Jennifer Lambert

A Sacred Balance

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Creative Leftovers

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As the kids get bigger and older, we don’t often have as many leftovers as we used to have, but occasionally, there is a serving or two left that gets shoved to the back of the fridge shelf.

I try to do a fridge cleanout a couple times a week for lunches and maybe a dinner if there’s a lot.

Using up leftovers is a necessity for a frugal waste-free lifestyle.

Having a good pantry and freezer system is key to using up leftovers. I have to plan to have certain items to make this successful and tasty.

I keep chicken and beef stock in the freezer and have some boxes of storebought organic stock in the pantry.

I have a huge assortment of spices and sauces.

I stock up on canned beans when they’re on sale. I just don’t have the freezer room to batch them from dried. Bags of frozen veggies when they go on sale for $1 or less.

We can our own marinara sauce.

I occasionally buy rotisserie chickens if I have a coupon or they’re on a really great sale. They’re awesome to use in many different recipes and I make stock from the bones.

I try to keep potatoes and onions on hand at all times. Also fresh carrots and celery.

These are our favorite ways to use up leftovers creatively:

Soup

I love making soups with various leftovers. This is a great way to clean out the fridge after a busy week!

Creamed vegetable is a favorite at our house to use up old veggies in the drawer.

I can always make soup with leftover chicken like this lovely lemony dill chicken soup.

Vegetable soup is my go-to to throw everything together, especially with leftover beef. I like to add beans and noodles to make it like minestrone.

Beans, lentils, or split peas are great in soup with a ham bone or smoked turkey.

Leftover ham is great for soup like ham and bean soup.

We like to make stock from turkey, chicken, and beef bones. Nothing goes to waste!

Split pea soup with leftover ham and poultry stock is a winner.

Casseroles

Noodles and rice with a cheesy sauce and leftover meat with some veggies makes a great casserole.

Turkey Divan is a great way to use up poultry leftovers.

Pot pie is another favorite with gravy, meat, and vegetables. Refrigerated or frozen dough, or drop herb biscuits on top make it quick and easy!

Salad

Leftover grilled meats and all sorts of veggies can be served cold over lettuce greens. I sometimes sneak a bit of bacon to save for later in a salad. This is a great lunch idea.

See our favorite salads.

Remix

I love making fried rice for my family. It’s a simple, frugal, easy way to use up leftovers. I often make extra rice just to have leftover for this meal.

My girls like ramen, and I love making it healthier with an egg, leftover meats and veggies, and homemade teriyaki sauce.

Stuffing canned biscuits or crescent rolls with cheese and chopped meats is a fun instant snack or lunch.

What’s your favorite way to use up leftovers?

Linking up: Anita Ojeda, Create with Joy, Kippi at Home, Flour me with Love, April Harris, LouLou Girls, Anchored Abode, InstaEncouragements, Our Three Peas, Marilyn’s Treats, Sarah Frazer, OMHGW, Miz Helen’s, Girlish Whims, Fluster Buster, Gingersnap Crafts, Life Beyond the Kitchen, Create with Joy, Answer is Choco, Welcome Heart,

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Organizing Recipes

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We have a lot of cookbooks.

I have a bin full of handwritten recipes from my husband’s two grandmothers. I plan to scan those in to my computer so they’re never lost. I’m working to organize them in page protectors or even a printed scrapbook cookbook.

All recipes tell a story.

I have two BHG cookbooks. My mom’s with handwritten notes and a newer one. I prefer my mom’s where she jotted down when I made wheat bread for a colonial class project. She also added the years she made which Christmas cookies or cakes.

We also collect a lot of recipes – from magazines and online sites.

How to Organize Recipes

Recipe Binders

Super easy to make a recipe binder and fun for gifts for the cook or foodie.

I have started compiling recipe binders for my kids as keepsakes of our favorite family recipes for them.

What you need for a recipe binder:

  • Big 3 ring binder or several small binders for various cooking styles (desserts, main dishes, grilling, baking)
  • Pretty cover for binder
  • Dividers
  • Clear page protectors
  • Clear small pockets for small recipe cards and/or recipes clipped from magazines

Cooking Journals

I have a couple recipe journals to make notes when I try new recipes.

I seldom follow a recipe exactly, and it’s a huge joke with my kids that no recipe is perfect for me. I always want more of something, add a little of this or that, or don’t measure.

My grandmother never measured anything.

We measure garlic with our hearts.

My husband is often irritated that I don’t make the same dish twice because I often don’t measure or follow the recipe the same way or I don’t remember how I tweaked it last time and everyone loved it. I’m trying to remember to make notes in the journal!

Computer and/or Software

Apps

Many cooks prefer to declutter and have recipes digitized.

This makes recipes searchable by several criteria, saving time and space. You can easily pull up a recipe on a tablet or laptop on the counter or table while you cook.

Pinterest

I have pin boards for lots of our family interests, and several for various cooking genres.

This helps me to find the recipes easily again and also share my faves with you!

Organizing recipes is a huge task to undertake, but I may digitize most of our recipes this summer to clear up space and get them all in one place.

