My Love Story.

This is an honest to goodness, true story!! 

Once upon a time there was a 18 year old girl. She was your average 18 year old. She had her first public job, working at Cato. She liked hanging out with her friends, attending youth activities, and eating. 

This girl was average in looks. She was of short stature, brown hair and green eyes. She had a slim figure she currently misses very much. 

She enjoyed her friends, for the most part. You see, the majority of her friends were in serious relationships, one of them even planning a wedding. This sort of brought our girl down in the proverbial dumps. 

Instead of turning to God, our story's girl allowed herself to get sadder and sadder, eventually starting to back away from her friends and youth activities. 

The girl's wise mother noticed her daughter's pain and decided to intervene. She pulled her aside and said one thing: "I'm going to pray for you."

That's right. That's all she said. "I'm going to pray for you." No "Buck up! You're too young! Get happy! Get over yourself!" Just a simple "I'm going to pray for you."

The mother did just as she said she would. A few weeks later she pulled her daughter aside and told of a dream she'd had. In the dream, a family with several boys came to their church. The boys were all very handsome, and all the girls flocked around them. The oldest one, however, noticed the mother's daughter above all the other girls and pursued her. The dream ended with a wedding. 

The girl listened excitedly. For the next couple of months, the girl scanned each service for a new family. There were a few, but none with several boys. Eventually, the girl gave up on her mother's dream, forgetting all about it with time. 

Fast forward about 6 months. A family with 4 handsome boys moves to our girl's church. At first, all the girls surround them every service (much like animals surround their prey). The girl's sister and cousin make friends with the boys. The girl herself simply smiles and waves. 

The cousin is very excited to learn the oldest boy and the girl are close in age. "Talk to him!" The cousin urges. "No!" the girl says. "If he's interested in me, he'll talk to me!"

Another couple of months pass. The youth group goes on a trip to Myrtle Beach. The girl keeps herself very close to the oldest boy of the family. He smiles, but never says a word. The girl finally gives up and joins her friends. 

The youth group gets back to the church. The girl walks to her car when she hears her name. She turns around and it's the oldest boy. He asks her name and if she enjoyed the trip. They engage in small talk, ending with him asking her number. 

The girl gives it to him, then walks to her friends car and squeals! 

They end up dating for a year, then become engaged for six months. Right before the girl walks down the aisle, the mother reminds the daughter of her dream. The girl realizes that God had a plan all along. The mother feels honored that she was used in God's plan. Tears come to both their eyes. The girl walks down the aisle to start a new life as Mrs. Jerald Hann Jr. 

If you ever hear me call my hubby's miracle, know this story is why. 

Menu Making

This post will show my little bit of OCD. ☺️ I have a system for grocery shopping that is tried and true. I come up with a menu for each month, leaving room for leftovers and nights out. Here is this month's menu. 

Some are recipes that are old and loves and some are recipes that are new Pinterest finds (yes, I'm another Pinterest addict). If you would like any of the recipes for the above meals, I will feel free to share! 

I then write down all the ingredients for the above recipes on a separate sheet of paper. 

This is where the OCD part kicks in. I then take this sheet and cross off what I don't need and organize it on another sheet. 

Yes, I've been told it's a bit much and I belong in a padded room. I'm sure I'd find a way to reorganize the pads on the wall. Heehee. 

Using this system, my grocery shopping time is cut way down and my grocery bill is at least, if not more than, 1/2 cheaper than when I don't plan. 

Try it out for your next month! Twerk it to your family's needs. Let me know how it works. As always,

Much love,

Krystan, the experimental housewife

Homemade Laundry Detergent Review!!

I promised a review on the homemade laundry detergent I made (see recipe in previous post). I think this about sums it up: 

 I really do love it! It works amazing and makes my house smell heavenly! 

Here is a jean skirt of mine I had gotten some flour and butter on while baking. 

Gross, huh? Well, I threw it in the washer with 2 TBS detergent:

I used a scoop from an old detergent I used to buy and measured out TBS and marked them with sharpie for easy measuring. 

This is how the skirt came out:

Nice and clean! I highly recommend this detergent. It cleans well, as seen, smells great, as already stated, and costs so very much less than premade detergents!!

