Friday Feast

The days pass quickly and I am really trying to limit my time on the computer. Combine those two things together and the blog is neglected. I have much to share today, therefore the title "Friday Feast."

First, as I type this I'm listening to a play list of one of the bloggers that I follow. Make sure you visit Heather at A Place of Quiet Rest. Her music choices are wonderful.

May was a busy month for us as the kids finished up AWANA for this year. My little guy will move up to Sparks (I won't have any more Cubbies, sniff, sniff.) And my 8 year old will move up to T&T next year.

Bethany participated in the History/Science/Art Fair that our local homeschool group hosted. Her project was owls and she did a great job!

Here in the second picture you can see her "Kaya" bag. She made this from a kit supplied by my friend who has taught her daughter and Bethany in "American Girl Club." They read the entire series of Felicity and Kaya books throughout the year, discussed them and did activities pertaining to the books/and time periods. She enjoyed it greatly.

My little guy participated in a soccer camp of sorts, an hour each Saturday in April and May. He had a fun time! The last day was this past Saturday and they asked the parents to play for the final 15 minutes. T was so excited!! He looked over at me and said, "Mom, when the other team kicks the ball, you've got to run like the wind!" =) So cute!! (My oldest daughter edited this photo.)

This evening we will honor a good friend of ours who is now in the presence of Jesus. He had a love of all things garden and I'm thankful to have learned at his side. He loved talking about his plants, canned jars all neatly lined up on the shelves, and techniques that he had perfected over the years. I'm praying for his dear wife of 59 years and his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren and all who knew and loved him. He will be missed. Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus.

Lastly I want to share with you a feast of different sort. In three different ways, God has reminded me this morning of His sovereignty and faithfulness. I pray you will be encouraged and refreshed as you look at these links.

A short, 2 minute video entitled Why is there suffering if God is good?
Today's Our Daily Bread devotion called, Our Times--His Hands.My last God reminder is JJ Heller's song "Your Hands."



How is that for a feast? Thank you God!

I'm linking this post to Home Sanctuary's Company Coffee Girls. You probably know by now that I don't drink coffee, however I love tea. So grab a cup of your favorite tea and visit other friends. Thanks for visiting me and have a lovely day! (note: the picture of the rose at the top of the post was taken and edited by my oldest daughter.)

Time away + Eating off the Floor

Two weeks ago, my oldest daughter and I went to the Midwest Homeschool Convention. We traveled with a friend and her daughter. We had a good time and God used it to teach each of us more about Himself and depending on Him.

The classes I went to focused much on reaching the hearts of our children, inspiring learning and persevering through the journey of life for the glory of God. I'd love to sit down with my notes and blog about the details. I will work on doing that in the next month or so. (Just a side note: we laughed until it hurt at the Tim Hawkins concert.)

My girl took these three pictures while we were at the convention. We walked to a little restaurant and had lunch in this park. So relaxing and refreshing.

From relaxing and refreshing, we now return to 'regular life' where I'd put off washing the kitchen floor for...ummm...a LONG time. My thinking traveled the gamut, everything from "It's winter time and the kids and dog will be tracking in all kinds of inclement elements." Then I thought, "Always such a big job, let me just wait until after the spring rains." Finally I could take no more. The floor was downright dirty.

Yesterday was the day...I got down on my hands and knees (is there any other way?) and scrubbed that floor until well, we could have eaten off it! =)

Now that it is clean again, I love it. And it makes me want to wash it again just to try to keep it clean.

From here it's an easy jump to the analogy of my life and walk with God. If I neglect my daily walk with Him, 'junk' (sin) builds up quickly. Spending time on my knees, scrubbing out the dirt and allowing His righteousness to wash over me, leaves me refreshed and wanting to get on my knees tomorrow. This verse has been close to my heart this week:

You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.
Trust in the LORD forever,
for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.
Isaiah 26:3-4

Jesus, draw me nearer. Nearer Lord to thee!

Be sure to visit Home Sanctuary and connect with other Company Girls. Thanks for stopping by!

Planted seeds today

Bethany and I started our garden today. We planted seeds inside in hopes that they will be well on their way to becoming sturdy plants in about 8 weeks. We planted several different varieties of tomatoes, green peppers, red peppers, and hot peppers. Waiting until the ground is ready and the danger of frost is over are cucumbers, green beans and lettuce. So very exciting!

This year we bought our seeds from an heirloom seed company called Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. Customer service was a great help and friendly too.

