might be leading them, and make an informed, wise choice based on those things, I would be blessed.  I truly hope this post helps correct some incorrect thinking about these things.

Here are some books on the subject you can click on to add to your library:

College is not for everyone
Success Without College
Is College Worth It?         (By a former United States Secretary of Education)

Blessings,
Debbie,  Home at Serenity Springs

Saturday on the Homestead: March 1, 2014

It has been an interesting week here at Serenity Springs.  Last Saturday, Jessie worked clearing a patch near our blackberry vines, and caught poison ivy, of which she is getting increasingly allergic.  This was unknown to her until she got to Alabama to housesit and babysit, which made for a quite miserable time.  She ended up being taken to a clinic by a kind neighbor for a shot, which only partially knocked it out.  It is still spreading between her fingers, and due to unending red-tape bureaucracy and "protocol", she cannot get the accompanying prescription for pills to help finish healing it.  She will be home tomorrow, and we will take care of her then.

Also upon arriving in Alabama, she discovered that one of the lines to the power steering pump busted and needed replacing.  Another VERY kind neighbor took her under his wing, repaired her truck for free (!), and even pressure washed it when he was done.  It looks better than before!!  I pray God's blessing on this man who gave so generously of his resources.  He is a wonderful example of going the extra mile.  I am also extremely thankful that Jessie is safe.  She has had some interesting mishaps while in Alabama on different trips that could make one wonder.

We are going to make some more progress on our greenhouse today.  Some of it can be quite tedious work, as the boards have to be precisely cut to make sure the windows fit properly.  One of the benefits that we are hoping for that I haven't mentioned yet is some residual heat for the back part of our house.  This is a part of the house that my brother-in-law added on for Jeff's mother to house her chihuahuas.  It has a concrete floor, and can be QUITE cold in the winter.  A couple of the back windows will be enclosed in the greenhouse, so we are hoping for some solar effect to help heat it up.

Joshua, who turned 14 Thursday, has had an extended birthday celebration.  He had a huge meal on his birthday, a trip to pizza buffet last night and on to the store to get his gifts, and chocolate chip pancakes provided by Amber this morning.  He was king for a few days!

I was almost out of turmeric this week, which we use frequently, so I decided to try a new brand.  It is one of the most important herbs you can incorporate into your diet.  We even have a drink that we put it in with ginger, apple cider vinegar, stevia, a pinch of cayenne, water and ice blended up in the blender.  This is an excellent drink for fighting and treating inflammation, preventing disease, and promoting overall good health.  Here is the turmeric I bought.  You can try it HERE! (Affiliate Link)

We are looking into finding a laptop to assist with office chores and schoolwork, and hopefully can find a good deal.  The kids are both taking some classes online, so we need more accessibility to the internet. 

We also had another blessing this week.  Our dear friend, Johnny Hood, fixed my low pressure problem in the kitchen faucet over the phone!  It had gotten down to little more than a drip, and was about to drive us all crazy.  We still have a hot water handle that comes off at various and random times, but at least the water is flowing better again! 

Other than having coffee with my favorite person and also playing Words With Friends with him, we haven't quite gotten motivated yet, but I suspect it won't be long now.  He had such a long work week (60+ hours) that sometimes it is hard to just get up and go on Saturdays.  That's okay, because everyone deserves some relaxation time.

I hope you all have a glorious weekend.

Blessings,
Debbie, Home at Serenity Springs (Find us on Facebook here)