Frugal Momma Loves Fall

What is Frugal Momma?

Well, I am a frugal momma and I know many other moms who are as well. As moms with only 1 child or 5 children we are women who live life frugally without being boring. I have now been married almost 4 years and I have an 8 month old son. I do not consider myself boring or cheap. Not at all! 

I have been blessed by the Lord with a wonderful husband and son. We have been blessed with a family, jobs, a house, a car and many talents. I strongly believe that we are to be good stewards of the many things that we have been blessed with. We are not to squander our earnings or lose sight of the important things in life (namely the things above) by living in the world. I often think of the passage in Philippians:

 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me--practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.   

I am often a worrier, someone concerned with the outcome of almost everything, and yet, I am usually at these times not thinking about Christ and the honorable things and promises and gifts. I am working on this constantly. My everyday life should reflect more of this passage. Now, before you start thinking... 'uhm, what does frugal momma have to do with any of this?' - I must say, I am a mostly stay-at-home mom. I take care of my son all day, teach violin lessons, sing in the church choir and keep the house. This is how I pave the way for my family to honor Christ. I do these things through Christ Jesus as a wife and mother. This does not mean that I must twiddle my thumbs and make sure that every piece of fabric is ironed and every surface dust free. No, I will give glory to God with my talents, I will think and dwell on the things that are pure and true and honorable - - - and I want to do this with you! I want to share ways of being frugal, loving your family, loving your friends and doing so with a cheerful heart. 

So, today I want to tell you about my alternative to buying and lighting those amazing fall scented candles. I have made some friends here in Nashville that cannot be around chemical scents. Perfumes, candles, cologne... you name it. So, I don't want them to never be able to come to my house (because I love smell-good things - especially in the fall) - so, I looked around. And on Pinterest I found Simmer-Pots. 

Amazing. 

No chemicals, just lovely Fall-Goodness simmering away in a pot. (Cheaper than candles, smell better than candles and usually I'm eating this stuff anyways - so now, I am just not wasting anything!)

I used the oranges, lemons and apples - eat them and then save the peels.

I then punched some cloves into the orange peels, filled a sauce pan with some water, boiled it with all my ingredients for a few minutes then turned it on simmer. I have orange peels, lemon peels, apple peels, cloves and a stick of cinnamon in this pot.

About every 45 minutes I would add a little bit more water. I live in a 3 bedroom 2 story duplex, and this little pot filled the whole house with lovely fall smells.

One of my favorite verses hanging out in the kitchen.

This is how I keep the house smelling wonderful. 

What do you use? I am wanting to try to lavender and eucalyptus soon in a simmer-pot but I have such a thing for fall smells. 

Let's follow the Lord together and build each other up! I want to hear your ideas and encourage you as a mom, engaged lady or single friend. Let me encourage you in the ways that I can as Julie to help you see Christ more clearly. Drop me an email or a facebook and let me know what I can do for you.

In Christ,

Frugal Momma 

Today's Coffee: Harvest Dark Roast

Tomorrow, Wilson will be 8 months old. It's insane how fast babies grow up. I remember the first few weeks thinking "he's not getting bigger, he's not ever going to stop crying, he's not ever going to learn how to play with all these toys" - boy was I wrong. And now, I kind of miss those early days when he would sleep for hours and I would just hold him and kiss him. Now, he's big and squirmy and while he wants to be held he usually wants me to hold him so he can reach for something he's not supposed to have. Like cellphones. Or laptops. 8 months. I'm just stunned. I've already been thinking about his first Christmas (he'll be 10 months) and his first birthday party. I mean, c'mon momma, where did the time go? 

This past weekend we were blessed to have Thomas' parents visit us. Not only were they so kind to bring a yummy apple pie, pumpkin bread and a casserole but they also brought us their rocking chair. I love it already. I loved it the first night when Wilson only got up twice and instead of bringing him to our room to feed him, I could just feed him in his room. I loved it last night when I had to get up 3 times with him. How did I go so long without a rocking chair? Wilson doesn't get to see his grandparents as much as we would like (distance is really hard!) but after the initial few hours he warmed right up again and was giving his impish smiles! 

That's a good looking family right there! I would also like to add that this was the first and only try to get a good picture. We rock!

Thomas' birthday was a huge success! We found great pumpkins, Thomas and I got to go out to dinner and Wilson loved helping Daddy open gifts!