Bethany and I are also doing a garden study. Over the years I've collected quite a few odds and ends that will all come together for our garden study. I hope to be able to share some more resources with you. I will add them on to this post when I come across them.

Here's what I have so far:
A free excerpt of Amanda Bennett's Garden Unit Study
Squidoo has this plant lapbook with lots of resources
What a sweet garden lapbook found here.

Happy Spring!

The week God planned

I'm thankful for online friends and Company Girls has been a delightful place to get to know other women who are seeking to make their home a sanctuary. Rachel Anne has encouraging posts each day to help you do a 'small thing' (and boy those small things really add up to be big!) Today I'm thankful that you have come to visit because my house guest just left a few hours ago (sniff, sniff). She really enjoyed making and drinking peach tea while she was here. So pour yourself a glass and read about the week that God planned. Thank you for being here.
...and come back soon....

A week that God plans is far better than anything I could plan! I know you can relate: the week that I thought we were going to have was promptly (and providentially) turned upside down when a friend called last Saturday. She lives a few hours away and needed to have some time away from her home to think over some important things.

Of course, we said "you are welcome here, please come." She did and let me tell you the wonderful week we had. She had lots of time to think, read and pray. And we had time to enjoy her company. She is a gracious, sweet friend who loves my children and can make a walking stick laugh. :)

I've been studying the "One Anothers" in Scripture. Here are just a few of them:

• Comfort one another. I Thessalonians 4:18
• Build one another up Romans 15:2 "Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up." I Thessalonians 5:11 "Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing."
• Bear one another's burdens Galatians 6:2 "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ."
• Care for one another. I Corinthians 12:25 "that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another."
• Show hospitality to one another. I Peter 4:9 "Show hospitality to one another without grumbling."

My friend that was here this week was a joy to have. My hunny and I spent the evenings talking with her and helping her work through things. And each morning, my sweet 4 year old, pounded on her door and excitedly said, "Good Morning!" Each one of my 3 kids enjoyed time with her playing games, painting nails and reading books. My prayer for her and her family is that God would redeem the time she was away, grow her into the person HE wants her to be and give her the grace and mercy she needs to live every day for Him.

{sigh} I miss her already.

Colorful Things

I enjoy color. Especially after the gray and white days of winter, I enjoy color. We've added some color to our home through the beauty of flowers. Oh, thank You God for colorful flowers! I've enjoyed these roses for nearly two weeks now...they were a gift from a dear friend. They have brightened up our home and my countenance!

The yellow flowers were purchased at W*lmart (clearance, no less!). They have stayed extremely hydrated and beautiful for weeks now.


Color has also entered our home by way of art. Bethany and Trenton finished their India art projects. We loved the way the rice looked in their piles of different colors. (I wish I would have taken a picture of them before the kids started using them.) The picture below is Trenton's.


It was a fun project and you can read here where we got our ideas from for our India study.
Thanks for stopping by today. I enjoyed your company. Still have tea left in your cup?? scoot on over the Home Sanctuary's Company Girls and visit some others!

Grape Expectations

Although the kitchen looks like a tornado went through, I thought I'd tell you all that I made grape juice today...27 quarts of grape juice! :) We really did love it last year and since my grape jelly didn't set up properly, I didn't want to brave it this year.

I love seeing all the jars on the counter. Makes me feel like a Proverbs 31 woman...

¹⁰ A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.

¹¹ Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.

¹² She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.

¹³ She selects wool and flax
and works with eager hands.

¹⁴ She is like the merchant ships,
bringing her food from afar.

¹⁵ She gets up while it is still dark;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her servant girls.

¹⁶ She considers a field and buys it;
out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.

¹⁷ She sets about her work vigorously;
her arms are strong for her tasks.

¹⁸ She sees that her trading is profitable,
and her lamp does not go out at night.

¹⁹ In her hand she holds the distaff
and grasps the spindle with her fingers.

²⁰ She opens her arms to the poor
and extends her hands to the needy.

²¹ When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
for all of them are clothed in scarlet.

²² She makes coverings for her bed;
she is clothed in fine linen and purple.

²³ Her husband is respected at the city gate,
where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.

²⁴ She makes linen garments and sells them,
and supplies the merchants with sashes.

²⁵ She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.

²⁶ She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.

²⁷ She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.

²⁸ Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:

²⁹ "Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all."

