Steph's Simple Life

Not my normal post, but something I felt worth sharing.  Most people, will at some point sell, or even look to buy a house and in most cases all you really get is the realtor's point of view.  So, I wanted to share some of the things that we've learned in this process. In June we put our house on the market, our goal was to have it sold by November, and with all the homes on the market here in San Antonio, we were a little nervous.  After 30 days on the market we received an offer and closed on the 19th of August.  Nine years ago, we sold our house in Maryland (well, my husband did while I was off seeing the world) in less than 2 weeks.  The market is always changing, but I think if you do it right, you will sell your home no matter what the market is, some areas may take a little longer, some a little less.  So, here are some tips that might be helpful if you're selling, or thinking of selling. 1 - Find a Realtor, and remember they are working for you!...

I came up with this recipe MANY years ago, and made them so often, we just got tired of them.  However, a couple of weeks ago, I decided I'd let enough years go by and it was time to bring them back.  (Kinda like McDonalds does the McRib) I started making these back when we were living paycheck to paycheck, so they are so inexpensive to make, but they cook up so moist! Ingredients" 1 Bell Pepper 1 Onion 1 Bag of croutons (I use the Walmart ones that are a dollar a bag) Thin cut pork chops (2 per person) If you buy thick ones, you can slice them to make a pocket 1 tablespoon of butter garlic salt and pepper needle and thread (I told you I love to sew) Melt butter in skillet and put in about a half back of croutons, peppers, onion and seasoning.  Saute until everything is blended well.  Set aside. Take your pork chops and sew them together, or if they're thick, slice the pocket. Preheat oven to 350. Stuff (okay, overstuff)  the por...

It's been awhile, and I know this because my husband has been reminding me...you know that's bad!  I haven't been sewing much since I have most of my stuff packed up, getting ready for the move.  So, here's what's going on around here; we are getting ready to put our house on the market, since my husband is retiring later this year.  In the meantime, we are looking for a place to live temporarily in Missouri to live while we are building our new house.  We have yet to find a builder, or agree on a plan, so temporarily might not be so temporary.  However, I'm not too worried about those things.  What has been keeping me worried is my dad. About 4 weeks ago now, my dad's house caught on fire.  Since his stroke last August, it seems as if his health is continuing to fail.  This is sad for any person to see, it breaks my heart.  After being away for nearly 25 years in the military, I now feel like I should be there taking care of him and his pe...

Okay, it seems like everyone that has a baby now has a Boppy pillow.  After seeing them in action, I do not know how I, or my children, ever survived without these miracle devices.  Anyway, since the grand daughter will be here in a few months, I've decided to see if it was possible to make one of these wonder pillows.  I was able to find a pattern on Pinterest  @ https://sites.google.com/site/sewityourself/   this site's instructions were okay, but she only had drawings and I thought pictures might help those of you who are new to printing the patterns and actually putting them together. Here's what you'll need to get started: Scissors Pins Printer, to print the pattern tape 1 1/4 yards of fabric 1 bag of stuffing matching thread Step 1 , print the pattern and cut it out.  It will print on 4 pages and you will have to cut each piece out, then tape the pieces together. Step 2 , tape the pattern together matching up the lines.   ...

Can you believe that we are already in March?  I can't, where is the time going?  This year is already proving to be a busy one and doesn't seem like it's going to slow down any.  The realtor is coming this weekend to look at the house, since we're getting ready to put it on the market, so I spent this week staining and sealing tile grout....it was a pain, and I'm in pain now...but it turned out good.  Here are the before and after pictures. Before it looked like this in the high traffic areas. After   It turned out better than I'd hoped for, so that was good.  Plus the floor is really clean now, and I guess it needed it.   I've still been making my soap, and am now ONLY using my soap!  I love it, some more than others.  I shipped out a box this morning, so hopefully I'll get some "unbiased" feedback.   I've also been making some things that I thought I'd already posted on here, but I couldn't seem to find,...

Well, we are already almost 3 weeks into the New Year, I hope everyone is still on track for the things they set out to do.  I'm still hanging in there with my exercise and diet, and while I haven't lost as much weight as I'd hoped, my blood pressure has went down considerably!  I guess if I can't be skinny, I'll have to settle for healthy.  I've also been trying to keep up with my crafting.  I just sliced another batch (No. 3) of soap this morning.  I'm really excited, this batch turned out really white and I scented this one with grapefruit and jasmine.  I also bought a mitre box so that I can cut the bars more evenly, so they will look more uniform. Here it is, still sitting in the mitre box.  (If you're thinking about making soap, I recommend you get one of these boxes, I only paid 5 dollars for it at Lowes.) Someone asked me the other day how big are the batches that I've been making.  I've been making 1 lb batches, and that makes 7...

Well, another year is behind us!  I hope everyone had a great Christmas.  We went home to Missouri where we met up with the rest of our family.  While we were there we even burned some brush over on our farm, because who can pass up a chance to burn things....certainly not me and my friend! After we got back home, I decided to lick my soap that I made around Thanksgiving.  Yes, I said lick.  I know it sounds strange, but I read that you can tell if it's done by licking it.  It said it will "zap" you if it's not done...so I licked it. (I had to do it in secrecy, so that my husband wouldn't think that I'd gone crazy.)  Since it didn't zap me, I tried it.  It could stand to cure longer, but it produces a really creamy lather, and rinses off really clean feeling, I made small bars and they were light in color.  Since they are the first batch, they are No. 1.  Here's what the bars look like.     The color is pretty l...