If you would like a sample, let me know! 

Much love,

Krystan, the experimental housewife 

#wiaw 6/16/15

Today's #wiaw is someone everyone knows and loves. She is a Proverbs 31 woman if ever I met one. 

Sis. LeeAnn Cremeans is someone I admire very, very much. She's one of those people who work their knuckle to the bone, then when time for recognition comes around, she's in the back still working. 

Bible quizzing is a passion for her. I'm not sure everyone realizes, but she spends hours and hours typing chart work up. She gets the quizzers at her home and works with them. I've seen quizzing in other churches and very few coaches put the time in that Sis. LeeAnn does. 

She has a compassionate heart. If she someone in need, she'll do what she can to help them, usually using her own resources to help them. I've known her to buy clothes for women who didn't have any so they could come to church. I remember recently at a funeral, the children looked at the desert table and asked for cookies. There were none, only cakes and pies. She went home and baked cookies, just for them. 

Even more importantly, she is a prayer warrior. I remember as a teenager, she'd take me to the prayer room with her. We'd be there for hours. I remember listening to her pour her heart out. If there's a person in need, rest assured they're in her prayers.

So next time you see her, give her a hug. Let her know that all her hard work and dedication is appreciated. 

I love you Sis. LeeAnn, very much. I know this little post doesn't do you nearly the justice you deserve, but I wanted to let everyone know what an amazing lady you are. 

#wiaw 6/10/15

Today's #womaniadmire is someone I'm afraid I don't know as well as I'd like. However, even from a distance, she has always encouraged and inspired me. 

Tammy, we've never talked about it, but I know there's been a while, while lot you've been through, and ARE going through. 

What I admire about you Tammy, is that even through it all, you have a smile on your face, a hug and kind word for any and all, and hands raised in worship. You've helped me without ever knowing or realizing it. 

Thank you for being the strong lady you are. I love you!!

-Krystan

#wiaw 6/3/15

Instagram has a thing called #wcw. #wcw is Woman Candy Wednesday. People post pics of the woman they love. 

There are many women I admire, so I thought I'd start my own thing: #wiaw! #wiaw will be a blog post each Wednesday on a particular woman I admire with her picture and why I admire her (Thus #wiaw-woman I admire Wednesday). 

This week's #wiaw is someone relatively new in my life. Her name is Mary Ann Davis. 

Why do I admire her so? She has the sweetest spirit! She has a hello for any and everybody. She has a way of making a person feel loved and welcomed. 

MaryAnn, if you're reading this, I want you to know how much I appreciate you. You've made me feel like a friend from the first day we met and you trust me with your precious kids...there's no greater honor than that. Thank you for your sweet friendship. I love you!!

The Clutter of Life

The Bible Quizzing team at my church is having a yard sale this Saturday, so I'm helping a friend go through all her closets and her toy room to organize and get rid of things. It's amazing how clutter adds up through the years.

I know tonight I'll be going through my own closets. There's one thing we both agreed on...it's difficult to get rid of things you've had for so long. My husband says it's a "woman thing". I don't agree. I know men who hold on to things. One wife I know recently had her husband go through his drawers...he got rid of an entire trash bag full of socks!!!!! That's a lot of socks!!!

I don't know about you, but I tend to hold onto things for memories sake. This item makes me remember when my husband and I were dating, another item makes me remember the summers my siblings and I spent every year in Texas with my grandparents.

All this clutter got me thinking...it's not only our houses that can get cluttered. I believe our minds and our hearts can get cluttered as well. How? Well, I'm glad you asked!

Our minds can get cluttered with schedules. We have to be here by this time, be there by that time. Dinner has to be cooked at this time, get the kids to bed at this time, and on and on and on.

Our hearts can get cluttered with feelings. This person snubbed me. That person lied to me. Another person didn't invite me to their party. This is the sort of clutter I tend to collect, I must admit.

Just as with a room and a closet, loads of clutter hides the beauty of the area. You can have a beautiful room and never know it due to the excessive clutter. Once you clean it out, you're amazed. This is true with our hearts and minds.