Linking up: Welcome Heart, Modest Mom, Little Cottage, Mostly Blogging, Kippi at Home, Flour Me with Love, Create with Joy, LouLou Girls, Confessions of a New Mummy, Home Stories, April Harris, Mary Geisen, InstaEncouragements, Purposeful Faith, MaryAndering Creatively, Dedicated House, Yesterday on Tuesday, Our Home, Grandmas Ideas, Sarah Frazer, Anchored Abode, Worth Beyond Rubies, Soaring With Him, Anita Ojeda, Wise Woman, Abounding Grace, Ridge Haven Homestead, Miz Helen, Gingersnap Crafts, Fluster Buster, Girlish Whims, Ducks in a Row, Welcome Heart, Penny’s Passion, TFT, Over the Moon, Apron Strings, Crystal Storms, Mommynificent, Debbie Kitterman, Life Beyond the Kitchen, CKK, OMHGW, Chic on a Shoestring, Anna Nuttall, Answer is Choco, Simply Sweet Home, Della Devoted, Susan Mead, Lyli Dunbar, Counting My Blessings, Pieced Pastimes, Fireman’s Wife, Create with Joy, OMHGF, Life with Lorelai, Sew Can Do,

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A Mother’s Résumé

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I haven’t worked at a “real job” for at least a dozen years.

It’s frustrating that introductory small talk still focuses on “What do you do?” and is disdainful or even scornful of motherhood as a vocation. People even dare ask or mention that my education was a waste. It’s like my only worth is in a salary or job for pay outside my home.

These microaggressions don’t endear me to people whom I’ve just met. They dismiss me as unimportant because I don’t have a salary and it’s so frustrating.

Motherhood isn’t valued in American culture. Homeschooling is still considered weird.

There’s little purpose to keeping up my LinkedIn profile.

I can’t imagine going back to teach at any school, at any level. I sometimes miss the classroom, but the hassles and negatives don’t outweigh the few positives. I don’t have current state certification and I don’t have any desire to jump through hoops to recertify.

If you hired someone to do the work of maintaining a household, especially if you have children, the cost would be approximately $ 90,000 a year. This is what a “traditional” at-home spouse would get paid today to clean the house, be a personal shopper and personal assistant, run errands, and take care of the children.

Eight Dates: Essential Conversations for a Lifetime of Love by John Gottman, Ph.D., Julie Schwartz Gottman Ph.D., Doug Abrams,  Rachel Carlton Abrams M.D.,

Things You Didn’t Put on Your Résumé

How often you got up in the middle of the night
when one of your children had a bad dream,

and sometimes you woke because you thought
you heard a cry but they were all sleeping,

so you stood in the moonlight just listening
to their breathing, and you didn’t mention

that you were an expert at putting toothpaste
on tiny toothbrushes and bending down to wiggle

the toothbrush ten times on each tooth while
you sang the words to songs from Annie, and

who would suspect that you know the fingerings
to the songs in the first four books of the Suzuki

Violin Method and that you can do the voices
of Pooh and Piglet especially well, though

your absolute favorite thing to read out loud is
Bedtime for Frances and that you picked

up your way of reading it from Glynis Johns,
and it is, now that you think of it, rather impressive

that you read all of Narnia and all of the Ring Trilogy
(and others too many to mention here) to them

before they went to bed and on the way out to
Yellowstone, which is another thing you don’t put

on the résumé: how you took them to the ocean
and the mountains and brought them safely home.

~Joyce Sutphen

As a mother for the past 19 years, I can attest to having quite an impressive work history and specific skill set.

The mental workload of being a mother far outweighs any “job” I’ve ever had.

As a teacher in various school and classroom environments, then as a homeschool educator for the last 15 years, I honed my expertise by focusing on my students’ unique needs.

As a military spouse, I retained my skills and honed a lot of new ones over the last decade and a half.

There are no gaps in my work history. I worked constantly, year-round, daily, overnights, with no vacation days, through sickness and injury, and during two deployments with no assistance or support.

Experience

Director of Child Development

$39,744 average annual salary

  • Oversee social, academic, and emotional development of students from birth until adulthood
  • Develop educational programs and standards
  • Design program plans, oversee daily activities, and prepare budget for activities and curriculum
  • Support gross and fine motor skills
  • Maintain instructional excellence

Educational Leadership

$88,390 average annual salary

  • Knowledge of pedagogy and methodology
  • Relationship building
  • Continuing education in field regarding trends, concerns, issues
  • Global mindset
  • Plan cross-curricular lessons for various ages, abilities, interests
  • Conflict resolution
  • Extensive library
  • Use of technology
  • Personalize feedback on student assignments
  • Advise students regarding academic courses and career opportunities
  • Encourage students to present their views and participate in discussion
  • Share personal experiences and values
  • Record keeping

Project Management

$134,182 average annual salary

  • Initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and closing the work of a team to achieve specific goals and meet specific success criteria at the specified time.
  • Establish expectations
  • Be proactive
  • Organization
  • Risk management
  • Delegation
  • Teamwork
  • Growth Mindset

Life Coach

$46,678 average annual salary

  • Discuss needs and goals
  • Develop strategies and plans
  • Keep records of progress
  • Evaluation
  • Adjust goal strategies as needed
  • Assist manage stress and increase productivity
  • Excellent listening and questioning skills
  • Confidence to challenge in a caring way
  • Support goal-setting, personal growth, and behavior modification 

