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Blessings of Wood / Home Heating with Pallets

December 19, 2009 By Laura 3 Comments

I think all of us New Englanders can agree, that it’s not cheap to heat a home in the winter seasons. Especially larger or older homes. So sometimes, we need to keep the heat thermostat down a bit, double up on clothing layers, or find a cheaper way to heat our home. We’ve done all of the above.  Today we’re sharing one way we sometimes heat our house, for FREE. If you are able to burn wood, consider burning and heating your home with free hardwood pallets, if you can find them!

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This is often what one side of our drive-way looks like, as of the past few months.  Sometimes, the piles of these pallets are a little higher, and sometimes a little lower.  But one thing is for sure – we’re always happy to see some out there!
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heating-with-pallet-wood

Because these pallets heat our home, for free.  Well….maybe for a little labor.  Although I doubt Michael would call it that.  Michael’s supply company for his business, sometimes gives us stacks of pallets, that they want out of their warehouse.  When they are delivering down in our area anyway, they put a stack or 2 of these on the truck, to be delivered to us.  Most of the pallets are oak, or other hard woods.  Sometimes, there’s a little pine too, but that’s o.k.  It all burns in our wood stove!  But hard wood does burn longer and hotter.

heating-with-pallet-wood-1

The pallets just need to be cut up.  But Michael is always happy to fire up ‘Little Red‘, and cut wood.  He loves doing it.  (Seriously. We all can tell.)  As a matter of fact, he’s out there cutting up pallets right now! On his birthday no less.  Even the kids said awhile ago, “Daddy wants to go out and cut wood on his birthday.”  lol.

heating-with-pallet-wood-3

heating-with-pallet-wood_
Can’t you see that manly-expression of satisfaction on his face?  I can. lol

He’s got an ax now too….so he’s even happier!
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heating-with-pallet-wood-4

Here’s just one pile we’ve got going.
This one he keeps stacked pretty high, because he loves to just crank open that window above, and grab some wood for the stove. lol
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There is usually a great big pile on the floor in the house too, just to the right of the stove.

You may have wondered about all of the nails in the pallets.  Michael doesn’t bother pulling the nails out, most times.  He’s a clever time saver;
TIP: When the stove cools down from previous fire(s), he has this magnet he sticks in to the floor of the stove, and it picks up all of the nails that fell out of the wood as it burned. ; )

heating-with-pallet-wood_5

Our 2-floor house is not small, by any means, anymore.  And the living room ceiling is high.  So it can be costly to heat, with gas.  This stove really helps out with that though.  Michael has a couple of fans going, and the heat fills the house, and even blows right upstairs and heats up there, too. The entire upstairs is the new part of the house, but we don’t happen to have the heating system completely intact up there yet. Because honestly, we’ve gotten along fine without it.  After all, our stove is burning on any given cold day throughout the cold season, and most of the night.  It gets fired right back up, first thing in the morning.  We LOVE our wood stove, if you haven’t read that before here. (I reckon some of you are sick of reading that, by now. lol).

heating-with-pallet-wood_6

But this post isn’t about our stove again.  It’s about the WOOD!

We also are blessed with wood from another source.  There is a sweet old man that has lived at the end of this street for a very long time.  He and his wife are elderly now (although he doesn’t seem to know it yet, at 89 years old), but he and his wife raised eleven children in their home down there.  Of course, their children are all grown now, and they have probably 100’s of grandchildren, or something close.  Anyway, this sweet man has called numerous times, or left messages, that always go the same way:  “Michael! Lenny.  I’ve got wood down here for you. Come and get it.”   Trees that he took down himself.  Michael always catches him doing something labor-intensive, and goes over to help him.  Or, other times Michael has very sneakily snuck in like an elf, and finished a job he saw Lenny working so hard at during the day, so Lenny wouldn’t have to.

So think real hard, about where you can get some free pallets, or other wood!  If you see piles of them out back behind local warehouses and big chain stores, stop in, and ask to speak to the manager about the possibility of taking them off their hands. Look for piles of broken pallets beside dumpsters. Go for a walk on a sunny winter day, and see what old dead tree limbs you can find, throw it in the back of your truck. It may need to be seasoned for a bit back home, but you’ll appreciate it as free heating wood, at some point.

j_

Well, as I close this post, we’ve got a snowstorm on the way!!  The funny thing is, we haven’t even had a FLURRY this cold season, yet.  We’re just going to kick it off with…..who knows how much.  Supposedly a lot, but it depends on which weather report you read.  As Michael says, after reading the different predictions, “Basically, we’ll be getting anywhere from a dusting, to several feet of snow.”