³⁰ Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

Okay, so I didn't plant the vineyard and I didn't go out in a merchant ship to retrieve my grapes, but you get the point. :) I imagine I might feel the same way if I get the kitchen cleaned up and keep the rest of the house organized--you think?? I'm thankful for the weekend. My plans must include getting the house in order and catching up on clutter. The clutter has sneaked its way in when I was taking care of my sick little girl, or maybe when I was updating my blog or even possibly when I was catching a nap. The reality is that it's here and it needs to GO!

Declutter plan:

• finish the summer/winter clothes swap
• take too small clothes to "Once Upon A Child" tomorrow
• Declutter the school room (where does all the paper come from?)
• Clean off every surface in the kitchen and living room, only leaving the things that belong there (what an idea??)
  
• Put every piece of remaining clothes in its proper place

I'd better stop there--that's enough to keep this Proverbs 31 gal busy!
What's got you busy this weekend?

When life gives you grapes

Well, life didn't actually give me grapes....I bought a half bushel of the most delicious concord grapes. Keep reading to see what I'm doing with them.

Today has been quite a day! My 7 year old daughter has been sick since Saturday...she is finally on the mend, but still has a terrible cough. My hunny and I are exhausted from being up nights with her. God is faithful and I'm so thankful for His watchcare over us.

I Peter 5:7 "Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about what happens to you."

I read an encouraging post today from Jenni at Life is Not a Cereal. It's about what happens when your day doesn't go as planned...and even more than that, it goes downhill! I need to print out her suggestions and keep them handy! Good advice!

My order of concord grapes came in yesterday, so I'm getting ready to start making the grape juice. I'm using this recipe from Recipe Zaar. Last year's juice was SO good and we are all looking forward to it again. I'm debating on whether or not to make jelly. Last year it was a LOT of work because: 1. I didn't know what I was doing and 2. I didn't have a good method or materials for squeezing the grapes. And to top it off, I didn't follow the directions and the jelly didn't set up!
You'll have to tune in tomorrow to get the "Did she make jelly?" update.

Which brings me to a fun report: I know have 2 followers! What fun! Thanks you two!!
Off to make grape juice...

A Thrifted Mirror

I've been looking for a big mirror to go over the girls' dresser. I finally found it at a garage sale on Saturday. :) $10 for this huge mirror!


It's slightly bigger than the dresser and my Hunny mounted it on the wall. Hopefully I will have the time to re-do the dresser to match the mirror and the rest of the room.


We are looking for the right lamps--the one in there now is much too short. The room really commands two tall lights. Not because of it's size (it's a rather small room). No, I'm thinking one tall lamp on the dresser and one on Marissa's desk (in picture below). Do you have suggestions?


The room still needs some work, however for having both girls in this room...I think we're doing well. I have a curtain that goes over the closet opening and slides back and forth. The hooks need replaced and that can be rehung. Eventually we'd like to paint the room a more neutral color and Marissa wants red accents. :) But for now, I'm content with my garage sale find.

The Helper of the Year Award...

goes to Marissa! Today she helped me declutter and clean the craft closet. A huge job, let me tell you. Hopefully tomorrow I will post pictures, except we forgot to take one of the closet before we took EVERYTHING out of it and put it in the girls' room. As Marissa said, "Mom, it's best we don't think about what it did look like!" And she's right.


We took out two bags of recycle trash and took two bags plus some extras to Goodwill. Now that's some major decluttering!

I've been needing to reorganize the school room again, but I've been seriously dragging my feet. Today I figured out why--much of the stuff that migrates to the school room belongs in the craft closet. And the closet's major state of disarray had me overwhelmed and bogged down. I knew I couldn't take anything out of the school room because it had no where to go. Now, thanks to the perseverance and help of my sweetie, we have a clean, organized closet. Thank you, thank you, {taking our bow}.

Marissa and I talked about how if something needs put away and the place where it goes is full, cluttered or hard to get to...the something will NOT be put away. It will be stacked, laid, tossed aside until the family can now longer enjoy their living space. (It doesn't take too much for me to reach the point of too much visual clutter, but somehow I keep letting it get built up.)

Tomorrow (I suppose it's really 'today'), I plan on digging into the school room. My goals are to

• make room in the filing cabinet--which will entail throwing some things away. It's just way too crowded in there.
• file the two piles of paper that are waiting for room in the file cabinet.
• clear away any loose items--throw away if possible, containerize if I must keep it.
• make sure every thing has a 'home' and make sure all homes are easily accessible to the ones responsible for putting things away.

