A Great Giveaway!

I received a update in my email tonight from Food Renegade. Food Renegade is having a wonderful giveaway! The giveaway away is for The Ultimate Komboucha Making Kit. I have made water kefir and milk kefir before. I have always wanted to try komboucha. I have read so much about it. I actually bought a scoby before from a local health food store once. I followed all the directions and it did not turn out. The scoby grew mold and it smelled horrible. All I can figure is that it was old.
Since then I have wanted to try again. This is a wonderful opportunity. I encourage you to take a look at this wonderful kit and at a great site.

Blessings

Hello Again!

So, I have been away for a seriously long time. Life gets busy sometimes. It's funny that way! My husband has been having some health problems. Seems to be on the mend now. Also we started a new school year. This is my oldest's last year and my youngest is just starting. So this is going to be a fun year. So in between all that life is still happening. Like we celebrated our wedding anniversary. My husband had a birthday. This week my oldest daughter will be having a birthday. Time sure flies. So next time I will make sure that I don't take so long in between visits :) Have a great weekend!

Blessings

Update: Washing My Face With Honey

I have been washing my face with honey for six days now. I will tell you that I had my doubts. "Would this leave my face sticky?", "Will I still have to moisturize?", and "Will I stick to my pillow?" The answer to these questions is no. Washing with honey is um ..... different! I mean when my husband saw the bottle of honey he rolled his eyes. LOL! My daughter looked at me like I was crazy. I'm thankful I did not let these responses deter me because washing with honey is WONDERFUL! My skin is super soft. I don't stick to the pillow, or need to moisturize, I don't feel sticky, and best of all I don't attract bees! I can not say yet if my pores will shrink or if it clears up acne. What I can say is that my skin has not felt this good in years! So check out the washing your face with honey challenge.

Blessings

Wash Your Face With Honey

I am taking The Crunchy Betty Honey Challenge! I am a little late getting started. But My oldest daughter and I will start today. If I can recruit any of my boys I will let you know in my updates.
I am really excited about this. I can not wait to see the benefits of washing my face in honey. I could definitely benefit from all of the good properties honey offers. So go check out the challenge and let me know if you will be joining in or if you wash your face with honey.

Blessings

Catching Up

 Last week we received a call letting us know that one of our very dear friends had past away very unexpectedly. So this past Friday we traveled to Maryland for the services. We were only there for three nights and then back home. We have made quick trips before, but they have always been planned. This time was last minute. We had one thing on our minds and that was to go and help our friend through his time of grieving. I was blessed to be able to spend some time with my family as well. The most important thing is that we were blessed with safe travel.
 So this week I am catching up on everything. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed. I have so many things to do and don't know where to start. I guess I'll start with the mountain of laundry. I'm off to the laundry room. Have a great day!

Blessings

Canning

Canning season is upon us. So far I have only canned a couple of batches of zucchini. Every time I talk about canning zucchini people tend to make a funny face. It is because they have never heard of canning zucchini. Well neither had I until I bought The Practical Produce Cookbook. In this cookbook I have found some really great recipes. However my favorite and also my family's favorite is the Zucchini Pineapple. I have been canning this recipe for several years and it is wonderful. So great that my children will eat it straight out of the jar.
This is a great, easy recipe. I use it to mainly substitute for crushed pineapple. We use it in yogurt, cakes, breads, muffins, and even in jello. The zucchini takes on the pineapple flavor and you can barely tell the difference. This recipe really doubles well.

Zucchini Pineapple To Can

4 quarts zucchini, grated or diced
1 1/2 C. bottled lemon juice
1 46 oz. can unsweetened pineapple juice
3 C. sugar

Simmer all ingredients together for 20 minutes. Pack hot into half-pint or pint jars (do not use quarts). Evenly distribute solids and liquids into the jars. Leave a 1/2 inch headspace. Process 15 minutes in a boiling water canner.




This is a great way to use up all of your zucchini and to also make a convenience food that you will not have to purchase. If you try it let me know what you think. Have a great week.

Blessings

Great Giveaway!

Head over to Lily of the Valley. They are having a great giveaway. The giveaway is for The Well Planned Day home school planner. I was just reading about this planner. It looks wonderful! It has everything in it that you need for your school and your home, all in one planner! Go check it out.

Blessings

Update

I wanted to do an update because I promised to do a series on Homemade consumables. I apologize about not getting to that yet. We have had a very busy few weeks. We had my dad visit, then we sent the boys back to help him through a surgery. Thank God everything went well and the boys learned to serve and help others out. During this time our youngest had a very bad allergic reaction and we ended up in the ER. We do not know what caused it. God truly protected her and we were back home with in a few hours. Praise God! We are continuing to go to doctors and have more testing. We have not had any more reactions that were that bad since. We would appreciate your prayers during this time. Since this time we have been busy with all other aspects of our life ;) Our boys did arrive safely at home and we are blessed to have them back! As for the homemade series I will be putting it off for several more weeks as canning season is upon us. I will be posting on that and hopefully I will get some pictures to share too. Have a blessed weekend!