One thing is for sure.  We’ll be home.  And cozy as can be.  Well….except for the kids sometimes, who will probably spend some of that time playing out there in the first fallen snow.  Perhaps they’ll build me another snowman, that I can admire outside my windows, by the fireside.

I often wonder who else always has a fire going in their home during cold seasons.   And if anyone loves it as much as we do. Do you?  If so, we hope this post gave some of you wood burners out there some new ideas, about cutting the cost of heating your homes more affordably, or for free.
Wishing you warm winters!

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Filed Under: Budget, Re-Purposing, Seasonal Home decor, The Homestead, WINTER Home Decor Tagged With: budget heating, burning-pallet-wood, free-wood, heating-home-for-free, heating-home-for-less, heating-home-on-a-budget, heating-homes-in-New-England, winter-heating, wood-stove-tips

A Christmas Fan Pull | Crafts

December 15, 2009 By Laura 6 Comments

The other day,  I found myself gazing at this tiny,  intricate, beautiful little ceramic egg, that I spontaneously hung from our fan pull in our sun room one day, quite awhile ago.

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I wondered why it never struck me as a little Easter decoration until then, and how it really didn’t look quite right hanging there, the way it was.

Christmas fan pull craft

It bothered me a tad more, when I realized Christmas was really coming very soon.   I needed to do something about the egg, hanging there.  I had a little more time on my hands than I have had for the past few months, so I decided I would make a Christmas fan pull, to replace the egg.

Then I thought about the year ahead, and my imagination ran wild.  You all know I love holiday and seasonal themed ‘anythings’, and especially for my home decor.  So, if all of the ideas in my head come to be, you all will be seeing some more themed fan pulls crafts around here, as the coming year progresses.  I’ve got a whole array of a collection of fan pulls in my head, and I think it’s a lovely idea to have that collection, to change my fan pulls with the holidays and seasons as we roll through the year.

So here is my first fan pull craft, for Christmas.  It’s not quite the vision I had in my head, only because I didn’t see the beads in the store, that I created in my head. (I don’t get why I can never find the stuff I make up?  I mean, if  “I”  thought of it…..). I also sort of winged the construction of it this time around, but I am sure with experience will come…near perfection.

Here’s all I needed at the store for this craft:

Christmas fan pull craft

Some pretty beads that said ‘Christmas’ to me.  I love the ‘strands’ of beads found in the craft stores….because you can really take a good look at them, without them being in a container and such. Also needed, was some thin but strong gauged wire.  I went with 26 gauge.  And then…..I wanted a ‘star of Bethlehem’ of some sort.  Whatever form I could find one….which was found in a back aisle in the way of a tree topper.  I think.  But I could fix that.

beads

So first I cut the string and spread my beads out on the table.

ornamental star

Then Michael cut the star off the wire spring, leaving some wire to twist into a circle, which I covered with the small beads that came on my strand, and closed the loop more tightly.

Christmas fan pull craft

Next I measured how long I wanted my pan full, doubled that length and added a couple more inches to that, and started stringing the beads, alternating between the larger color-faceted beads, with the clear crystal ones.   Once through all of the beads, I slid the wire through the loop of the star, and back UP the whole wire of beads, until both ends were coming out of the top.

As an after-thought, I could have just hung the star on the center of the wire, grabbed both of the other ends of the wire, and fed them together through all of the beads, until they came out the top.  But that would have been too easy I guess. lol

christmas-fan-pull-craft-4

For security, I took both ends of the wire, and re-routed them again up the bottom of the top bead, so they came back out the top once again. So yes, 2 thin wires are now showing on the outside of that top bead.

Christmas fan pull craft

With the excess wire coming out of the top of the strand of beads (with the star on the other end), I balled up the remaining wire, and just worked it into the clasp on the piece of chain hanging on the fan.  Then I gave the whole thing a yank.  It was nice and strong, and the fan turned on and everything. : )

I noticed a bit of wave to my hanging piece, and realized it was from the doubled wire.  Perhaps I could bend it more here and there to try and straighten it a little more, but I rather like the bit of wave I think.  It adds a little character and design.  I decided to pass it off like I totally did that on purpose.

Fan pull chain and clasps can be found at hardware stores, etc.   So in the future, if my current project involves beads with large enough holes, I may just decorate the chain itself.  I already have some craft items for my plans for a new fan pull come January, as a winter theme.

Christmas fan pull craft

But for now, I’ll enjoy my Christmas fan pull.  I wondered if midnight blue beads would have been more appropriate, with the star of Bethlehem, but I still thought this looked rather pretty and Christmas-sy.  It really twinkles, and displays such beautiful colors, when the room is filled with sun!