Domestic Engineer

$59,496 average annual salary

  • Oversee operations of all systems and procedures
  • Budget for and allocated appropriate expenditures
  • Delegate operational tasks to promote equal labor division
  • Maintain cleanliness and sanitation of all work, play, and living areas
  • Food purchasing, preparation, and storage
  • Multi-tasking
  • Home economics
  • Laundry expertise
  • Basic mending ability by hand and sewing machine
  • Organization and efficiency

Religious Advisor

$58,130 average annual salary

  • Education about religion and faith through various books, activities, social justice, music, tradition, travel
  • Evolve faith through experience and learning
  • Help understand spirituality to promote peace, healing, and union with God and others
  • sensitivity, empathy, and understanding
  • Ensure proper growth and relational development
  • Spiritual counsel and advice
  • Meet their spiritual, emotional, and relational goals
  • Meditation and contemplation

Protocol Officer

$71,135 average annual salary

  •  Research traditions and customs
  • Distinguish between time-honored tradition and mindless repetition
  • Knowledge of preferences and customs of each person
  • Prioritize welcome and respect
  • Educate daily on etiquette and customs for various situations
  • Minimize or eliminate any opportunity for embarrassment or offense
  • Establish and enforce consistency using logic
  • Develop itineraries and agendas
  • Identify security risks and create safety plans

Travel and Event Planner

$41,873 average annual salary

  • Research, suggest, and decide where to go, methods of transportation, car rentals, hotel accommodations, tours, and attractions
  • Advise about weather conditions, local customs, attractions, necessary documents, and currency exchange rates
  • Visualization
  • Organization and planning
  • Plan and execute ceremonies and special events     

Budget Analyst

$71,590 average annual salary

  • Manage family finances, analyze and prepare monthly expenditures
  • Estimate future financial needs
  • Research of domestic economic and spending trends
  • Develop projections based on past economic and spending trends
  • Technical analysis, monitoring spending for deviations, and preparing monthly and annual reports
  • Analyze investments and their market performance
  • Education about financial terms, issues, trends, economic history

Historian

$55,800 average annual salary

  • Organize data, and analyze and interpret its authenticity and relative significance
  • Gather historical data from sources such as archives, court records, diaries, news files, and photographs, as well as collect data sources such as books, pamphlets, and periodicals
  • Thorough investigative and research skills
  • Analyze and interpret information
  • Interest in human behaviour, culture and society
  • Enquiring mind

Personal Stylist

$50,346 average annual salary

  • Attention to detail
  • Analytical mind
  • Problem-solving ability
  • Knowledge of fabrics, colors, seasonal items, accessories, etiquette
  • Knowledge brands, designs, trends

Personal Chef

$62,282 average annual salary

  • Customize unique meal and snack plans
  • Skilled at recognizing flavors and judging the balance of seasonings
  • Knowledge of kitchen tools and appliances and their uses
  • Procure and organize various recipes
  • Shop for all groceries within budget
  • Prepare the meal in a timely manner
  • Clean up the kitchen to excellent standards
  • Store leftovers promptly

Chauffeur

$22,440 average annual salary

  • Transport people to various activities in a safe and timely manner
  • Stock vehicles with amenities
  • Keep vehicles shiny and clean
  • Vehicle maintenance and repair

Waste Management

$64,000 average annual salary

  • Plan, implement, and coordinate comprehensive waste systems designed to maximize waste prevention, reuse, and recycling opportunities.
  • Evaluate the success of plans and make changes as necessary.
  • Minimize the impact of waste to protect the environment.

Plumber

$50,620 average annual salary

  • Unclog sink drains and pipes as needed
  • Replace salt in home water softener
  • Humidify and/or dehumidify the air in home
  • Repair water supply lines, waste disposal systems, and related appliances and fixtures

Special Skills

  • Good at untying knots
  • Feeding picky children and spouse
  • Finder of lost things
  • Making shoddy rental houses comfy and homey
  • Empath
  • Introvert
  • Comforter
  • Creativity
  • Innovation
  • Initiative
  • Time management
  • Stress management
  • Interpersonal relationships
  • Excellent verbal and written communication

Research

I can research anything. I enjoy researching. I loved researching literary, psychological, and educational analyses in university – and all the details of citing the sources properly. I can find anything on Google. Over time, I just have learned the best keywords for a search. I can find the best whatever we’re looking for in minutes, before we move to a new base or city. I research what we’re learning about in our homeschool and design my own curriculum.

Frugal

We have learned to thrive with one income. We’ve learned to survive with one vehicle. I’ve worked with very tight budgets as we’ve raised and homeschooled four kids all over. We focus on eating well and traveling and living life to the fullest. We’re investing for the future with 529s, IRAs, mutual funds, life insurance, and retirement plans. We’re paying down debt.

Multitasking

I can do it all and do it well. When life gets hectic, I’m in charge to streamline everything. I have a great memory and seldom get sidetracked for long.

Adaptable

Things change. We’ve received written orders that have changed last minute. We had to cancel plans to travel on vacation in order to PCS. We’ve had extensions fall through. We’ve experienced deployments. I have to stay flexible. I have to be strong for my kids.

Critical Thinking

I don’t want my kids just to regurgitate information and blindly obey. I want them to know right from wrong and question everything – me, tradition, reality, authority – why? why? WHY?

