Happy Fall Ya'll

Just love this season - warm colors, snuggly clothes, savory scents - and the decorations!  We are having a Fall Porch Party for our Sunday school class soon and I need to do some decorating.  We won't be buying decorations but we have started making some. I have made a centerpiece with twigs and glittered papered leaves that my oldest boy helped with.  We are planning on making dried apple garlands, as well as paper pumpkin decorations.  The food will be the main attraction of this party and that fits in nicely with what we spend money on.  On one of the decorating websites I was looking at I saw the cutest Pumpkin Bean Bag Toss that is easily made of scrap materials so that may be attempted, too, and will give the kids a game to play.  Quade suggested I make scarecrows out of old clothing and stuff them with hay that we purchase for the chickens. We have a lot of projects but hopefully we can get them done.  We are buying pumpkins, as technically they are edible.  So, when we get it all done I will post some pics.

Excess in Excess

I can't believe it is already the middle of September!  I want to talk about EXCESS.  Excess is anything more than what you really need.  Most of us have it.  In looking at the things I use every day I began to evaluate how much excess I now have nine months into our little no-buying experiment. My piles are dwindling.  If you are curious about how much excess you have answer the following questions.
1.  How many containers of lipstick/eyeshadow do you have?
2.  How many bottles of perfume do you have?
3.  Do you have a blender, a juicer, a food processor and a food chopper?
4.  How many cans of furniture polish/cleaners do you have on hand?
5.  Articles of clothing - Do you have more than 3 white shirts/blouses?  More than 6-8 handbags/purses?  More than 20 pair of shoes (any kind)?  What about belts?  And don't get me started on jewelry.

My point is - do you really need all that extra stuff?  Is it just taking up space until you finally realize it's still in the closet or under the cupboard?  And do those extra things that you probably never use or wear ever enter your mind when you are out shopping for more?  We have all bought stuff we don't need and don't use and don't wear - but we don't have to keep doing it.  Couldn't you think of a better use of your money and your space?  Food for thought - eat it up or spit it out.

The Birthday Boys

Both of our boys have birthdays within 8 days of each other.  We usually celebrate them on the same day.  This year of course we have to be creative.  I have included pics of some of the things we made this year.  For both boys we made duct tape swords.  They both got plastic jar banks - three each;  giving, savings and spending.  Caleb received some homemade edible play dough and Kelby received a paper bag scrapbook that I made for him.  They both also got McDonald's gift cards (the edible gift) - these were put into a creative box that I made from scrapbook paper.  Of course the grandparents gave them gifts and they both got money, which they were allowed to purchase some things they wanted with. They seemed to love their birthday and had no complaints whatsoever about their gifts, for which I am very grateful.  Can't wait til Christmas - I think I better start planning now.  Making almost all the gifts required quite a bit more time than running to the store to pick something up.