A bright, white idea

I have to admit...we have some yucky, yellow pillows.  I know, that's disgusting, but I'm sure we're not the only ones.  :)  I thought the only solution was to buy new pillows.  That was until I came across a remedy on Pinterest (gotta love Pinterest).  Granted, I wasn't looking for this, it just happened to pop up.  Lucky me.  Below is a picture of some of our pillows.  These happened to be the worst, so I started with them.

The recipe calls for the following:

*VERY hot water (I put my machine on deep clean/sanitize)

*I cup of laundry detergent

*1 cup powdered dish washer detergent

*1 cup of bleach

*1/2 cup of Borax

My pillows were so bad that I had to do this procedure twice, but it was well worth it!

Because it was a beautifully sunny day here in the south, I put my pillows outside to dry.  You can also put them in the dryer with tennis balls or homemade 'fluffing' balls to plump them up.

Sorry about the quality of the pics.  I hope you can tell just how clean the pillows are now.  100 times better!  Thank you to Jillee  for posting this.

Long Distance Friends

The beauty of a blog is that you're able to meet so many wonderful people.  I've never had the opportunity to meet any of my blogger friends in person, just through email and text messaging.  My daughter Grace has a much different story.

A girl who reads her blog emailed her one day.  She commented on how much the two of them had in common.  Emails led to Skyping and texting daily.  Their friendship gradually grew. Not only do they share similar personalities and interests, but they are both strong in their faith too.  They wanted so badly to meet each other.  Unfortunately we live more than 900 miles apart.  

When we started planning our DC trip we realized that our route would take us right through Melissa's city!  Both girls were thrilled.  In fact, Melissa's parents even invited us to have dinner with them and to spend the night at their house.  I was so moved by their generosity.  

The visit was all Grace dreamed it would be...just too short.  I really enjoyed getting to know Melissa's mom and dad and her younger sister.  Meeting this family affirmed for me that God has brought Melissa into Grace's life for a reason.  I can't wait to see what the future holds.

Melissa, Grace and Rachel

Mary, Rachel, Grace, Melissa and Emma celebrating Grace's birthday early with cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcakes.

A Happy Reunion

Once upon a time about 7 years ago, I found out a new family had moved in a few blocks from us.  They had children similar in age to mine and they homeschooled!  How perfect.  We ventured over and introduced ourselves.  From that day forward we were fast friends.  There were lots of spend the night parties, bike rides and deep discussions about books.  In fact, Samantha is the one who introduced me to Ambleside Online-the curriculum I still use.  She gave me so many wonderful books-things I would have never picked up on my own but ended up loving.  She opened my eyes to different styles of teaching and all kinds of resources.  Not just school, but we shared recipes, discussed hobbies and diets.  It was such a perfect time in our lives...then they moved.  Our hearts were broken.  Over the years we've kept in touch with email and now texting, but it's just not the same and sitting down face to face and having a good visit.

It happened that in planning our route to DC I found out that we would be passing very close to where they now live.  I was thrilled!  

When I got out of the car at their house and saw Samantha, I couldn't hold back the tears.  We had such a lovely visit.  She made lunch; we got to meet her 2 youngest (who had been born since they moved); Emma played outside with all the little girls; I tried to make up for all the lost years and soak up everything I could.

It's not often that friends and families come into our lives that move us, change us and make us better people.  That's what this family did for us.  They will always have a special place in my heart-no matter how far away they live.  We have truly been blessed with their friendship.

The big girls-Abby, Mary, Erin and Grace

The little girls-Johanna, Emma, Katie and Autumn

The only 2 boys-Seth and Jack

Baby Mia

Samantha and me!  (with baby Mia)

Checking out the coop

Just in case you're wondering how things are going down at the coop, I thought I'd give you a little update.

Here's my rooster-little Lorenzo.  He's so handsome and so sweet.

Some of my girls just chillin' on the roost poles.

One of my 12 baby Buff Orpingtons (12 weeks old and 3 of them are already laying).  

Last but not least in Louise, better know as Weezie.  The smallest of all my girls.