Cold and Windy Weekend Ramblings Part II

Our lazy winter weekend continued today.  I woke up to blowing snow with winds gusting to over 50 mph.  The roads were not plowed and there was a "No Travel Advisory" out due to ground blizzard conditions.  Matt ventured out and got stuck twice trying to get to the end of the road.  Good day to stay home as far as I'm concerned.  Unfortunately the dogs are starting to get cabin fever.

Lazy Day Menu 2:
Breakfast: Cheerios (Matt didn't want anything so I'm trying to use them before they go stale)
Lunch: Taco salad
Supper:  Homemade pizza.

Supper was supposed to have been Pho soup but I realized while I was explaining what it was to Matt's sister this afternoon that I'd forgotten to get the bok choy for it.  As I wasn't going out in this miserable weather to try to find some I had to come up with an alternative plan.  Matt offered to brave the roads for a pizza which was when I explained I had all the makings for one here since he prefers homemade anyway.  It's a great reason to have extra food in the pantry.  Continuation of cleaning and my house smells wonderfully of Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Magic Soap.  Final loads of laundry were done.

Today I started reading Money Secrets of the Amish - Finding True Abundance in Simplicity, Sharing, and Saving by Lorilee Craker.  I had bought another book to read for today but this came up as a suggestion and after reading about it I decided to buy it and read it today.  Lorilee is a modern Mennonite.  A modern Mennonite is one that you wouldn't know is Mennonite from their clothes or anything else.  The women don't wear coverings and wear pants and they can drive cars.  I'm only about 40% of the way through the book.  Her concept is to figure out how the Amish can live abundantly even in rough financial times and still thrive and figure out how to use those concepts in our modern lives.  She was able to speak with different Amish people; an Amish Bishop, a family that saved $400,000 over 20 years to buy a farm of their own while renting a farm and raising 14 children, and a banker that serves mostly Amish to name a few.  One of the conclusions is that you have to have a goal such as a farm to work towards.  It's got me rethinking ways I can tighten my belt so we can get a camper and make a trip to Mount Rushmore this summer.  This will be another book I'll reread to catch things I missed during the first reading.  Some of the usual things like shopping thrift stores and such are included but she's coming from nearly a shopaholic starting point.  I'm curious to see how the rest of the book is.

Cold and Windy Weekend Ramblings

Friday night I went to bed singing "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas".  When I let the dogs out before heading for bed it had started snowing and the song popped into my head.  Needless to say I don't think Matt was too impressed when I walked into the bedroom singing it.  With forecasts of plunging temps, blizzard conditions, and just plain nasty weather I decided I wasn't leaving the house this weekend unless it was an emergency and fortunately none occurred.

After watching the news Thursday night I decided to go grocery shopping Friday after work so it would be done.  When I got home Friday I was amazed to find a box from Amazon with my soap bars in it I'd ordered. They said it would be here Friday but rarely does anything arrive when they tell me it will especially in this type of weather.  My first project for Saturday was laundry soap making.

Matt and I both sort of agreed it was a kick back and read type of day so that's what we did along with watching a Harry Potter marathon.  Sometimes you need to take a vacation even at home for mental health.  I did manage to get some cleaning and vacuuming done along with several loads of laundry and I baked cookies in between chapters.   

Lazy Day Menu for Saturday:
Breakfast:  Donuts - Matt had a craving for some so he did a store trip to get some
Lunch: Turkey and Bacon with Provolone on ciabatta bread and chips and dip
Supper:  Chicken stir-fry and rice

These cookies I found on Pinterest and they are wonderful.  I used 1 cup M&M's and 1 cup mini chocolate chips.

My reading choices this weekend have been Amish based.  I've been reading 50 Shades of Gray and I think I needed a mental cleansing.  I grew up near the large Bremen / Nappanee Amish community and they've always fascinated me.  Amish Acres was one of my favorite places to visit.  There use to be several Amish run family style restaurants that were my absolute favorite place to eat but they've unfortunately closed.  I've always said I was born in the wrong era.  I get angry with all the Amish bashing shows on of late.  Just like any religious community it has it's good and bad eggs in it.  From my experience with the Amish they are a good group of people. 

Today I read Almost Amish by Nancy Sleeth.  Her and her husband have a ministry called Blessed Earth  and speak about living more simply.  During one of their discussions someone asked "What, are you Amish?" which sparked thought for her and ultimately the book.  It's all about living more simply and she uses the examples of the Amish to show it can be done.  This is a Christian book so she also uses lots of biblical references to go along with the Amish examples.  It's an interesting book.  I doubt they would have been able to have done all they did if her husband hadn't been a doctor making a nice income before he decided to leave medicine to focus on their simple living ministry.  Granted they were wise with the money he made but they probably would not have been able to do many of the things they've done if they hadn't been able to build up that nest egg.  There are a lot of good ideas though and it's a good book to get ideas from. I will reread this again.