Observation, analysis, interpretation, reflection, evaluation, inference, explanation, problem solving, and decision making

  • Understand the logical connections between ideas.
  • Determine the importance and relevance of arguments and ideas.
  • Recognise, build, and appraise arguments.
  • Identify inconsistencies and errors in reasoning.
  • Approach problems in a consistent and systematic way.
  • Reflect on the justification of their own assumptions, beliefs, and values.

Education

M.Ed. secondary English education, gifted endorsement

B.A. English literature with minor in psychology, cum laude

Summary

As a military spouse, I have some unique skills.

I may have developed these abilities anyway.

But my life is very different than it could have been because I married an Air Force officer, my dad retired from the Army Reserves, and both my parents worked as GS employees since forever.

Being a military spouse can be like having a full-time job. Much of the expertise I’ve developed over the years are highly transferable and marketable in the workforce.

All in different seasons and different bases, I have worked outside the house, stayed at home, worked from home, and considered going back to school. I have a master’s degree in education, so that’s essentially an expensive piece of paper at this point since I don’t want to go back to teach in a school.

Every day, I develop and further solidify impressive marketable life experience just by supporting my active duty husband, being a stay-at-home mom, and homeschooling my kids. 

I may not have an impressive résumé or curriculum vitae, but I know what my abilities are.

My worth is not only in what I do. My value is not in the income I bring or don’t bring into our household. As a wife, mother, and homeschooler, I have intrinsic value in the efficiency of my household management.

The TRUTH about the military spouse job search.

There’s little to no personal fulfillment.

Linking up: Kingdom Bloggers, Anita Ojeda, Welcome Heart, Little Cottage, Mostly Blogging, Flour Me with Love, Kippi at Home, Twinkly Tuesday, Home Stories, April Harris, Modest Mom, Mary Geisen, Purposeful Faith, MaryAndering Creatively, Abounding Love, LouLou Girls, Uncommon Suburbia, Sarah Frazer, OMHGW, Anchored Abode, Soaring with Him, Wise Woman, InstaEncouragements, Ridge Haven Homestead, Ducks in a Row, Girlish Whims, Fluster Buster, Gingersnap Crafts, Home Away, Life Beyond the Kitchen, Penny’s Passion, Apron Strings, Crystal Storms, Debbie Kitterman, CKK, TFT, Marilyn’s Treats, Answer is Choco, Quiet Homemaker, Simply Sweet Home, Della Devoted, Momfessionals, Grandma’s Ideas, Lyli Dunbar, Counting My Blessings, Pieced Pastimes, Fireman’s Wife, CWJ, OMHGF, Life with Lorelai, Create with Joy,

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7 Tips for Designing With Artificial Plants

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Opting to decorate your home with artificial plants may seem like an unforgivable decision if all you know of faux plants and flowers are plastic options which look as fake as they are.

Artificial plant manufacturers have significantly honed their craft in recent years and they now offer an excellent option when laying out your interior design. From lower costs to higher versatility, artificial plants bring a lot to the table.

Here’s everything you need to know to craft a knockout look with faux plants.

Choose the Right Artificial Plants

While there are incredible faux plants and flowers on the market, there are still many other inferior options which look tacky and fake. Make sure that you see the plants in person or choose a product with a proven track record. Many Balsam Hill reviews rave about the realistic look of their faux plants, for example, which helps you to make sure that online purchases will still meet your expectations for realism when they show up on your doorstep.

Find Unique Spots for Surprising Designs

Because fake plants don’t need real sunlight, this means you can create unique designs by utilizing plants in locations that their real counterparts could not survive. If there’s a specific plant you want in your home but it can’t thrive where you need it, look into purchasing an artificial plant of the same variety.

Change-Up the Way You Pot Them

The benefits of not having to keep your plant healthy don’t stop in where you place them, there’s also how you place them. Because you don’t have to worry about what the plant needs to survive you can get creative with the vessels you use to hold your plants. Change it up and create some truly one-of-a-kind designs.

Hide Them With Realistic Layouts

While the prior points touch on way to use your artificial plants to get looks that simply aren’t possible with real plants, sometimes you still want your plants to look like they are alive. The best way to create this illusion is to get realistic with your planting. Place them in a location that a plant could reasonably grow, and use real soil in the pot to give the impression of a living plant.

Add Living Plants Into the Mix

Just because you are decorating with artificial plants doesn’t mean you have to fully zero out your budget for fresh plants. Combining real plants with faux plants gives you the best of both worlds. Your artificial plants help to fill out your displays and create contrast to the areas where you swap in fresh plants. This is an excellent way to have the benefits of fresh flowers while also having a larger array of flowers to show off and keeping a reasonable budget.

Accent Your Designs With Plants

One of the biggest benefits of artificial plants is the ability to use them as decoration on other pieces of interior design. Because you don’t need to worry about keeping your Balsam Hill flowers and plants in the sun, planted or watered you can add them onto structures and pieces where real flowers would wither and die to create beautiful floral arrangements.

Adjust Each Plant for the Right Look

Artificial flowers are often made from sturdy materials which makes them more malleable than real plants. This means you can lay out your design, then fine tune it by adjusting petals or stems to manipulate them until they look just right, without worrying that you’re going to break the stem.

The days of tacky faux plants are in the past. Modern artificial flowers and plants allow you to create looks that can’t be matched with real plants, all while spending less in the long run because they don’t die. As you plan your next project, consider utilizing artificial plants into the design

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Kitchen Tools for Kids

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Our kids like being helpful and useful around the house and they want real tools, not just toys.