He mainly wanted the bag, but he was kind enough to look at all the goodies with Daddy!

Wilson loved this pumpkin! (Check out that dimple!)

We are also so excited to tell you that Faith will be living with us next semester! We had so much fun with her visit that we just want her to stay forever with us! :) But honestly, she has the opportunity to take some of her classes online and live in a different place next semester - so, why not Nashville, right? Also, with our teaching schedules it will be nice to have a babysitter (whom Wilson just adores!). We are thinking that it is going to be a great time next semester! 

Thomas has an organ recital on the calendar now! Please mark yours on January 8, 2012. He will be performing a recital at 3:00 pm at Covenant Presbyterian Church here in Nashville, TN on Fisk Opus 134. He will be performing works by Bach, Brahms, Mendelssohn and Durufle. After the recital you will have the opportunity to tour the organ - which if I can say so, is a definite 'must' - there are 4 floors that you can climb into. It's really cool! Thomas also has his website up and running! Thomas Russell - Organist Be sure to check it out - he's available for recitals, weddings and things of that sort. So, come out to Nashville and hear Thomas perform on a beautiful instrument Soli Deo Gloria. Also, please be praying that he would always offer his talents up to the true King! 

At the pumpkin patch

Also, be on the lookout here for a new installment for my blog - The Frugal Momma. 

I've been thinking and prayerfully considering posting some of my ideas, thoughts and actions concerning how to be a frugal momma for the glory of God and being a good steward of all that God has entrusted us. I hope to share some wisdom, ask others for wisdom and hope that we can all grow in Christ through what He shows us. 

In Christ,

Julie

Today's Coffee: Harvest Dark Roast

   Today is October 14th. 

I love October 14th very much. There are a couple reasons why. I love all the 14s because we were married on a 14. Today marks 3 years and 4 months. I also love it because it just seems to always have the perfect weather. Also, it is only one day away from Thomas' birthday! He's going to be 25! Quarter of a century old tomorrow! We will be celebrating with a great big breakfast (Blueberry Sizzle French Toast / Bacon / Juice / Coffee), a trip to a local farm to pick out a pumpkin and then a date - just the two of us!!! I love going on dates with my sweetie, and now that they are few and far between I can get pretty giddy about them. 

Last weekend we had Faith here since she was on her Fall Break. We had so much fun hanging out with her. While she was here we went to Cheekwood Botanical Gardens. They have a train exhibit up right now. There are 7 different G Scale trains and over 1,000 feet of tracks! They also built buildings out of acorns, twigs and other goodies to be models of famous Tennessee places - basically the trains chugged along tracks taking you through the history of Tennessee. It was very cool. 

They also had many gardens to walk through... we went through the Japanese garden and the Herb garden. In the Japanese garden there was lots of bamboo and also a zen garden was built - only to look at from a viewing pavilion - and it rocks were raked and there were hills built (it kinda looked like the Shire) - it was really pretty. The Herb garden was great too. We got to smell all crazy kinds of herbs. 

Sisters!

We toured the mansion and took some more pictures. Overall, it was really cool. We tried to take Faith to the Pancake Pantry - - - but there was a line out the door and down the block. So, we went to I-Hop instead. It was pretty good, I guess. 

Wilson is still recovering from the croup. Ugh. And he has also started the for-real process of teething. He's not very happy at night-time anymore. He wakes up constantly just like moaning/crying. It's so sad. Thomas has also lost his voice and all 3 of us are dealing with cold-like symptoms. We just can't seem to beat this illness thing. Blah. 

Random news: had dinner at a friend's house last night and she made Sweet Potato Curry. Uhm... AMAZING! I cannot wait to try it myself. 

And, here you go, pictures of Wilson:

Family at Cheekwood

Super cute outfit

This guy LOVES bath time!

Another family shot at Cheekwood

Chewing on his tag blanket

Reaching for camera cord

And, a happy birthday lolcat just for Thomas!

In Christ's Love,

Julie

Today's Coffee: Colombian Espresso

There are two things that I have been wanting to do for a very long time now. Both are crafts and are not expensive to make at all but can be very time consuming. I have had trouble in the past with starting new things and following through only half-heartedly... but no more. The first one is the T-Shirt Rug I've been talking about for some time now. I'm not even half way done with it but I thought I would do a mini-tutorial on how I am making it. 

First, I went through all of our old t-shirts that we were just going to give away, went to Joanns and bought a latch-hook tool and a latch hook grid. 

