5 Reasons to Store Frozen Water Bottles in Your Freezer

Practical Tip Tuesday

As we go through the meat that we had "processed" in the winter months for the year, our freezer becomes empty. When the gaps emerge, we fill up recycled sparkling water bottles with water and place them inside (making sure to leave a few inches from the top empty as the water will expand when it turns to ice). 

Here are our five reasons to store frozen water bottles in the freezer:

1. Saves money. The fuller your freezer is with frozen items, the less energy it takes to run it. 

2. Power outage protection. The more ice you have in the freezer, the longer your food will store safely in the event of a power outage.

3. Emergency water supply. In the event of an emergency, you have drinkable water in your freezer and bottled for convenience. 

4. Instant ice. When taking family vacations and trips, you can cut into your frozen water bottles and use as ice blocks in the ice chest.

5. Convenient portable cold water in hot weather. When the weather warms, I send hubby off in the tractor with a frozen water bottle so he has access to chilled water during the day. This also doubles as an ice pack in his lunch box.

Do you have anything to add to this list?

This post may be shared with some or all of the following link-ups: The Art of Home-Making Mondays, Modest Mom Monday's, Monday's Musings, Make Your Home Sing Monday, Good Morning Mondays,  The Scoop, Titus 2 Tuesdays, Tuesdays with a Twist, Raising Homemakers, Wise Woman Link Up, Homestead Blog Hop,  Wow Us Wednesdays,  Coffee and Conversation, Homemaking Thursdays, Home Sweet Home, Our Simple Homestead, From the Farm Blog Hop, Front Porch Friday Blog Hop, Awesome Life Friday Link Up, Five Star Frou Frou Friday, Shabbilicious Friday, Simply Natural Saturdays and Clever Chicks Blog Hop. Thank you lovely ladies for hosting these. 

Thomasina's Weekly To-Do Lists and Practical Tips ~ Free Printable

“Each time you set and reach a goal, you'll discover a sense of contentment that breeds a stronger sense of direction and joy.” 

~ Emilie Barnes

{Welcome to another edition of "Fun Friday" this spring with Beatrix Potter!} I am sure by now that many of you are wondering (with bated breath!), how does Thomasina Tittlemouse get it all done? Her pantry and storerooms are stocked, her house is neat and tidy and she even has time to practice hospitality (excepting those insect guests of course!). "Shuh, shuh!" she would say! "She doesn't get it "all" done!" She realizes that "life" is a work in progress. She simply prioritizes with daily lists.  

"But the untidiness was something dreadful—"Never did I see such a mess—smears of honey; and moss, and thistledown—and marks of big and little dirty feet—all over my nice clean house!..."

Next morning she got up very early and began a spring cleaning which lasted a fortnight. She swept, and scrubbed, and dusted; and she rubbed up the furniture with beeswax, and polished her little tin spoons. When it was all beautifully neat and clean, she gave a party to five other little mice..."

~ Beatrix Potter, The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse

One thing that Mrs. Tittlemouse taught me was that when life gets out of hand, don't overwhelm yourself by basking in that "oh, dear!!--it's all spiraled out of control!!!" mode. Be pro-active and begin a to-do list! Break everything that needs to be done down to mini-tasks and get to it when time allows (even 20 minutes dedicated to it a day will help to keep the messes at bay!)!

“When you don’t know what to do next,

just do the thing in front of you.”

~ Elisabeth Elliot

Something that really helps to boost the morale is to write down an item that may take days to finish out a few times on your list. For instance, in the heat of summer, it can take me up to three days to mow our huge lawn (if I devote a few hours each afternoon). Knowing this is a big task, I will write down "mow lawn" on my to-do list three times. This way, after I have toiled for the day, I have something to cross off! If I waited for the third day of completion to cross something off the list, it would be quite disheartening. Allow yourself the honest time allotment for the larger tasks and go ahead and write them that many times. Mark "one" off each day you spend time on it. The satisfaction of a crossed-off task is quite sweet and will motivate you further! 

And finally, if you find your list continues to be out of control, consider your schedule as well. As Elisabeth Elliot said, "If we really have too much to do, there are some items on the agenda which God did not put there. Let us submit the list to him and ask him to indicate which items we must delete. There is always time to do the will of God. If we are too busy to do that, we are too busy."