It was fun to make.  I’m really going to enjoy creating this collection.

Oh, the possibilities!

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Filed Under: Crafts & Creations, Fan Pulls, Seasonal Home decor, The Homestead, WINTER Home Decor Tagged With: Christmas decor, Christmas-crafts, Christmas-decorating, fan pull crafts

Kids’ Thankful Tree

November 30, 2009 By Laura 4 Comments

Like many of you, this past Thanksgiving, we counted our blessings.
And the kids created a little  ‘Thankful Tree’.
We are blessed.  So very blessed.

kids thankful activity

We don’t have a lot.  Many are surprised at the things we simply do without.

Some is by choice.  Much is by necessity.

But we know we are rich, by the simple things.

kids thankful activity

Because in all of the simple things….

is all of which we need to survive.

All of the things which we would hardly be able to bare to live without….

literally, or by the heart,

are the simple things, indeed.

kids thankful activity

So the simple things, are all we really need.

And it’s the simple things, that we couldn’t be more thankful for.

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Filed Under: Crafts & Creations, FALL Crafts and Creations, FALL Home Decor, Holiday Crafts, Holidays, Home Decor, Seasonal Crafts and Creations, Seasonal Home decor, The Big Picture Tagged With: fall-decor-ideas, kids-thankful-tree, kids-thanksgiving-activity, Thanksgiving-ideas

Our Christmas Wishes and New Nativity Displayed

December 24, 2008 By Laura 1 Comment

It’s Christmas Eve! So just a quick note to you all:   Our nativity set that Fr. Reed and CatholicTV gifted us with is all set up, and we wanted to share some photos of it with you, just as we promised to.  And what more appropriate day to do so?  You can be sure, we will treasure this nativity set for all of our family history to come.

nativity-set

Michael designed and built the stable (I stained it! : ), that so beautifully displays these exquisite figurines, that depicts so well the birth of our Savior.  It truly sets the holy scene that means SO very much to us all.

home-nativity-set-handmade-stable

My favorite piece is the angel.  Every time I look at it, I think of my mother.  Not because she was an angel on earth, ; ), mind you. But because she loved angels so very much.

nativity-angel

home-nativity-set

To each one of you, and your families, from our family-

We wish you all a blessed, peaceful and joyful Christmas!

Enjoy every moment!

Filed Under: Faith, Faith/ Catholic, Home Decor, Seasonal Home decor, The Big Picture, The Homestead, WINTER Home Decor Tagged With: Catholic-blogs, Catholic-families, Catholic-family-Christmas-decor, Catholic-home-decor, CatholicTV, Christmas-nativity, home-nativity-set-displayed, homemade-nativity-stable. Christmas, nativity, nativity set

Autumn Decorating…Check!

September 25, 2008 By Laura Leave a Comment

cups-of-cocoa

Seasonal decorating around our home isn’t a chore, it’s an exciting event we make the most of! With Autumn being one of our very favorite seasons, we got right to it the day after it was officially Fall. And what’s decorating without cocoa?  We usually fill the air with festive music as well, as the kids take turns grabbing this and that, to find just the right spot for it.

The decorating is not completely done for this season.  I’ve got some pumpkin project plans for this weekend, and if we really get to it, I’ll be sure to take photos and share.

We’re also trying to get the homestead ready-enough around here, for a large television crew that will be blowing through our home next week and spending the day with us, as they film our family for a new show for Catholic TV.  Just a bit unnerving! But exciting, too. We will be the first family featured for this new program that features various Catholic families, how they live their life as a family, and how they pass down their faith!  Complete reality style tv (minus the drama, of course), with a tour of our ‘crib’, and interviews with some of us, one on one.  We are honored, and humbled, to have been approached to be the first family for this pilot show.  We are normally a fairly private family, but what an opportunity to share our valued faith, and the immense joy we find in Christ’s love — how He is the central and most vital part of our home, and our family.  We feel it’s obvious that God is really asking us to do this….and you just don’t say no to Him! Or we don’t dare, anyway!  So…..we are very, very excited, and a little bit nervous!  We’ll keep you posted with how taping day goes, and airing dates and times, if you’re interested.

Meanwhile…

Happy, Happy Fall, to you all!!

Filed Under: FALL Home Decor, Home Decor, Seasonal Home decor, The Homestead Tagged With: autumn, autumn home decor, Catholic, Catholic-family, CatholicTV, fall-home-decor, fall-home-decorating, home decor

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