Welcome Dearest Friends to Little Glorieta

10 Tips for Saving on Your Heating Bills

This was in my inbox this morning and I thought it was worth sharing these good tips for saving money....Kitty

Saving on Your Heating Bill
by Justin Ripley
You don't have much choice. You must heat your home.

With gas, heating fuel, and electric prices rising more and
more every day, many people are finding that the cost of
heating their homes is reaching astronomical proportions.
Unlike other monthly expenses that can be cut out of a
person's budget, home heating expenses are not an area where
we have much choice. We have to heat our homes during the cold
winter months just in order to survive. It's a simple as that.

Despite the fact that this is an expense we can not remove
from our budgets, there are a number of things that can be
done to trim those heating costs throughout the winter. Many
articles point to expensive remedies, such as installing
energy efficient windows or installing new insulation. While
these solutions work, it can take years to realize the savings
in lower heating costs. Conversely, most of these ten tips are
cheap, easy, and quick to implement. I hope they will save you
some money while keeping you warm throughout those cold winter
months!

1. Install a "smart" thermostat. While it may cost you
somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 to purchase a
programmable thermostat, it should pay for itself within a
year. Personally, I bought a 7-day programmable thermostat as
soon as I moved into my new house and I love it. It was
relatively easy to install myself and now the temperature in
my home fluctuates throughout the day per my plan. The heat
drops down to 62 during the day when I'm not home (why keep
the place warm when nobody is home!) then charges back up to
70 degrees shortly before I get back from work. At bedtime, it
drops down to 62 again, and then it heads back up to 70
shortly before I need to get out of bed in the morning. It's
great!

2. Throw some extra blankets on the bed. Following the thought
from above, I sleep in a relatively cold environment. I find
it to be better for my lungs, and frankly, once you're nestled
under a bunch of warm blankets, it's quite enjoyable. Not
heating the house to 70 degrees throughout the night will save
a bunch of money on those heating bills.

3. Consider buying a humidifier. Moist air feels warmer than
dry air, and it's better for your skin and lungs, too.

4. Wear wool socks in the house. The floors in your house get
cold in the winter as heat rises and colder air moves down.
Cold feet make cold people. Wool socks are cheap, comfortable,
and will keep you and your feet warm.

5. Wear a sweater. Like the socks, this is a cheap and easy
way to stay warm throughout the winter and allows you to set
the thermostat at a lower temperature. I've noticed that in
today's modern world people seem to think they should be able
to wear shorts and t-shirts in their homes throughout the
winter. This is fine if you want to pay for it. I'll take a
lesson from my ancestors and just bundle up a little bit.

6. Let the light in. Be sure to open the window shades and
blinds during the day. Sunlight coming in will act as passive
solar heat and can make a significant difference in the
temperature of your home.

7. Turn the ceiling fans on. This one may sound a little
crazy, but it works. Most ceiling fans have a switch on them
that allows them to run in reverse. By running the fan in
reverse at a low speed, it will actually help circulate warm
air throughout the house.

8. Seal the leaks. At the beginning of winter, go around your
home and seal up any potential air leaks with caulk or weather
stripping. Most of the heat that leaves your home escapes
through cracks around the windows and doors. To the extent
possible, seal these up!

9. Service your furnace and/or heaters. A dirty furnace or heater is not efficient and
will cost more money to run than one  that receives
annual cleaning from a professional. In addition to periodic
servicing, be sure to replace those air filters if needed.

10. Cook a big Sunday roast.  Mom
always cooked a Sunday roast. Pork or beef with carrots,
potatoes, gravy, and all the other good stuff. It was a great
tradition to bring the family together at least one day a
week, and of course, the food was great, too. Cooking a
roast meant having the oven on for a few hours, and all that
heat definitely escapes into the house. It doesn't cost much
to run the oven, and it's also a nice way to spend a quiet
Sunday in the winter with family.

I hope these simple tips prove useful and help you save some
of your hard-earned cash this winter!

Meet our new farm animals..We are proud parents

We got two pygmies on fri they were born in the spring. This picture is bringing them home they are in my car. They didn't mind riding at all..

The buff color one is name butterscotch and the tri color one is called pudding.

They are in one side of the horse stall and seem to like it ok. They have been in the barn since they were born so they really didn't know what it was like in the sun light.

They have been alot of company we have been holding them and loving them up. They love to eat leaves so we are going to rake and bag them up for treats this winter.

We are also looking for a good goat company to buy supplies like worming meds and I need another bell I have one.. Our local farm store doesn't carry anything for goats..

Here they are butterscotch and pudding.

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A Simple Woman's Daybook

Please stop by to visit Peggy to peek into the lives of other "Simple Women," and to read the guidelines for creating your own Daybook

Little Bitty Updates

Let's see...We had our booth at the fall festival.  It turned out to be a good day.  We got a great spot for our booth & lots of children played & got fun little prizes.  The weather was also lovely.  We didn't quite break even...until........I won a $50 gift card to Kroger grocery store!!!  If you count that $50 we made a little profit!  Yeah!!!  We came home around 4:00 & were all very tired.