You will find Thomasina's free printable weekly to-do lists HERE (for frugality sake, you can print these out in black and white ink in draft mode). These would go nicely in your home management binder. Or, perhaps you would like to place them in Mrs. Tittlemouse's "Manual of Household Hints and Delights" until you are ready to use them? This is simply a safe place you can store all of her homemaking printables to have them handy. You will find the free download here if you are interested. The cover page is designed to slide into the front of the binder as a title page insert. The tabs are best printed on card stock, affixed with glue to card stock and staggered as you attach them. It is just a bit of extra fun!

We hope you have enjoyed this printable by Mrs. Thomasina Tittlemouse from her "Cottage Rose" Collection. If so, you may also be interested in her matching recipe cards, free printable pantry labels, DIY bug spray, her "un-paper" towel tutorial and the make-your-own "old fashioned" furniture polish. Happy Friday to you dear friends!

This post may be shared with some or all of the following link-ups: The Art of Home-Making Mondays, Modest Mom Monday's, Monday's Musings, Make Your Home Sing Monday, Good Morning Mondays,  The Scoop, Titus 2sdays, Titus 2 Tuesdays, Tuesdays with a Twist, Raising Homemakers, Wise Woman Link Up, Homestead Blog Hop,  Wow Us Wednesdays,  Coffee and Conversation, Homemaking Thursdays, Home Sweet Home, Our Simple Homestead, From the Farm Blog Hop, Front Porch Friday Blog Hop, Awesome Life Friday Link Up, Shabbilicious Friday,  Five Star Frou Frou Friday, Simply Natural Saturdays and Clever Chicks Blog Hop. Thank you lovely ladies for hosting these.

Make Your Own Honey, Rose & Oat Face Cleanser {DIY}

"This soap-free cleanser features wrinkle fighting rosehip seed oil, soothing rose petals and skin-regenerating honey, making it ideal for dry, damaged or aged skin. The ground oats acts as a gentle exfoliator to slough away patches of dull flaky skin, leaving a soft, clean feeling behind as it washes away. Daily use will leave your skin feeling smooth and nourished."

~ Jan Berry, 101 Easy Homemade Products for Your Skin, Health and Home

I don't know how it happened. As a young lady, I would spend mounds of money on skin care products. A really embarrassing amount. 20-some years later and I find myself using basic soap. Yes, that bar of soap that dries and strips the skin! After reading Jan Berry's book, I realized there were many frugal, easy and all natural, nourishing options that I could be using instead! The lovely part is that Jan has allowed me to share one such recipe from her book with you. I hope it inspires you to put a little more love into your skin care routine.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp. rolled oats
• 1/4 c. dried rose petals (note from JES: this recipe will still be effective if you don't have the rose petals or you could also try replacing them with calendula or chamomile flowers if they are available)
• 1/4 c. raw honey
• 1 tsp. rosehip seed oil (or a more budget friendly oil such as sweet almond, hemp or sunflower)

Using an electric coffee grinder (or mortar and pestle), coarsely grind together the oats and rose petals. Place mixture in a small clean jar (4 oz. jelly jars are perfect for this) and combine with the honey. Add your chosen oil and stir until thoroughly mixed. Note: If honey settles to the bottom, simply stir before each use.

Shelf Life: One to two months as long as water isn't introduced into the mixture. 

How to Use:

Using a clean spoon, scoop out a small amount into the palm of your hand. Gently rub into face and neck. Rinse mixture off with warm water and washcloth. Gently pat skin dry.

You will find more simple, all natural product recipes in her book, 101 Easy Homemade Products for Your Skin, Health and Home! As you can see from the photos below, there is a nice variety!

Photos from 101 Easy Homemade Products for Your Skin, Health and Home courtesy of Jan Berry.

For more information and inspiration from the book, you will find our review here.

Visit here for more "all natural" bath and body recipes!

All the fine print. This post may be shared with some or all of the following link-ups: The Art of Home-Making Mondays, Modest Mom Monday's, Monday's Musings, Make Your Home Sing Monday, Good Morning Mondays,  The Scoop, Titus 2 Tuesdays, Tuesdays with a Twist, Raising Homemakers, Wise Woman Link Up, Homestead Blog Hop,  Wow Us Wednesdays,  Coffee and Conversation, Homemaking Thursdays, Home Sweet Home, Our Simple Homestead, From the Farm Blog Hop, Front Porch Friday Blog Hop, Awesome Life Friday Link Up, Five Star Frou Frou Friday, Shabbilicious Friday, Simply Natural Saturdays and Clever Chicks Blog Hop. Thank you lovely ladies for hosting these. This post may contain affiliate links (which are merchant links that help to support this site at no additional cost to you if you purchase an item through them).