While we love and encourage pretend play, my kids also want to use real tools to make real food. Our kids quickly got bored with play kitchens and wanted to use the real kitchen. These tools are functional, sturdy, fun, and fit smaller hands well.

I’m a big believer in letting kids help shop for and make their own food, along with helping during the more boring preparation and cleanup. It’s an easy authentic way to teach about healthy eating habits and household management.

We live in our kitchen and show our love for each other by cooking and eating together.

I don’t assign chores or use checklists or charts. See how I motivate here. We all work together cheerfully to keep the household running smoothly.

These are our favorite kids’ tools for children to help with household chores.

Kuhn Rikon Knives were a huge hit for our kids. They loved the fun design and could really cut veggies, helping in the kitchen.

They’re sharp enough to chop carrots, but don’t slice into little fingers.

Peelers are appealing to kids and these bright fun ones are perfect for little and big hands!

We also like this spiralizer for all sorts of uses!

Toaster tongs are a great safety tool to keep little (and big!) fingers from getting singed by hot toaster parts. Toasted breads are an easy item for kids to make!

Even when they were too small to use the oven, my kids loved having their own oven mitts.

They would often just help by holding a corner of that cookie sheet to bring it near the countertop.

Silpats are great for nonstick baking and can also be used on the countertop for nonslip use when rolling out dough or kneading bread.

Immersion blenders are handy (almost mess-free) tools for whipping up sauces, scrambling eggs, and blending soups.

One of the first things our kids learn to cook is scrambled eggs and we love these pans for their quality, sturdiness, and nonstickiness.

This is my absolute favorite silicone whisk for so many jobs!

Electric kettles keep boiling water in a safe container rather than an open pot on the stovetop. The kids love helping to make tea!

Cleaning supplies made for smaller hands are great and my kids loved having their very own kid-sized items to help clean up!

Reusable cloths help get any cleanup job done with pretty colors and without harsh chemicals.

I love this fun mop, broom, and dustpan.

My kids each had their own Schylling set. The bright colors are really fun and they’re the perfect size and very sturdy.

Pretty soon, my kids are using the same tools I do and we’re dancing around each other in a lovely choreography as we make meals together.

You can see many of these tools in action here!

See all Kids in the Kitchen posts.

You might also like my Kitchen Essentials List.

What are your favorite kids tools?

Linking up: Modest Mom, Inspiration for Moms, Simple Life of a Fire Wife, MaryAndering Creatively, Create with Joy, Lori Schumaker, Holley Gerth, Godsized Dreams, Squishable Baby, Blessed But Stressed, Life of Faith, Blogghetti, Timeless Mama, Barbie Swihart, Our Holiday Journey, Meghan Weyerbacher, Purposeful Faith, Teaching What is Good, LouLou Girls, April Harris, Home Stories A to Z, Jaime Wiebel, Trekking Thru, Mississippi Mom, Wise Woman, Jessi’s Design, Sincerely Paula, Quietly Reminded, Soaring with Him, Jaime Wiebel, Creative K kids, Gingersnap Crafts, Ducks in a Row, Our Three Peas, Raven Would, Bringing up Georgia, East Coast Chic, My Learning Table, Organized 31, Penny’s Passion, Breakthrough Homeschooling, Debbie Kitterman, Jennifer Dukes Lee, Brenda Bradford Dottinger, A Bountiful Love, Life Beyond the Kitchen, Classical Homemaking, Creative K Kids, Simply Sweet Home, Create with Joy, Nancy on the Home Front, The Charm of Home, Counting My Blessings, Katherine’s Corner, The Blended Blog, Country Cottage, Coffee With Us3, Easy Peasy Pleasy, Back to my Southern Roots, Chic on a Shoestring, Anna Nuttall, The Answer is Chocolate, Susan Mead, Lyli Dunbar, Life with Lorelai, Sugar Spice and Family Life, Being a Wordsmith, Ridge Haven, Happy and Blessed Home,

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Decorating on a Budget

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This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of CORT for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.

There are quite a few decorating challenges for military families.

Since we move every few years, we have the fun chance to redecorate often, but we need to do that on a budget.

I don’t like nor can we afford to buy an entire house full of new goods every few years when we move.

Home Décor Hacks for Military Families:

Blank Empty Spaces

Moving to a rental means a lot of white or blank walls. It’s an empty canvas!

What can we do with all that plain wall space?

Bright furniture, fun drapery, and eye-catching wall art help combat those boring spaces. We love our travel photos!

Rugs are great for tile, hardwood, linoleum – really any floor surface. It really pulls a room together. We have several mixy-matchy rugs that tie in our favorite colors and add warmth and cushion to tired feet.

Storage

Tables with cabinets, shelves, drawers, and baskets do double duty as storage containers so I don’t have to feel cluttered.

I like to display all my books in big bookcases for easy reference.

We showcase our keepsakes on the mantle and sofa table.

Lighting

Lighting sets the mood.

We love natural lighting, but it gets dark early in some seasons! We prefer simple table and floor lamps (preferably on dimmer switches!) instead of harsh ceiling lights in the afternoons and evenings.

We love to gather in the living room and play board games or snuggle up to read together by the warm glow of our table lamps and candlelight.

Furniture rental

Furniture rental is a great option for active duty military personnel since with each new PCS comes a new living situation. Temporary unaccompanied duties are also a great time to use this option.