Hope I can get Marissa to help me tomorrow!

Edited to add pictures of the before and after. I so wish we'd taken a "before" of the closet. Just imagine the closet brimming to the fullest with all this stuff! {dreadful}

all the stuff on the girls' floor

the finished closet--clean and organized

Thanks for stopping by! Come back soon to see what else I can get organized!

Pulling the Weeds and Fixing the Stinkies

So many common tasks in life bring out hidden attitudes or problems in my life. I'm not sure if you've ever noticed this phenomenon or not. I'll give you a gardening example and then to close, I'll tell you how I fix the stinkies. Seeing how it's summer and we planted a little garden, I've been tending to it. Tasks like pulling weeds, staking up tomato plants, and thinning lettuce plants have been part of my gardening. As I'm performing these tasks, I often think how much they relate to my own life. Pulling weeds = weeding out bad attitudes and habits, staking plants = asking for help and accountability with problem areas and thinning plants = removing some of the even good things in order for the best things to flourish.

Weeds, I've observed, can be surface roots and evasive ground cover or they can be deep rooted and tall. Either way, they need to be pulled and sometimes dug up. Weeds in my life are the same way. Some are more surface and don't take too much effort to pull them out of my life and get back on track. Others are rooted deep and take much more time and effort to pull/dig out.

Staking the tomato plants helps them to not fall over making the tomatoes all mushy and rotten. My friends who pray for me and lift me up certainly help me not to fall over damaging the hard work I've put into my character and life.

Lastly, thinning plants may seem like a sad thing--pulling up a perfectly good plant--why would someone do that? Well, if the plants are growing too closely together, none of them will grow well. Same with me, I may be doing lots of good things, but if it's too much, none of my activities will be done well. Reminds me of a quote I heard a long time ago: "Say no to the good, so that you can say yes to the best." This lesson is a bit harder to learn than saying no to the bad...that's actually easier for me; it's more cut and dry. Thinning the good is a practice in my life that requires leaning on the Lord for guidance and trusting my hunny's advice and wisdom.

As promised here's how I fixed the stinkies--what stinkies you ask? Well you know how after so many washings and dryings clothes and towels take on a smell of their own? This smell is much different than the Tide you opened and sniffed in the aisle of Wal*mart and it's certainly NOT a smell you want to sniff as you dry off from a shower. After much trial and error, I've started using white vinegar in my rinse cycle and WAALAA! stinkies gone. (insert smile here). Again, not sure about you, but after I found this little trick, then I needed to remember to actually put the vinegar in during the rinse cycle. My solution: fill the handy-dandy Downy ball with the miracle liquid and toss it in the washer after the clothes.

Now if only fixing the stinkies in my heart were as easy...

Go to We are That Family for more Works for Me Wednesday tips and hints.

Summer Routine

I've been working on a summer routine. It's coming along, but still have some to do. I really need it to be easy to implement and enforce.

I decided not to make hard and fast times for things because:

1. it's summer and I want the flexibility to pick up and go to the water park or library, etc. and
   
2. in the past when I have assigned specific times for things, we would get discouraged if we were off schedule.
   

This is more of a routine...an outline of what I'd like to accomplish each day. I don't want the summer to fly by and leave me wondering what we did for 3 months. I have some summer reading I want to do aloud as well as goals for each of the kids for keeping their minds engaged.

Now I'm working on a chore chart with pictures for my two younger ones. I'm still trying to figure out how I want to do it. Chore charts will help my kids to remember what they need to do and will take out the 'nag' factor. :) I'll post a picture of that when I get it done. Hopefully later today.

For more Works for Me Wednesday Ideas, visit We are That Family.

The Biggest Clean-up

okay, the biggest clean up until the next time! :D I'm not sure pictures will even be able to accurately portray the amount of stuff in this room. We had piles of un-filed school papers, unorganized crayons, colored pencils, etc. and a bunch of other stuff. I took "I'm an Organizing Junkie's" advice and took everything out of the room--not everything...the electronics, the fixtures and the books on the big bookcases (not pictured), but most everything else. Major pile-up on the kitchen table!!


After that, I was done...didn't want to do anymore...wanted to flee the scene! But my go-getter daughter Marissa wouldn't let me do that (thanks, Marissa!). We worked for probably 8 hours sorting, throwing, filing and giving away books, papers, etc. We organized until we nearly dropped. We kept in mind our goal:: a clean room in which we could work on the computer, play with toys and find materials we need. It was worth the effort (she says after a nice shower and a good night's sleep!).