Geography Journals ~ Homeschool "Curriculum" ~ Free Printable

If you feel like your current homeschool studies are getting a bit stale, I encourage you to take a short trip around the world with your children! As a way of diverting a bit off of our history of the world study, we are conducting this "Geography Journal" series on the side. We take approximately two weeks off of our normal routine and do some "traveling" together to keep things interesting.There are many ways one can conduct this study but ours starts out with a blank composition book and a country. To make it easy, we have prepared a printable with daily journal ideas. You will find it HERE if you are interested in doing something like this. Each day, we simply do some reading on the country we are "touring" and include a journal entry or two (as shared below). 

For fun, the first thing to do would be to decorate the cover of your composition book. Pictures or clip art of globes and maps would be wonderful. Perhaps you can make up "passports" for each child with their picture and use them as a cover. Either way, it is a nice and creative start. 

Page 1 Entry:

Title your first page with the complete name of the country. Outline (or print out a black-line map) a map of the country you are studying and paste it into your journal.  Find the capitol city and label it on the map. Include a drawing of the national flag.  Record which continent your country is located in. Optional: Record the main religions.

Page 2 Entry:

Title the page “Famous People in _________________________” and record all the famous people you are familiar with in the country you are studying. As you learn more about the country, continue to add names to this list. Don’t forget about missionaries!

Page 3 Entry:

Title the page “Books Read About ____________________________” and half way down the page add another title “Movies Watched About ___________________________” (this is a great time to watch movies about missionaries). Enter all the books you are reading and all the movies you watch pertaining to the country you are studying. Continue to add to this list as you go along.

Page 4 Entry:

Title the page “Famous Places in ____________________________” and list all the interesting places you read about pertaining to the country as you go along in your journal. Make sure to include interesting land features such as famous mountain ranges, etc.

Page 5 Entry:

Title the page “Interesting Animals in ____________________________” and list all the interesting animals you read about pertaining to the country you are studying. Choose a favorite from the list and illustrate the page with a picture. (We use the Draw and Write Through History  and the Draw Write Now Series series for the how-to-draw part. We also included the accompanying copy-work from that series in our journal.)

Page 6 Entry:

Title the page “Interesting Facts about __________________________” and list accordingly.

Page 7 Entry:

Choose a person from the country you are studying and do a biographical sketch about them. This would include a picture or drawing of them in the middle of the page surrounded by short notes of the person’s life such as date of birth, death, interesting facts and what made them unique. Don't forget to include some missionaries! 

Page 8 Entry: 

Write out a list of the special resources that the country you are studying has (such as gold, copper, types of native foods such as kiwi, pineapple and so forth).

Page 9 Entry:

Draw a picture of people wearing the traditional style of clothing for the country (source).

Page 10 Entry:

Do some research on the types of foods eaten from the country you are studying and write down a menu that sounds appetizing. Choose a night during the week and have your children prepare an international meal for the family. For extra fun, dress up in the customary attire from that country (you may need to get creative with what you have which is fun!).

Bonus Entry Ideas (you will find more on our printable here):

Do a collage page featuring information about the country. For instance, we have a coloring book with many of the countries which shares facts from each country. We cut out the snippets of information and colored them and pasted them into a collage page in our journal. You could also use pictures from old magazines or order travel information from the travel section of the country online and use those images for collage purposes. They will usually mail or provide download information for free.

Once our tour of the chosen country is complete, we feel refreshed and ready to move on to our normal routine again. Do let me know if you decide to give this series a try. No passports are necessary for these kinds of field trips! :) And when we are ready to travel again, we simply bring out our composition books and begin a new journey on the very next page! The nice part is that you are left with a nice set of "scrapbooks" to remember your "homeschool vacations" by! Visit our trip to China here for an example! 