That sectional sofa we have today, may not fit in our future home.

By working with CORT, we can find the right pieces to fit our existing spaces. Then when we are ready to move to the next base in a new city (or country!), we just give CORT a call and they’ll come pick it all up!

CORT works with military personnel to provide what we need when we need it. The best part of the furnishing process – CORT picks it up when we are ready to move on to the next assignment!

Learn more about CORT on their blog.

Visit Sponsors Site

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How to Clean a House

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We’ve rented a lot of houses.

We have to clean the rental houses when we move to a new location. I’ve never paid a cleaning service. Some homeowners have been surprised to hear that and perhaps a little nervous, but it saves us hundreds of dollars and only takes a few hours of work to get a house ready for the next renter.

I try to keep things clean and neat all along so it’s not such an overwhelming job.

It’s easier to clean a house that isn’t full of clutter.

How to have a low-maintenance house:

  • Minimal lifestyle. Refuse. Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. Rot.
  • A place for everything and everything in its place. If you need more stuff to store your stuff, minimize.
  • Low-maintenance and enduring surfaces and materials. Leather is more durable and easily wipeable than microfiber upholstery, for instance.
  • Eliminate knick-knacks and flat surfaces to minimize dusting.
  • Clear the floors. Hanging items (TV, coats, lights) make it easier to clean floors. Tile and wood is easier than carpet.
  • Vent bathrooms with fans or open windows to reduce mold.
  • Run the stove fan while cooking to reduce grease in the kitchen. Clean regularly.
  • No shoes in the house. Install a shoe cabinet by the door.
  • Under counter or wall soap dispensers in kitchen and bathrooms. Keep counters clear.
  • Gas fireplaces are cleaner than wood-burning ones.
  • Plants for air cleaners. I love my houseplants!
  • Store perishables in clear airtight reusable containers to eliminate waste.
  • Use only dishwasher safe kitchen and dining items. No paper products! Less hand washing.
  • Run full loads in dishwasher and washer/dryer.

Having less stuff and a low maintenance household reduces anxiety.

While those Pinterest pictures of cutesy decor look nice in images, they’re not for my reality. We don’t redecorate with every season, or even every time we move to a new house (and we move frequently with the military!). We’ve had the same furniture for almost 14 years.

If I’ve learned anything about living in so many different houses, it’s how to clean them quickly and easily – whether for company, a housing inspection, or landlord walk-through before leaving.

It irritates me to no end that so many rental houses have cheap paint that flakes or isn’t washable. We take tons of pictures during an initial walkthrough of any flaws we don’t want to be responsible for repairing, but there’s always something that we notice after living in a house for a few months. Landlords shouldn’t cut too many corners to save money. They just have to make those cosmetic or major repairs for the next tenants anyway.

I like to streamline my cleaning methods.

Always begin from the top and work your way down.

Ceiling fans and light fixtures, countertops, cabinets, etc. and floors last.

I use reusable sponges and cloth rags, only occasionally paper towels. We also have a carpet cleaner that works wonders.

For rug spots, baking soda usually works great. I often work it in with a brush, let it dry, then vacuum it up.

My favorite natural cleaners: vinegar, citric acid, baking soda, peroxide, rubbing alcohol.

Living Room

Dust cobwebs from ceilings, fans, door jambs, and window sills.

Wash windows with vinegar and/or soapy squeegee and dry with newspaper on a cloudy day for no streaks!

Vacuum and wash floors. Don’t forget the baseboards!

Mop your way out of a room, and it helps to keep the mop head going in the same direction of the grain of a hardwood floor – this reduces the chance of streaks forming.

Make sure to vacuum and wash sliding door tracks.

Bedrooms

Dust cobwebs from ceilings, fans, door jambs, and window sills.

Wash windows.

Vacuum and wash floors. Don’t forget the baseboards!

Kitchen

Dust cobwebs from ceiling, window frames, doorjambs.

Wash walls. Use baking soda and/or soap. We do our best when the paint isn’t gloss or semi-gloss. We’ve had to pay damages because of stains, but it really isn’t our fault when there’s shoddy or cheap workmanship. Gloss paint should be in bathrooms and kitchens!

Wash windows.

Wash cabinets, in and out.

For those flat top stoves, a razor blade removes the crusted-on spots. For gas stoves, make a paste with baking soda and water and scrub the cool surfaces. Let sit for a few minutes and then rinse. For electric coil stoves, wash the cool and unplugged coils with soap and rinse well. Try not to get the plugs wet. Stainless steel pads can scrub the drip pans well.

I keep the drip pans and oven lined with foil to help with cleaning.

Clean ovens with baking soda and peroxide. A razor blade also gets all that icky baked-on grease off the oven door. For the oven racks, soak them in baking soda or citric acid. We do double duty and use bathtubs for soaking grates and drip pans.

Wash refrigerator, including door seals. I take out and wash shelves and drawers in warm water. Pull out the entire unit and clean vents and underneath. We often find cat toys!

For stainless appliances, use a damp microfiber cloth, then buff with a dry one. Always wipe in the direction of the grain of the stainless.

Wash the seal and rim around the dishwasher.

Vacuum floor and mop floor.

Bathrooms

Get those mirrors clean. Use vinegar to remove any residue. I like squeegees to get them streak-free.

