THIS WEEK ON THE BLOG:
- Delicious Oatmeal Caramel Bars
- 5 Steps to Quickly Declutter Your Closet
- 7 Strategies to Simplify Your Days
I've done a terrible job of taking family pictures this year... but, we snapped one on Easter (after the younger 3 got sweaty playing basketball). I'll take what I can get!
Nora is 13, Simon is 11, James is almost 10, Clara is 7 (and a half).
Nora joined the middle school track team and will participate in her first Solo & Ensemble festival this weekend (trombone). The boys are on the same Little League baseball team again this spring, and Clara is living her best life playing with neighbor friends every day after school (and we just chopped her hair off!)
Dave's first year at a new school went extremely well, and I'm still holding down the fort here at home and online (still practicing the Cello too!) Our church commitments are almost wrapped up for the semester, and we have 1 week left in our bowling league.
The countdown to summer is roughly 25 days for the kids, and fewer than 20 days for Dave!
I'm sharing more about our next house project below... but first, this week's posts.
Happy reading,
simple food. If you're looking for an easy snack to satisfy your sweet tooth while providing some nutritional value, these Whole Grain Oatmeal Caramel Bars are it! They make a large pan of bars using frugal ingredients, and they freeze wonderfully! | | |
organized home. Are your closets bursting with items you don't wear, want, or love, but you just don't know where to start? This simple 5-step process will help you quickly clear closet clutter without worrying about regretting your decision later! | | |
intentional living. When chaos and disorder threaten to derail your days, take a deep breath and implement a few of these strategies instead. Then, enjoy simpler days amid our fast-paced hustle culture. | | |
in other news:
Butter Wrappers and Bacon Grease: I'm in the habit of saving my butter wrappers to grease my baking pan. I also keep a jar of drained bacon grease in the fridge for all our cast-iron and griddle cooking.
Recently, I saw jars of bacon grease on our grocery store shelves (not cheap). So this is my friendly, frugal reminder to save your bacon grease and butter wrappers!
Happy to be Home: Last week, I mentioned how happy I was to be home again after a week in Florida... and I joked with Dave that my sourdough starter was also happy to have us back home (I keep it in the fridge between uses and this was the first time I fed it after we returned).
Our Next Home Project: After more than a decade of constant summer home projects, we've enjoyed laying low (preferably by the pool 🤣) the past 3 summers. Next week, however, we break ground (literally) on our biggest project yet: renovating our outbuilding, complete with a full bathroom and kitchen!
The first several steps of the process are very unglamorous, though, as we need to trench water and sewer lines to the outbuilding. Then, we'll need to repair our yard and demo the inside of the building before we can even start putting things back together again.
The plan is to do all the trenching, initial water/sewer installation, and yard work this spring (we're hiring out the trenching, water/sewer), use and enjoy the outbuilding as-is over the summer, start demo in the fall, and put everything back together again throughout the winter months, so it's fully usable by next March when we venture outside again.
This project has been on our dream bucket list since we purchased our home in 2010. Our hope was always to tackle it before our kids started high school -- which is just over a year away for Nora 😳. If all goes as planned, our new space should be ready with just a few months to spare. 🎉
Note: We'd love to come up with a name for this building -- I don't like "mancave" or "pool house". Nora suggested "outhouse" because it will be a fully functional house outside our regular house... and it would be fun for friends to say, "We're going to the Dekker's outhouse" 😂.
Got any other suggestions?
our weekly menu:
- Ham, mashed potatoes, roasted carrots, green beans, rolls, applesauce
- Tatertot casserole, roasted veggies, fruit
- Ham and potato soup (with leftover ham), salad, fruit, rolls
- Pizza (free with reading coupons), raw veggies, fruit
- Chicken lasagna, green beans, garlic bread, fruit
- Hot dogs over the fire pit, raw veggies, fruit, chips, s'mores
- Charcuterie board for movie night
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...for I have learned to be content, whatever the circumstances. (Phil. 4:11)
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