Blessings

Thrive Giveaway

Thank you Amy from Homestead Revival. I feel very blessed to have won the THRIVE giveaway that Amy hosted. I would also like to thank Tanya. I am really surprised. I have not won anything before. Thank you both again! Please check out their sites. They are both full of great information.

Blessings

A Wondeful and Inspiring Movie

I had a few minutes to sit and look at a few of my favorite blogs. So I went to Declared Unto Him to see what I've missed these last few days. Andi did a for Preparedness Challenge at Homestead Revival. She wrote about what she had been doing to prepare for her family. One of the things that she listed was that she had watched a movie called Urban Danger. Andi recommended watching the movie. So I clicked on the link and saw how long the movie was. I thought I could watch a little and then come back later and watch a little more. So I started the movie. Then a funny thing happened. My plans totally went out the window! This is a very inspirational movie! It speaks truth and it really pulls you in. I watched the entire movie without getting up. (That's a big deal in our house :) I highly recommend this movie! So take a look. Let me know what you think.


Blessings

A THRIVE Giveaway

I am so excited! Homestead Revival is hosting a giveaway by Shelf Reliance and THRIVE. Thrive offers wonderful freeze dried food storage. Not only do they carry all of the basics, they also carry things like Blueberry Yogurt Bites and Freeze Dried Mandarin Oranges. This is not your average food storage! This is food storage your family will love and look forward to! So go take a look and see all of these great items for yourself!

Make It At Home

Well it's been awhile. So I'm going to try it again. Over the next couple of weeks I am going to do a series on making things at home. I am really excited about this. I seem to go in cycles of making things at home. When I find something on sale and with a coupon then I buy them and the next thing you know I'm not making it at home. So I need some reminding and thought that this series might be able to help or inspire others too. So stay tuned!

Blessings

A Busy Time Of Year

This seems to be a busy time of year for everyone. For our family, we are putting in the garden, prepping for new chicks, school, work, cleaning, and cleaning out. Of course there is all of the things in between. I have a really long to do list. However I NEED TO CLEAN OUT AND ORGANIZE MY HOUSE! This is taking top priority. I feel that once everything is cleaned out that I will be able to think, plan, and execute my plans with a clear head. Does anyone else feel like they can not think when their house is cluttered? I feel that the clutter is taking over my mind too. LOL!! So it is one thing at a time, one day at a time for me.


While it is a busy time of year it is also a beautiful time of year too. This is the time of year that makes all of the cold days worth it. A time of rebirth. A time where you can get outside and enjoy all the beautiful things around us.I plan to do this tomorrow with the children as I garden a little more. I also need to run to the hardware store and pick up a few things. And lastly, cleaning out some things is also on the agenda. I pray that everyone has a good weekend!

In Him

A Great Blog

I wanted to take a minute and tell you about a great blog. It's called Living Off Grid At Maple Valley Farm. This blog tells about a great family that moved to a Amish Farm and is living off grid. This wonderful family shares all of their experiences and how the Lord has blessed them. They farm the land, cook on a wood burning stove, store ice for the winter, and raise animals.

They are having a great giveaway for a wonderful product. They are reusable canning lids. The Maple Valley Farm family was able to were able to test these reusable lids out and gave them an A+. On the Lehman's website, the lids got very good reviews. A great way to save money. I would love to try these out. Thinking of canning makes me anxious for canning season!

So go check out the Maple Valley site and follow their journey. If you are as excited as I am about the reusable lids go check them out at Lehman's.