Citric acid gets even the hardest stains out! We use this in toilets.

Dust cobwebs from ceiling, window frames, doorjambs.

Wash shower and tub. Sometimes, I have to let them soak for the vinegar to work. Baking soda is a great scrub. Citric acid is also good for stains.

Clean sinks, counters, drawers, cabinets.

Wash walls.

Vacuum and wash floors.

Yes, sometimes I even use bleach.

Windows

Use vinegar to remove any residue. I like squeegees to get them streak-free. Newspaper also works better than cloth or paper towels. Clean sills, frames, and tracks.

Walls

Patch holes in white walls with plain toothpaste or buy wall patch spackle.

Dust corners for cobwebs. Don’t forget to wash baseboards! Vacuum lint and dust from radiators, air vents, and air returns. Wipe off any residue.

Floors

Vacuuming hard floors saves time and does a better job than brooms or dust mops. Don’t forget to wash baseboards!

Scrub tile floors with a hard sponge mop or brush. I even used a razor blade to get off tough spots on the tile.

Mop your way out of a room, and it helps to keep the mop head going in the same direction of the grain of a hardwood floor – this reduces the chance of streaks forming.

Washer and Dryer

A cup of vinegar in the washer cleans out most residue. I use a cloth and wipe out the seal and leave the lid open. Wash out soap dispensers.

Clean the lint trap in the dryer, vacuuming and wiping out residue.

Garage

We have a couple Rubbermaids of camping equipment in the corner. Also, coolers and some other seasonal items are stored nearby.

We keep yard toys on a low shelf that the kids can reach.

Tools are on a shelf and work desk.

Gardening and lawn care items are on a shelf or hanging. The lawnmower is in the corner with the gas can.

Bikes and scooters are neatly stored along the side. I have to enforce this!

By the door is another shelf with gardening and birding items.

I prefer no shoes in the house. We have a shoe shelf by the door. Sometimes, the shoes don’t quite make it in the shelf.

Sweep or blow floor frequently to keep dust, dirt, and leaves from coming inside on the bottoms of feet.

Outside

Trim bushes and hedges.

Mow and edge lawn.

We sweep or blow driveway, porch, patio, and deck areas frequently to make sure they look neat and tidy.

I can’t justify paying a lot for lawn maintenance on a rental house. We occasionally buy some low-maintenance, high-producing flowers that last a whole season – impatiens or petunias or pansies. I get mulch or pebbles or straw for upkeep in beds because I like everything looking neat. We are stewards of the house and it’s our responsibility.

Sometimes, landlords complain that the house isn’t clean or neat enough, or they feel there’s more than general wear and tear. Whether I missed a spot or they’re trying to make excuses to refuse the deposit return…

I just calmly ask how I can make it right.

For one landlady, it was a window shelf in the bathroom that had some dust, vertical blinds that needed to be wiped again, and a toilet base needed to be wiped again. They also had cloth wallpaper in the kitchen (are you kidding me?!) that would not come clean. So they blamed us for grease stains and we only got half our deposit back.

Another landlord complained about my children’s welcome chalk drawings on the front concrete stoop (really?!) and that the lawn wasn’t professionally mowed and edged (since our lawn equipment had already been shipped).

Some landlords are just really nitpicky and don’t really want to return that deposit.


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My Kitchen Essentials

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It’s amazing to realize how little one needs when all the household goods are packed up and on a boat across the ocean to our new home.

Currently, we have one mixing bowl, one wonky pan, 2 pots, and place settings for 6. There is no peeler or colander. It’s like camping, but somehow worse.

I’m washing a lot of dishes.

Paper items are expensive but convenient at times like these.

I miss some items that I usually use every day, like my blender and stand mixer, but I can mostly work around that.

And we do this transition every few years.

We like to eat real food. Takeout and fast food is expensive and unhealthy.

But over the years, I realize how little I need for a functioning kitchen. I have some essentials that I pack or ship to myself so I have them as long as possible during our transitions.

My kitchen essentials:

  1. Silicone Whisk

    My favorites are the OXO, Rösle Flat, and Ball Whisk. I use these all the time – for making scrambled eggs, grits, porridge, pasta, sauces. I pack these in my suitcase when we travel!

  2. Silicone Spatula

    I like seamless ones like Silchef or di Oro. I love these for mixing cookies and sauteing foods. The heads don’t come off when the batter is thick!

  3. Measuring Cups

    We love these pourable dry measuring cups and these different size liquid cups. These measuring spoons fit into most spice jars.

  4. Silpat

    I can’t imagine baking cookies without a silicone mat anymore! These Silpats come in different sizes to fit any baking sheet! Nothing sticks.

  5. A Good Pan

    You don’t have to spend a ton of money to get a good all-purpose pan. We’re moving away from the nonstick coating that peels and bubbles and is not healthy!
    Nonstick pans only last about 3 years. We use stainless for most of our cooking.
    We’ve found these nonstick to get the job done, and quite well, but we’re trying to move away from aluminum:
    Cuisinart GreenGourmet

    Green Pan

    Tramontina Professional Nonstick Restaurant Fry Pan

    These pans are great for omelets and stirfries!

  6. Good Knives

    We’ve had a Henckel’s knife block set for almost 15 years and still love it! I’d buy it again.