Sunday we stayed around home.  I got the children's lessons plans done up & cleaned up the school house.  Unfortunately I'm going to have to store my bean-bag toss game in there for a while.  --I said when we built the little school house that it WOULD NOT become a storage shed, and well, it's starting to look like that!  My husband is going to build me a small shed of my own hopefully sometime soon to store MY things in. 

As for today's plans, I've got the laundry going & the dryer too (calls for rain), I've got some baking to do for the week as well & then we need to make a quick run to the library to exchange our things.  We'll do school work first and then make our trip.  I need to pick up a gallon of milk from the dollar store too.  Now that they stock some grocery items in there it is so nice.  I do have to pay a bit more, but it saves on gas so it works out.

Oh...how did I forget this...our neighbors who lived across the street who stole from us, tore up our driveway, beat his wife, & tormented our children....God answered our prayers.  They moved out on Thursday!!!  Come to find out, they had not paid rent in almost the whole year they lived here. The landlord, his boss, finally kicked them out.  We've been watching like a hawk to make sure they did not tear up any of our things or vehicles and I'm happy to say nothing bad happened.  The man has another family that is suppose to be moving in soon so we hope they will be better--it would be hard to be worse!  We saw them over cleaning it up yesterday & the man who oversees the property told my husband they are "good people."--I sure hope so.

That's about it for us.  Hope you have a nice day!

Daybook Entry #13

FOR TODAY~ October 13^th

Outside my Window... The trees are changing color- yellow, red and brown leaves dot the yard. I figure there must be about 500 or so walnuts littering the ground too. [A job for the Kiddie Pirates today.] It’s a relatively cool morning.

 I am thinking... that God is in control- No matter what and I need to be patient for His perfect timing.

From the learning room... today is our Explorers & Pirates Celebration! We have successfully completed 6 weeks of school. We will continue with our regular schedule today and have a family celebration this evening with special food and games. Oh, the joys of Homeschooling! Oh and I should mention that we will be talking like pirates today. Argh!

I am thankful for… family connections and the actual connecting. And friendship connections that grow into the feeling of family connections.

From the kitchen... Today is a very special day. With it being our Explorers & Pirates Celebration we are going all out today. Breakfast is Captain’s Eggs & toast, lunch will be Shipwreck Stew and supper is Bubble & Squeak, Spanish Rice, peas, hardtack biscuits and apple tarts (not to mention Limey Punch). We had fun with breakfast and lunch and tried to pick foods that represented countries and staples from that time for supper. [Go here for the whole week’s menu]

I am creating... Pirate-games, helping finish up painting doubloons and more!

I am going... to purchase a couple of straw bales later today. We also may squeeze in a trip to the library.

I am wearing... 6-7 year old blue jeans (ah, broke in at last), brown T, silver heart shaped prayer box necklace. And a pirate bandana (because I don’t have a captain’s fancy hat).

I am reading... Whirlwind by can’trememberwhorightnow and a book by Dr. Kevin Lehman.

I am hoping... for a spectacular and very Pirate-y day.

I am hearing... the girls cleaning up breakfast dishes in the kitchen, Mr. Conductor whistling while he plays with our Frigate.

Around the house... we’re doing pirate-y things! Like swabbing the deck and cleaning the slop buckets! Oh, yes, I’m milking this- cleaning can be more fun (for awhile at least) when given new names and talking like pirates. “Argh, swab harder you filthy sea rat.” It also helps to be sporting bandanas, fake pirate tattoos and having a mock sword fight with the dusters.

One of my favorite things... making school work so fun you don’t realize you are “doing” school.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week... MOPS tomorrow morning (kids have a fire safety class) and computer class in the afternoon, “regular” schooling the rest of the week, plus visiting a friend’s horse farm and (drum roll please) a double DATE NITE- Mr. Steady and I with two of our very bestest friends.

Please visit Peggy, the host of the Simple Woman’s Daybook and others here.

menu plan monday

We have really needed to reduce the grocery budget lately and menu planning is one thing that helps alot.  I find we spend alot less if we dont just go to the grocery and buy whatever sounds good that day.  We have also been shopping every other week (with dh picking up milk on the way home from work a few times each week).  We have been averaging 75 - 100 dollars every other week.  This includes all pet food, diapers, toiletries and cleaning supplies.  Here is this weeks menu plan:

Monday - navy bean and ham soup with fresh bread

Tuesday - Sloppy joe sandwiches and carrots

Wednesday - Scalloped potatoes with ham and green beans

Thursday - Apple cinamon oatmeal (crock pot) and scrambled eggs

Friday - Hamburger helper and peas

Saturday - vegetarian chilli and fresh rolls

Sunday - dd's birthday at the bowling alley Pizza!

joyful homemaker

Menu & Pirate Twist on Monday

Notes: We continue to stop at a local orchard/farmer’s stand for tomatoes, potatoes and apples.