Some "General" Geography Resources for Geography Journals:

An Encyclopedia Set

Around the World Coloring Book by Winky Adam (Dover Publications)

Round the World Cookbook by Usborne

Passport to the World by Craig Fromam

Your A to Z Guided Language Tour

This is a fun supplement to have as it explains biblically how the languages were formed from the Tower of Babel and then goes on to take the reader to 26 counties by sharing the language, country facts, cultural and traditional customs, interesting information section, how to greet the people of the nation, learn basic introductory words, the currency, a proverb, traditional costume and modern dress and map. Two pages are shared per country.

Draw Write Now Series by Marie Hablitzel

This is more of a "how to draw" series with matching copy-work but we have found it useful for illustrating our geography journals and for including some good old-fashioned copy-work.

Draw and Write Through History Set by Carylee Anne Gressman

This is also more of a "how to draw series with copy-work" (via history timeline) set but we have found it useful for illustrating our geography journals.

This post may be shared with some or all of the following link-ups: The Art of Home-Making Mondays, Modest Mom Monday's, Monday's Musings, Make Your Home Sing Monday, Good Morning Mondays,  The Scoop, Titus 2 Tuesdays, Tuesdays with a Twist, Raising Homemakers, Wise Woman Link Up, Homestead Blog Hop,  Wow Us Wednesdays,  Coffee and Conversation, Homemaking Thursdays, Home Sweet Home, Our Simple Homestead, From the Farm Blog Hop, Front Porch Friday Blog Hop, Awesome Life Friday Link Up, Five Star Frou Frou Friday, Shabbilicious Friday, Simply Natural Saturdays and Clever Chicks Blog Hop. Thank you lovely ladies for hosting these. This post contains affiliate links.

Thomasina's "Cottage Rose" Recipe Cards ~ Free Printable

"When she got back to the parlour, she heard some one coughing in a fat voice; and there sat Mr. Jackson himself!... He was sitting all over a small rocking-chair, twiddling his thumbs and smiling, with his feet on the fender...

He sat such a while that he had to be asked if he would take some dinner?"

~ Beatrix Potter, The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse

{Welcome to another edition of "Fun Friday" this spring with Beatrix Potter!} Something many of you may not realize is that Thomasina (for that is Mrs. Tittlemouse's Christian name) had quite the collection of recipes! How else was she able to produce so many choices to the finicky Mr. Jeremy Fisher when he showed up unannounced?

Being she was an organized little creature, she kept them cataloged nice and neatly on her "cottage rose" recipe cards. She actually had two different sizes. She preferred the larger 4 by 6 for her personal use. However, she did appreciate the "portable" size of the 3 by 5 cards for other occasions.

For instance, someone had recently given me two pounds of raw almonds from a local orchard. What a generous gift! As I sat writing out the "thank you" card, Thomasina came by and encouraged me to tuck in a little 3 by 5 card. She said to write in my favorite almond inspired recipe. I thought it a neat idea which I hope showed some extra appreciation and love to the recipient. 

You will find her free printable recipe cards here: 3 by 5 and the 4 by 6. There is also a matching recipe page here! Perhaps you would like to place them in Mrs. Tittlemouse's "Manual of Household Hints and Delights" until you are ready to use them? This is simply a safe place you can store all of her homemaking printables to have them handy. You will find the free download here if you are interested. The cover page is designed to slide into the front of the binder as a title page insert. The tabs are best printed on card stock, affixed with glue to card stock and staggered as you attach them. It is just a bit of extra fun!

We hope you have enjoyed this printable by Mrs. Thomasina Tittlemouse from her "Cottage Rose" Collection. If so, you may also be interested in her DIY bug spray, her "un-paper" towel tutorial, the make-your-own "old fashioned" furniture polish and/or her free printable pantry labels. Happy Friday to you dear friends!

This post may be shared with some or all of the following link-ups: The Art of Home-Making Mondays, Modest Mom Monday's, Monday's Musings, Make Your Home Sing Monday, Good Morning Mondays,  The Scoop, Titus 2sdays, Titus 2 Tuesdays, Tuesdays with a Twist, Raising Homemakers, Wise Woman Link Up, Homestead Blog Hop,  Wow Us Wednesdays,  Coffee and Conversation, Homemaking Thursdays, Home Sweet Home, Our Simple Homestead, From the Farm Blog Hop, Front Porch Friday Blog Hop, Awesome Life Friday Link Up, Shabbilicious Friday,  Five Star Frou Frou Friday, Simply Natural Saturdays and Clever Chicks Blog Hop. Thank you lovely ladies for hosting these.