Have a Blessed Night

How To Save On Groceries

With the way the economy is, everyone wants to save money. The first thing we should do is cut out all of the non essentials. The next thing we could do to save is to look at our grocery budget. Every one's budget will differ a little. These variables could be due to the part of the country you live in, how many people is in you family, what kind of diet you have, and the list could go on and on. What is the best way to save money?Well lets take a look at a few ideas.
If you do not shop according to sales, start. Adjusting your grocery list to only buy what is on sale could be very beneficial to you. Most important is to not be brand loyal! If you are flexible with buying whatever brand that is on sale, then that will benefit you. You could start making menu plans out that incorporates the sale items. This could greatly reduce your food bill.
If you have a Save A Lot and a Aldi store near you, then try them out. These stores tend to carry off brands. However they are good quality items. The items may even be the same item that you normally purchase with a different label on it. I have shopped both of these stores before. They both offer really good deals. The only real difference that I have found between these stores and the large chain stores is that you pack your own groceries instead of having someone else do it for you.
Another way to save without putting out to much effort is to buy from Angel Food. I have tried their food in the past and I have never had a problem. Angel Food is linked through churches in which you place your order by a certain date and then pick up your food a few weeks later. They have different packages that you can order from. Click on the link and check them out. See if there is a church near you that participates.
My next tip for saving money is the most exciting and fulfilling. It is using coupons! I have tries to use coupons here and there. However I did not seem to save very much because I was not applying myself to get the most bang for my buck. There is really a coupon movement that is happening now. What does this mean to a new coupon user? This means that there are a lot of resources available. You can even print coupons off of the web. There are a lot of sites that bless coupon users by doing coupon and sale ad match up. My favorite grocery store to do my coupon shopping at is Farm Fresh. I do my shopping on Wednesday because they double coupons up to $1 on Wednesday. Talk about a way to save. My favorite pharmacy to shop is Rite Aid. They have a loyalty card that really helps to save.
So don't be scared off about using coupons. There are some really good sites that do the work for you. All you have to do is buy a paper to get the coupons or print them off the web. The Coupon Consultant does match ups for several grocery stores and drug stores. Money saving Mom is also a really good site that I frequent for my match ups. You can learn so much from both of these ladies, it is amazing.
When you implement just one of these items then it will save you so much. However if you put all of these tips together it will allow you to save so much that it will really bless your family. I try to save as much as I can on groceries. This is an area that I feel I can control a little more than say the gas prices. As the price of gas rises then so will your grocery bill. However when you implement these tips and search for more money saving ideas then you can still eat well on less.
I know first hand that when I go to the store unprepared that I will do my family a disservice because I will not get as much for my money. This happened to me yesterday. I went to the store with my coupons but I did not have my store match up. I wandered around like I was lost. In the end I spent way to much for way to little. Today I did my Rite Aid trip. I was prepared and was blessed to get free toothpaste and floss. A little preparation goes a long way. In another post I will go into more detail on saving with coupons.

Blessings

A Great Giveaway!

Over at Homestead Revival they are having a great giveaway! The giveaway is for twenty 5 gallon mylar bags! What a blessing this would be for your food storage arsenal. Hop on over and have a visit.

Blessings

Life Is Crazy!

Life has been a little crazy lately. I had good intentions to do a post about groceries and then I got sick. Then life got busy. Then my father in law was in a accident. Thank God he is well. What I am saying is that I am sorry. I had good intentions. I am going to do the post on groceries on Thursday. See you then!

Blog Giveaway!

Forgotten Way Farms is having a giveaway! They are giving away a homestead DVD set. Go check out their site! What a wonderful way to gain useful knowledge!

I'm Still Here!

So I haven't posted in a long time. I have been busy. Life has gotten a little busy all of a sudden. A couple of weeks ago we went and had a great visit with family and friends out of state. One place we went was Cabela's . It is really big. Lot's to see and the children were able to feed the fish in a pond too. Imagine my surprise and delight when I saw Amish there. My husband really gets a kick out of my "Amish fascination." Anyway, all of us really enjoyed our selves. The week we came home I had to run errands all week. One thing led to another and the messy house got out of control along with the laundry. This week we have spent getting everything in order. That makes this momma feel a little better.
I will get another post done this week. I have found myself with a little more time this week. My oldest got his first set of wheels over the weekend. A scooter! It is really a blessing. It gets him where he needs to go without costing a arm and a leg in insurance. He almost looks like he is riding a toy, but he is such a good sport about it and is very thankful. The topic for my next post will be grocery shopping.

Have a Blessed Day

Why "Out Of The Box"?

I chose the title Out Of The Box because we are living in a time when we need to be out of the box. We need to think out of the box so that we can help our families and to help others. For me, God has placed on my heart to live and do things differently. To our family this means to try to live more simply and to prepare for what is to come.
The blog title was also chosen because we are trying to reach outside our box or comfort zone. If God has given us a skill or interest in something, we feel that we should share it with others. I am not claiming that we know all things on every subject of interest. That is far from the truth. I learn new things everyday from so many different people. I feel that if we can share what knowledge we do have then that could start others to research what interests them more in depth.
Sharing and teaching does not end with just that one person that you shared with. That person can take a skill or a little nugget of knowledge and share with others. That is one of the beautiful things about God. He places people with similar interests together so that they can teach and learn from each other.
My prayer is that if you glean something from my future posts, that not only will you use it to bless your family, that you will step out of your box to share or teach some one else so they may also bless others. God's word tells us to help others and to treat them the way we would want to be treated. So let's all step out of our boxes this week.

Have a Blessed Week

Hello

This is my first post. My purpose and prayers for this blog is to help and encourage others in the areas that the Lord has given me interest in. I have gleaned so much information from so many bloggers out there. I wanted to have a place to put all of these ideas and thoughts in one place.
Some of the topics I plan on posting on are couponing, prepping, homeschooling, and small scale homesteading. If you have topics of interest that you would like me to do a post on leave a comment and let me know.

Have a blessed day