Monday -Explorers & Pirates Celebration Day
B: Captain’s Eggs, toast
L: Shipwreck Stew, hardtack
D: Bubble & Squeak, hardtack, peas, Spanish Rice
Dessert: Apple Tarts
Daily Cost: $11.77
Tuesday
B: Baked Oatmeal, apple sauce
L: Homeschool group lunch: Book-it Pizzas (give $2 for Mom pizzas)
D: Crockpot: Layered dinner (steak, potatoes & veggies)
Dessert: Leftover tarts
Daily Cost: $9.04
Wednesday
B: Baked Oatmeal & sliced bananas
L: corn dog muffins & cottage cheese
D: One Dish Chicken Bake, salad
Dessert: none
Daily Cost: $7.97
Thursday
B: Choice: yogurt or cereal
L: Turkey Ranch wraps, chips & pickles
D: Sausage, egg & cheese biscuit sandwiches
Dessert: fruit cocktail
Daily Cost: $7.75
Friday
B: Berry Muffin Squares
L: Diner Dinner
D: Pizza
Dessert: none
Daily Cost: $11.77
Saturday
B: Daddy Cook (eggs, toast, bacon etc)
L: Leftover Smorgasbord
D: Leftover Smorgasbord
Daily Cost: $3.00
Sunday
B: Cocoa Wheats, toast
L: Crockpot: Chicken in mushroom sauce, homemade bread, veggies
D: Lunch Leftovers
Daily Cost: $6.21
Weekly Total: $57.51
~~ Don’t forget to check out the yummy menu ideas every Monday over at The Organizing Junkie’s blog. You just might find your next favorite family recipe!

Planning for the future...

Good Morning Friends!  I hope you are doing wonderful today. 
***A view from the future chicken coop area.***
I have a question for you... what are you doing in the area of planning for the future.  Now, mind you, I am not spazzing out and worrying about what lies ahead, my trust lies in Him,  but I do feel that God has given us enough sense to be prepared for our family.  Of course you know about the hobbit hole, that is one of our ways to be prepared.  I am harvesting ALL that we can get our hands on.  We buy in bulk when it is cheaper... I bought a 50 lb bag of potatoes.  A 5 lb bag was $5.00, a 50 lb bag was $17... yeah, easy decision I thought too.  I brought 5 or so lbs in the house for use and the rest are in the cellar. 
My next project is a chicken coop... now I am not talking about a little bitty thing, I am talking about a 30x30 pen size and then to have a little house for them to roost and lay. 

I always forget my camera!

Yesterday afternoon, in the most glorious autumn sunshine, we went for a walk up on the Downs. I forgot my camera. I still don't have pictures of JJ. I forget my camera. Sometimes I take my camera. But I forget to use it.

I would like a good camera, as mind does not take very good pictures, but I have told myself, no way, no new camera, unless and until I can remember to take along and use the one I have !

We had a disappointing day yesterday. I was ill with a stomach complaint I suffer from now and again, possibly stress related, and church was not good. There are disappointing attitudes, I shall say no more. Then again, the children were very upset, as news of a birth was passed on to them by someone who, obviously, the family had seen fit to tell. Whereas, having promised the children they would let them know, they didn't bother to tell us. It's a small thing, but children are small things, and I hate how they are being drawn into the disappointment of church fellowships with such hierarchies, that humble folk like us never matter enough to be in on anything. If that sounds bitter - well it is a little.

It's a new day, and although the glorious sun has passed, and we are back to autumnal gloom, I will not let it get me down. But I also will not let my family be treated this way, when I know God has no favourites. Since my husband is equally upset about the situation, I fear another move may on the cards.

Daily Devotion 286

October 13

What’s the Message of Your Countenance?

Iron sharpeneth iron: so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.

Proverbs 27:17

Have you ever wondered about the message your facial expressions send? As a youngster, I noticed the ministers’ faces as they sat facing the congregation Sunday after Sunday. They looked very sober and heavyhearted! I wondered where the joy of the Lord was. The face of another man I knew was always twisted with anxiety as he drove down the road. As he leaned over the wheel, his face was drawn into wrinkles and frowns. Was there fear in his heart? Stress? A severe struggle?

We dare not evaluate others on the basis of their facial expressions, but David mentions twice, “the health of the countenance.” Facial expressions may be friendly, serious, fickle, sad, or joyful. A Belizean brother Mark Meighn told me that during Hurricane Mitch people looked as though they did not believe that God is in control.

What is the remedy for an unhealthy countenance? David relates it to trust! “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.” Shouldn’t hope in God bring a healthy countenance? A heart that is neither fickle nor gloomy, but stable because it trusts in God will bring a healthy countenance. With that enhancement in the heart, how can we help but have a healthy countenance?

Elmer Schrock, Stuarts Draft, VA

A spiritually healthy heart eliminates the need for a pasted-on countenance.

Bible Reading: Psalm 42

One Year Bible Reading Plan:

Colossians 4

Isaiah 48, 49