I then cut up all the t-shirts to about 1 inch by 4 inches. You will have many hundreds of these.

Then, I stretched them all so that they would curl up.

Taking the latch hook I pull the t-shirt through...

Then I reach through the loop and grab the other ends and pull them through.

I do this for every other grid square...

This is the top... doing every other square will make it very lush...

Needless to say, this is taking many many many hours. I've probably put in over 50 so far, but I honestly think it is going to be super cool. 

The other craft involved me covering up some ugly canvas art with cooler fabric that I found. Here are the originals:

I bought these at a yard sale for $3 - not cute now but they have potential...

I then stretched the new fabric over and stapled it with a staple gun all around... well, until I ran out of staples; I will have to go back and tighten it all up once I replenish the supply.

These are the finished product - much cuter!

So, that's all for now! Just thought I would show you what I'm working on lately!

What cool DIY / cheap crafts are you making? I would love to hear about them!

In Christ,

Julie 


Original credit to T-Shirt Rug for the idea for the t-shirt rug - thanks!

Today's Coffee: Colombian Espresso

We have been battling sicknesses here in the Russell House. It's strange to us because both Thomas and I feel that we never got sick while up in New Haven, but after making the move down south we are always sniffling, coughing or sneezing. And it's no different (sadly) for Wilson. That cold that I was talking about in the last post was really just a building up to what he has now: croup. I don't know if you have ever had it or heard the cough of someone that does, but it will break your heart to hear it in a little guy. Think 'barking seal' and you'll start to get a feel for what it sounds like. Thankfully our doctor was able to see him this morning and we have started the steroids already. We hope to see improvement by Sunday or else we need to check back in. 

My boys not feeling too good.

So, while we work all of this sickness out we are trying to find other things to take our minds off of it. And we have discovered that where we live, there are many many critters. The big spider out the front window was one. We have a bunny that we see most nights in the back yard and now we have one of those yellow writing spiders on the side of our house. Being the gross people we are, we took video of it eating a grasshopper about twice its size... but don't worry, we won't post that here. Also, when we were waiting on our laundry room pipes to get fixed, those super nasty camelback crickets (?) started living in there. These things are NASTY. I can't stand them, even thinking about them gives me chills. So, anyways, worst nightmare ever came true recently. One hitched a ride on the laundry basket into our house. ::shiver::

Thomas killed it and all is well, but I'm not lying when I say that Thomas had to search all the rooms with a flashlight before I went in them. 

Daddy practicing piano and Wilson just chillin'

We are super excited because Faith is coming to visit us tomorrow and stay for a long weekend! I'm so giddy to see her! I've missed all of our families so much recently and it will be nice to have someone to talk to while I'm home with Wilson (not that Wilson isn't fun to hang out with, he is... he's just not talking to me in words I understand yet). 

Thomas' birthday is coming up on the 15th and he is going to be 25. Wow. I've already gotten his gifts (a whole 12 days early!) and cannot wait to use a gift card to a local pizzeria to celebrate his birthday! 

Thomas and I are so glad to be at Covenant Pres. We went to a new member's dinner on Sunday night and it was great to talk to pastors and new members who are joining the coming weeks. Of course, we miss all our friends at Second, WOPC and Zion but we enjoy making new friends. The Christmas Concert is going to be great! We are singing some great choral pieces and to be honest, the choir sounds great. :)

Filling this sanctuary with praise to the King will be amazing!

I had the opportunity to play at the Widow's lunch on Monday. Thomas and I were both going to play but he ended up with the Belmont job and was unable to join me. That was ok because it gave me a good reason to work the E Major Partita back up. I was really nervous to play but the Lord calmed me and helped me play well. It was really nice to practice everyday again and pray that I would play and perform to His glory alone. Something I think that I will definitely continue doing. 

Wilson still isn't crawling and isn't cutting teeth yet... which only has us worried because if the amount of drool increases... uhm, I don't think the Russell Household has enough bibs. ;)

He's sitting up so well and spends much time on the floor just playing with toys. We encourage him to get on his tummy and possibly think about getting his knees up underneath him, but he flips right back over and smiles at us. So sneaky. 

We keep thinking we will see teeth soon!

I feel like I've seen this face before... on me maybe?

Sweetest. Baby. Ever.

That's it for now. Hope to hear from ya'll (I did it, I said that word... when in Rome - right?)

In Christ,

Julie