And so it begins ....

Well, I decided to take the plunge and actually start doing what I've been talking about for a while ..... I made a batch of bread yesterday.  The recipe that I use is one that my Grandma used to make, my Mom makes it (she makes buns around Christmas time and people buy them from her), and I make it too - it is a wonderful recipe that makes 6 loaves (I suppose I could increase the ingredients and make a bigger batch, but this works well for us) and it is amazing, in the fact, that it doesn't go stale quickly (like some homemade bread recipes I've tried - they are great the first day and then blech the second day).

Today, I had plans to make up a batch of regular cookies - we call them Variety Cookies (again, an old family favourite that has been passed down through the generations), as well as a batch of GF cookies.  However, it turns out that I didn't have enough brown sugar to make both batches, sooooooooo, I was a good Mama and I made the GF ones for my son.  The recipe is from The Gluten-Free Bible and they are called Raisin-Coconut Cookies - I made one change with them ..... I put chocolate chips instead of raisins because Josh doesn't like raisins.  OMGoodness, are these ever good cookies .... they don't even taste like they are GF (sometimes you can tell).  Josh was very grateful that I made the GF ones instead of the regular ones, first - he's been feeling a little left out in the baking dept. - I do need to get Don to pick up some brown sugar, though, so that I can make some regular ones (hopefully) tomorrow.

(There were more of these GF cookies ..... the kids and I were munching away on them before I got a picture of them, lol.)

I think tomorrow, I'm going to start decluttering .... it's not really something that I'm looking forward to, but I know that, when I'm finished, it will be worth it.  On a homeschool group that I'm part of, we've been discussing that living more simply doesn't mean easier ..... there is actually a lot of work that goes into it (like the decluttering part of it).  My hope, though, is that once we get everything scaled down, then we can work on maintaining it rather than where we are right now.

I also need to remember to "recharge" my dryer sheets - all I do is soak an old facecloth in fabric softener, squeeze out the excess fabric softener and then hang them up to dry.  Once dry, I just toss them into the dryer when I'm drying a load of clothes.  When we are drying a load that doesn't require a dryer sheet, we have a magnetic hook on the front of the dryer to hang the dryer sheet on - it doesn't go missing, the cat doesn't end up using it for a toy (I think she likes the smell of it), etc.  Laundry soap was made last week, so we are good there .... a triple batch lasts, at minimum, 6 months.  ˚Ü˚

It's also been really encouraging to see the kids getting on board with this .... today they were discussing things that they could get rid of:  board games that they no longer play, clothing that they've outgrown, books that they no longer read, etc.  Charlotte has even been telling me ways that she is planning on organizing in her room to make the most of the space she has available to her. ˚Ü˚