These last two pictures show the almost completed room (I'm not showing you the filing cabinet which frightens me and makes me shake). We took 2 large bags of recycling, 3 grocery sized bags of magazines for recycling, and 2 medium sized boxes of stuff for Goodwill.

Ahh, the feeling of success--Marissa is on the computer waiting to chat with a friend and Bethany is stalling at bedtime. :)

Projects, projects, projects

**NOTE: updates in blue**
I've started several projects and I'm having a great time. Here are links to where I got some of my ideas...

• Baby Burp Cloth--we are making these today for two baby showers. The cloths are washed, dried and waiting to be ironed...then the sewing will begin. Here is one finished gift. The burp cloths were not too hard, even for a struggling sew-er as myself. I'm still working on the other ones. Some of those will be pink. These were made for a baby shower where the parents are waiting to find out the gender. I love the brown, blue, green dots.
  

• Ribbon Wrapped Container--containers for the gifts to go in. I have to make a quick run to the Dollar Tree to see if I can find containers like this. Okay, so I didn't find a container with holes all the way around it. However I found the above container and it worked.
  

• Strawberry Fruit Leather--from our abundance of strawberries. The fruit leather is outside drying (from the comments I figured out that I could buy a new window screen and keep it for this purpose.) It's very humid out today; I sure hope it will dry. Fruit leather---uh, um---didn't work out so well. I think it didn't have enough ventilation because the stuff fermented!! In less than 24 hours...no joke. And the smell was STRONG. Anyway, it's now in the trash. If I was going to make a hobby out of making fruit leather (which I'm not) I'd have to find or make some sort of drying rack so the leather could breath through the top and bottom. Mine was on a cookie sheet with a screen over top to protect from bugs and dirt. I suppose I could also try drying in the oven...but I was trying to be green and all. Oh, well, you win some, you lose some and some are rained out (like my shutter painting...read on).
  

• Painting the vinyl shutters--I've wanted to do this since we first moved into our home SIX years ago. Nothing like jumping right on a project. I washed them, scrubbed them, primed them and painted them once. Today, they will receive their second coat and hopefully my Hunny will hang them up this evening. I will post pictures later on today--hopefully. No pictures of the finished shutters today because I didn't get the second coat on. It was SO humid and threatening rain, so I stayed inside today sewing burp cloths and eating strawberry fruit leather---JUST KIDDING-- that stuff smelled nasty. All of that was my eventful day! Wonder what tomorrow holds??
  

If you've clicked on any of the links above, you will realize that I have a new blog love...Make and Takes. The step by step instructions and photos are fabulous. The low-cost projects are fun and functional. I have found a few other blogs that I'm enjoying; I'll save those for another day. What?? I've got to keep you coming back somehow! :)

Summer Fun Ideas

Treehouse my hunny is building in the backyard.
This weekend it will be getting side rails and a slide! :)

The theme for Works for Me Wednesday is "Mom, I'm Bored"--and how to avoid hearing these three words in your house. My dad used to say, "Boredom comes from within" and while as a kid I didn't like to hear that, the saying stuck with me. And, it is true. The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines boredom as : the state of being weary and restless through lack of interest. Interestingly enough, my kids rarely say they are bored. I don't say that from atop a high place, be assured. I think it may be because we homeschool and they are used to being home. When they have free time from school work, they play, read, listen to music etc. I realized one day when my 7 year old declared she was bored, it was because I hadn't had the family on any kind of schedule or routine.

So, how do we direct our children so that they do not become weary and restless through lack of interest? The biggest way is to develop a daily routine that includes chores, learning and play and then STICK TO IT! (That last part was for me...I'm so tend to make great plans and fall short on the follow-through.)

Each family member has chores according to his/her ages and abilities. Each day of the week has a bigger chore that we only do once or twice a week (examples: dusting, deep cleaning each room). Be consistent with your daily and weekly chores and the house will stay in good order.

Some ideas for summer learning are library reading programs, reading biographies, comparing a book to its movie counterpart and visiting museums. Library reading programs are great because they are free and the children are working toward their own personal best--not competing against others. Reading biographies as family read-alouds or silent reading are a good way for our children to see life in action. Dave and Neta Jackson have written several volumes of short biographies. Choose a book to read that has been made into a movie, for example Because of Winn Dixie. Read the book aloud, then watch the movie. Discuss with your kids the differences between the two. Visiting museums can open doors to further learning and great discussion. Find local museums and go!