101 Easy Homemade Products For Your Skin, Health & Home

"I want to show you how to grab a rose from your garden, a handful of dandelions from your backyard or a bunch of basil from your local farmer's market, and make something beautiful, useful and good for you, your family and your home."

 ~ Jan Berry, 101 Easy Homemade Products For Your Skin, Health & Home

Nerdy Farm Wife's All-Natural DIY Projects Using Commonly Found Herbs, Flowers & Other Plants

When I first flipped through these pages, I felt like I was in homemaking, homeschooling and homesteading heaven! With such a variety of herbal recipes for your skin, health and home, there is something for everyone here! No only that, this book is filled with gorgeous photographs which makes for a very enjoyable read. Homemakers will be enchanted with the beautiful all-natural recipes to prepare a healthy home environment. Homesteaders will feel more self-sufficient with the plethora of inspiration for making more products from nature and buying less! And homeschooling mothers can enjoy dabbling into these easy recipes with their children and creating an herbal course of sorts! Not only are recipes shared, but the properties of the herbs and teachings on how to create your own herbal concoctions. I am delighted to share a peak into this beautiful book with you!

Jan Berry (author of The Nerdy Farm Wife Blog), begins her new book with an introduction to making natural, homemade products. She shares some common herbs and flowers along with their benefits, how to preserve them, infuse oils, and everything else you need to create useful goods for your home. The best part is that many of the plants used in her recipes can be found in your own back yard (dandelions, pine needles, roses, anyone?) or spice cabinet (basil, thyme and rosemary?)! And, the recipes are all fairly simple to make!

The chapter on non-toxic herbal skin care shares recipes for

face cleansers, face washes, body washes, skin toners, tonics, face masks and more!

The next chapter is on soothing salves and balms and they all look lovely to make!

The section on exotic body butters and lotion bars would make amazing gifts!

Her all natural cream and lotion recipes are all very easy to understand and

many of her recipes include substitution ideas in case you can't find (or afford) a particular ingredient.

Another chapter features bath soaks and salts and every one of the recipes sound wonderful!

The section on "bath melts and scrubs" looked really luxurious!

I had never heard of a bath melt but after reading these recipes, I can't imagine a bath without one now :)

Of course, there are many gorgeous recipes for making your own lip balms and tints. 

Another chapter shares hair care recipes that look very interesting.

There is also a nice-sized chapter on making your own soaps.

This is something I have yet to try but hope to this year. Her recipes look so nourishing!

I am especially interested in making the "Old-Fashioned Rose Soap".

Of course, an herbal book needs to share some old fashioned remedies and this book does just that! 

Some recipes include a pain relief oil, sore throat spray, calming syrup and so forth.

Shockingly (yes, I am joking), I love the section on non-toxic solutions for the home.

She shares some very creative recipes that will be fun and frugal to make and use.

I can't resist showing a picture of the romantic recipe for window cleaning! Yes (sigh), I know.

Pink! :)

And finally, she did not forget our little pug. The last chapter offers some all-natural pet care recipes.

Well, I could go on and on. I think you can see why I love this book!

If you are interested, you will find it HERE on Amazon.

Dear Jan is generously gifting one copy to one of our sweet readers! This giveaway is open to any one of you from around the globe (isn't she the sweetest?)! Simply enter via the Rafflecopter widget below and follow the easy instructions. You have an opportunity for seven entries per person and one week to enter. Happy kitchen-crafting/wild-crafting!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This post may be shared with some or all of the following link-ups: The Art of Home-Making Mondays, Modest Mom Monday's, Monday's Musings, Make Your Home Sing Monday, Good Morning Mondays,  The Scoop, Titus 2 Tuesdays, Tuesdays with a Twist, Raising Homemakers, Wise Woman Link Up, Homestead Blog Hop,  Wow Us Wednesdays,  Coffee and Conversation, Homemaking Thursdays, Home Sweet Home, Our Simple Homestead, From the Farm Blog Hop, Front Porch Friday Blog Hop, Awesome Life Friday Link Up, Five Star Frou Frou Friday, Shabbilicious Friday, Simply Natural Saturdays and Clever Chicks Blog Hop. Thank you lovely ladies for hosting these.