How do we clean the clutter of our hearts and minds? We clean it through prayer and meditation. For our minds. we simply pray that God help us focus on things important. Forget the schedule...if your child wants to spend more time gazing at God's handiwork we call nature, let them. Teach them! So what if it means they go to bed a few minutes later than usual? The important thing is, they spent a few extra minutes with you. This will not be forgotten by them.

For our hearts, we pray that God help us get rid of the bad feelings lying on the shelves of our heart and replace them with better, newer ones. There's a particular girl I always had bad feelings for placed on the shelves of my heart. She didn't invite me to her parties, she didn't talk to me (in fact, she'd walk right by me without so much as a hello). My mother taught me to pray that God would bless her because it's hard to have hard feelings for someone you're praying for. I prayed that prayer, and now on my shelves are feelings of "She's such a strong lady", "She's so beautiful", a "She prays with all her heart...I admire that". We are not friends, but we speak to each other and I always have a smile for her.

I have made a pact to check the rooms of my heart and my mind daily and ask God to help declutter them. I would suggest you do to.

Love as always,
Krystan
The Experimental Housewife

Homemade Pound Cake

I like to cook, and I like to bake. I am, however, a recipe gal. I wish I could be a kitchen wizard like my BFF, Hannah, but alas, I've not reached that level yet. 

My gorgeous hubby, Jerry, is an auto-mechanic. 

Here's a pic of my handsome hubby and I at my sister (and his brother's!) wedding (more on that later). 

As I was saying, my hubby is an auto-mechanic. He works at a place run by a wonderful Christian man, and the atmosphere is more like a family business. Jerry's boss feeds his workers breakfast and lunch and he even cuts Jerry's hair! Amazing, I know! 

I like to bake something sweet "for the guys" once a week. This week I thought I'd try an old family pound cake recipe. It's the first time I've not used a box mix, and I must admit, I was a mite nervous. 

It turned out very well!! Here's the recipe: 

Very simple, right? My kind of recipe! (Remember, I'm not a kitchen wizard yet. Anything with more than ten ingredients gets my panic mode rising!) I also made a simple glaze I found on Google. Here's what the finished product looked like: 

Quite pretty, if I do say so myself. Once it cooled, I sliced it up and arranged it real pretty on a plate.

Or, sort of pretty anyway. There was a slice of uh-oh cake. You know uh-oh slices...the ones that "crumble" and "don't look pretty" causing you to, of course, have to eat it yourself. Heehee. I usually have a few of those. Tasting my uh-oh piece, I found it to be wonderfully moist and super fluffy. 

Try it out! Tell me what you think!

Much love,

Krystan

The experimental housewife

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I had a VERY busy day today! I went grocery shopping, made homemade laundry detergent, and made my first homemade pound cake (more on that in a later post). I'm rather proud of myself! ☺️

I found the laundry detergent recipe on Pinterest, but adjusted it just a tad. I'm rather particular about my clothes-I want them to smell good, but more importantly, I want them clean! I've been playing around with various detergents and finally decided to just make something myself. 

These are the ingredients I used: 1 (4 lb) box of baking soda, 1 (4 lb) box of borax, 1 (3 lb) box of washing soda, 1 (3 lb) box of Oxy Clean, 1 (48 oz) container of Purex crystals (whichever scent you prefer- I personally love "Fresh Spring Waters), and 1 (14.4 oz) bar Zote soap. Shred the Zote soap with a cheese grater (the soap is super soft, making it easy to shred). Mix all the ingredients in a large bucket, such as the one pictured here. 

I tried to be dainty and lady like and use a large spoon to mix it, but my patience didn't hold up real well. I used my hands instead and mixed, and mixed, and mixed, and, well, you get the picture. 

It smells amazing!! I haven't been able to use it yet (can you believe in actually anxious to get a load of laundry done?), but as soon as I get a few loads going, I'll put a review post. Here's a close up so you can see how pretty it is. I wish you could smell it!! 

I even put some in small containers for my MIL and sister to try. 

If you decide to make it, let me know how it turns out!!

Much love,

Krystan, the experimental housewife