Free Form Fun Friday

Did you know I have carpentry in my blood?  If one would consider skill/desire/ability to be in the blood if a parent does/did it, then I definitely do!  My Dad created with wood a good bit during my childhood.  It was always AMAZING and wodnerful to me to see him create something truly functional out of just flat pieces of various sizes of wood!

I have created with wood a little bit myself?  It's true.  I built a chicken tractor almost all by myself.  It's long gone now and my pictures of it are stuck on an inoperable computer, but if you read this post about the pallet fence my husband built, you'll see the tractor with a goat in it.  She liked being up high and loved that perch once the side came off and we couldn't use it for chickens any more.  I hope to build again soon.  It IS extremely difficult, though, to build with tenny tiny babes about, so building has to wait until the wee-est ones are bigger.  :)

A rabbit hutch was my next effort.  It went horribly.  Mostly because I was nagged at and called after every 5-10 minutes of my effort at building.  It was truly a horrible and horrendously frustrating experience.

I loved watching my Dad spread glue, affix his c-clamps and the really long ones for super big projects.  I remember some of his frustrations... so when I saw this awesome product (this is an affiliate link, it helps me if you buy here!), I knew I wanted to share/spread the news about it AND *some* day get a set of my own.  I sure hope it'll be sooner than later.

This amazing PATENTED tool is good for SO much more than simply holding stuff together.  It looks like it will hold stuff together wonderfully well, but it will ALSO: get into gaps as small as a 1/4 inch with the spreader attachment (it SPREADS!!!!), jack up to 300 pounds with the removable stands attachment (SAY WHAT!!??), hoist up to 300 pounds (SERIOUSLY!!??),  and it'll hold irregular shapes EVEN round pipes together AND has a no slip grip.  I am amazed and super impressed and SERIOUSLY want some of my own!

This product contains 2 jack clamps, 2 spreader attachments, 2 v-jaw attachments, and 2 foot attachments and does all that I've already shared.  Can you believe it?  Do you know someone who makes stuff with wood?  You definitely need to direct them to my blog!  ^_^

Check out the JackClamp - The Fastest Way to Hang Cabinets By Yourself

(^^ another affiliate link!)

Dream Tea and Remembering Dreams

Found Picture

I think dreams are neat.

I don't particularly like the ones after which I feel yuck, but even those have their worth. I'm not sure what the worth is of too many of them, but I'm sure they serve some purpose or other.

Although I know we are told we dream every night, it’s been some times since I regularly remembered my dreams.  I like to remember them.  I feel some sense of accomplishment when I can remember them.  And then there are those that are actual communication from above.  Those, I have to say, are THE coolest.  But if I’m not remembering my dreams, maybe I’m missing out on some of those communications.

Yes, I know my subconscious retains it, but I want to remember it at the front of my mind and have the opportunity to ponder on and consider the dreams.

So, when I was, as far as I knew, still preggie, Jess and I decided to buy some bulk herbs that could help with the pregnancy.  Mountain Rose Herbs is a great company to go with, I think. I've purchased from them before and I have always been pleased with their products.  This was my first bulk herb and tea purchase.  I continue to feel just as pleased as I did with the other products I'd purchased previously.

One tea I bought is supposed to help the drinker remember their dreams.  Thus far, it is DEFINITELY working for me.  I've remembered bits and pieces since the first night I drank it and last night I remembered quite a bit more.

For instance, I remembered that I was single and there were a hand-ful of guys wooing me.  This was particularly pleasant because I have been asking Jessie to do just that... woo me.  It would've been better if HE had been the woo-er.  But the dream was nice, none-the-less.

So, the point?  I highly recommend this tea.  That's all.  Hopefully I'll be an affiliate soon and you can buy through me!  ^_^  I'm not one yet, but I'll let you know if I become one... or look around here and maybe you'll see a button or banner to get to them through me.

Making Soap

So, I've been making our laundry soap again for the past few weeks.  Instead of doing a liquid soap, I've gone to making it dry.  It's much more time efficient for me and I like using it this way, too.  I was worried, I must admit, that I might have clumping problems or something similar, because we don't have hot water to our washing machine, but no such problems have come about.  YEAY! 

As I've been using my MOSTLY homemade laundry detergent, I've wondered how much more enjoyable I might feel the accomplishment if I'd produced the soap for my laundry detergent.  I've wanted to make homemade bar soap for a while, but hever had all the equipment and got stuck there.  No equipment = no project realization.  Well, this is still a reality, but I've begun to invest in what I don't have, but need, to make bar soap at home.  My first investment purchase is lye.  I do hope, some day, to try my hand at making my own lye from hard wood ash... but I think that experiment is best saved for a day when more of my little ones are not quite so little!  :)  So, I've purchased some lye.  Along with the purchase, I've become an affiliate for the company that sells the lye I've purchased (which is food grade, so I could also make pretzels and bagels with it! Those should be some exciting experiments! ^_^).  So, if you have a desire to venture into the world of soap-making, not just melting and molding premade soaps, I hope you'll purchase the lye you'll need via my Affiliate banner!  :)

An Offshoot of Jessie's Affiliate Marketing Stream of Income (Hopefully)

A new Amazon Store.  This one contains things relating to what I write about here.  For your browsing pleasure, I bring you: Chooseing Our Way.  We Keep Choosing Us is the blog, of course (you are here, right?).  So, what better store name than Choosing Our Way... since we are, bit by bit, choosing our way carefully through the maze of this world.  Of course, the name for the store does not specify explicitly that we choose under guidance of our Father, but you know that by now, right?  :)

Reading

I've been reading a bit lately and wanted to share a bit about it.

First, I finished Pride And Prejudice by Jane Austin again.  Love it!  More recently, I finished Managers Of Their Homes: A Practical Guide To Daily Scheduling For Christian Home-School Families and Redeeming the Time by the Maxwells.  The latter is written specifically for men and I did buy it FOR Jessie, but after I finished the former, I felt REALLY hard-hearted about this whols scheduling thing I really HAVE been feeling led to implement.  So, I started reading Redeeming the Time in hopes that it would soften my heart and help me follow through on this thing that I know Father wants me to work on.  It has helped.  I put the schedule together for the girls and me tonight.  MAN it takes a long time!  I read that it's be a big investment at the outset, but sheesh!  As I understand it, though, it's an investment and I'll see the dividends very quickly - if not immediately.  Now, it would be AWESOME if Jess could work reasonable hours so I could get the sleep I have planned in the schedule!  *sigh*

I started another book today and was totally laughing out loud in the very first pages!!!  (Seriously, I hadn't even started reading the actual BOOK!  I was laughing out loud while reading the Introduction!  ^_^)  It's called: Your Girl: Raising a Godly Daughter in an Ungodly World by Vicki Courtney.  I'm really looking forward to reading this one.

Have I mentioned that we've been working to have Family Reading Time each night?  We've read Great Expectations already.  I was amazed at how MUCH Ria loved it.  She talked about Pip and Estella at various times throughout the day - especially once we were half-way through the book.  Currently we're reading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, which Ria also really loves.  It's so neat to hear her talk about these characters.



What have you been reading lately and how did you like it?