  7. Thermometer

    No one wants undercooked or overcooked meat! Our longtime favorite meat thermometer is the Thermapen.

  8. Cheese Grater

    We love a a simple box grater for block cheeses. Also love a microplaner for small jobs, like Parmesan, citrus zesting, and frozen ginger root.

  9. Electric Kettle

    I love that these are called “water cookers” in German. This glass electric kettle is similar to the one we love. I don’t have to use the stovetop to boil water!

  10. Coffee Maker

    I still love my Bodum French Press. We haven’t gotten into the pour-over craze. We still have a drip coffee maker with thermal carafe for most mornings. I’d love to have a Moka Pot if we had a gas stove. You’ll never, ever see me with any coffee pods!


We have lots and lots of kitchen equipment. We love cooking and I love teaching my kids to cook our favorite foods. But, we really only need a few great tools to get the job done right!

View our favorite family recipes.

What are your favorite kitchen items?

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Kitchen Pantry Makeover

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I’m not typically crafty or DIY.

But this pantry needed a makeover.

I feel like our lives have a makeover every few years.

We move around a lot as a military family.

It’s kind of nice to start fresh.

You don’t even really want to see the “before picture” of this pantry.

And that’s good, because I don’t even have one!

It was once white, I’m sure, but the wooden shelves were scuffed and the walls were stained. And it smelled bad.

The owner updated all the floors, cabinets, walls, and trim, but left the closets as-is.

I didn’t want to look at those scuffed shelves.

It was a simple project to update this pantry and make it pretty.

We painted the inside walls and shelves white.

I wrapped sticky paper around the shelves for extra protection.

I already had all the jars, canisters, and baskets for my grains and sugars and nuts.

I have several kinds of flour on the bottom shelf. Brown sugar and white sugar and snacks are on the next shelf. Breakfast cereals, granola, and nuts are on the third shelf. Popcorn, seeds, and nuts are in the plastic baskets and my plain rice jar. Cornmeal and an empty canister are on the top shelf.

I love my new nifty jasmine rice storage container!

We also have a butler’s pantry across from our laundry room for all our kitchen appliances that we don’t use every day.

There’s a large pantry inside the laundry room with those terrible wire shelves where I store canned goods and other food items that moisture won’t bother.

We’re still in the process of stocking our pantry with staples after moving to Ohio from Germany. It’s nice to start fresh.

This kitchen is pretty amazing.

I have an amazing beverage station with little drawers for coffee and tea!

Here’s where I store my spices.

I love this Lazy Susan cabinet for my sauces!

We always pray before and during our PCSes. We pray for smooth travels. We pray for certain, specific things in a new rental house. We pray for kind neighbors. We pray for a healthy and welcoming church. We pray for friends for our children.

In the beginning of our journey, our prayers were vague. We know exactly what we want and need and how to pray for those things now.

God answers prayer!

This is the nicest house we’ve ever lived in!



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Purging Clothes

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When we moved into this house almost three years, I turned around all my clothes hangers.

The goal was to purge all the clothes on the unturned hangers after a year. And I mostly did. Last week, I purged even more.

I’m not really fearless enough to trim down my clothes to like 15 items as a capsule wardrobe. Or even 30 items. I just can’t. I’m not ready for that and I may never be.

For me, that’s not very practical. We move around so much and travel frequently, so I need seasonal clothes and specialty items. And I’m not able to give up some unique pieces I’ve collected and love. I just love coats, jackets, cardigans, and scarves. They can really pull a rather boring outfit together!

I also purged my pajamas, lounge wear, and workout clothes for items I no longer need or wear. I got rid of almost all my high-heeled shoes. I just can’t wear them anymore and they’re not good for my feet anyway. I gave away more than half my purses to my teen daughter and the thrift shop.

I kinda like the idea of a monochrome color scheme. Years ago, it might have been easier when I wore mostly earth tones and black. But, I’ve expanded my color palette over the years and have many textures and fabrics. Most of my clothes are in the greens and blues and neutrals, with some orange and coral.

My teen daughters shopped through my castoffs and scored with some great things that look better on them than they ever did on me. Then I donated all the rest.

Also, we move frequently. There’s no need to pack and move stuff we don’t need.

Since we sometimes move to a location that has four seasons, we clear out all the clothes that don’t fit my youngest children, or will not fit next season. Since it’s still cool in one place and the weather is quite unpredictable, we have to pack rain jackets, jeans, and some long-sleeved shirts…in addition to summer wear we’ll need when we arrive in our new home.

I purged all the clothes that…

  • Don’t fit – and probably never will fit again. I had some shirts that have shrunk or just never fit right. I had some pants that were too tight and low cut that were never comfortable.
  • Are in poor shape, like a tear or bleach spot or unrelenting stain or stretched out. I had some white tops that had yellowed and bleach didn’t fix.
  • Are ridiculously out of style and I will never wear again, even for a theme party.
  • Shirts that I had in every color. I really don’t need that many T-shirts or tank tops.

How to maintain my closet:

  • Shopping isn’t entertainment.
  • Buy only items I love that fit perfectly on my body.
  • I don’t have to fill up the space. American closets are huge! I don’t have to cover every shelf, rack, pole, or loop with stuff.
  • Turning around my hangers again after we move this summer. I can purge again next year – anything I haven’t worn.

It’s really quite exhilarating to let go of stuff. We accumulate so much and need so little.

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