Of course there are loads of ideas of things to do for fun--bigger, more expensive ideas may have their place during your summer, however for the most part, your children will be playing at home or at the neighborhood park. Summer is a good time to do art projects like painting or playdough because they can be done outside on a picnic table or vinyl tablecloth spread on the ground. Don't forget the impromtu picnics and water balloon fights. :)

Make your daily routine doable and flexible. A few closing thoughts: nip bad attitudes in the bud, pray with your kids for a good summer, and realize that you are NOT the entertainment committee. Give them perameters and let them use their imagination and creativity. Most of all, have fun with your kids. One more tip, is actually from last week's WFMW, host Kristen wisely said to leave while your kids are still having fun. I have thought of this advice several times this week. Even when we are at home playing for free time...I need to switch gears BEFORE bedlam breaks out. So remember that little gem and have a great summer.

Check out We are THAT Family for more Summer Ideas.

Super Saturday Sweetness

I hope you are not disappointed when I tell you that the title had everything to do with cleaning our house today! This morning the girls and I made a list of things that needed done around the house. Our Saturdays have been busy, so this sort of 'big work day' hasn't happened in a while and the house was showing signs of it. Clutter, clutter everywhere it seemed. And dust bunnies that had built a nest and had offspring!

At the top of the rather long list, I put the title "Super Saturday Sweetness", in attempt to not only be alliterative but also cheerful and encouraging. We all worked (even Trenton had his chores). I found that I needed extra incentive and visited "I'm an Organizing Junkie" for inspiration and motivation. I really liked the advice from this post...Throw out Fifty Things (be sure to scroll down to read "Gail's Rules of Disengagement"). I went through our bedroom armed with the knowledge: "if the 'thing' weighs you down, clogs you up, or just plain makes you feel bad about yourself, throw it out, give it away, sell it, let it go, move on. If it just sits there, taking up room and contributing nothing positive to your life, throw it out, give it away, sell it, let it go, move on. If you’re not moving forward, you’re moving backward. Throwing out what’s negative helps you rediscover what’s positive."

Just a disclaimer: I don't know anything more about "Gail" except for what I read in this post. It just struck a cord with me today as I was paralyzed by the task(s) ahead of me. This got me moving. I'm not sure I threw away fifty things, however there is always tomorrow. :)

At some point during the day, Marissa said, "Mom, where does the sweetness come in?" Of course she was referring to my clever title...I told her I think it comes tonight when we get to sit down and enjoy our home clean and decluttered. :)

Bits and Pieces on Saturday

Today I am striving to complete a little of this and a little of that. I've had several undone projects just waiting for me to get it in gear...well company is coming...just the motivation I needed. I've washed windows in the living room and Marissa did the sliding glass door in the kitchen. I've caught up with laundry (folding and putting away too!) Last night I finished up a unit study on WWI and today I'm finishing up one on dogs and cats.

Last night I watched an incredible video--you must go and watch it--Death is not dying. Incredibly powerful. I was reminded that I am here to serve joyfully. That came to my mind this morning while I was cleaning the bathrooms :). She also reminds us to know God and who He is and to know who we are...you've got to go watch it. It's 55 minutes and worth every minute.

Well, I've got some more to accomplish and company gets here in 30 minutes! Yahoo!

Lots of Organizing Going On

I think my email rebelled against my cleaning and organizing! Saturday morning I woke to find that my juno account that I worked so hard to declutter, had a melt-down and threw EVERYTHING into the SAME email folder and named it "restored January 31". I almost had my own melt down. It has been difficult to sort through and reorganize it all again. I'm not done yet, but am trying to balance taking care of it with taking care of my children.

Being the Pollyanna that I am, here are the things I am thankful for:

• I didn't lose my emails altogether
• The computer still works
• I didn't break down or break the computer
• By having to go through all the emails again, I've deleted a whole bunch more!

I've also determined to get our meals, shopping list and food budget in order. So I've been working hard on organizing lists, recipes, the pantry and our budget. I received some good advice from a couple different friends on how to go about this huge task...here's what I did: (Scroll down for our menu this week.)

• First I went through and listed meals we eat.
  
• Then I looked through my recipe book and box to rediscover recipes that I haven't made in a while. And I decided to make one new recipe every two weeks, so for that, I had Marissa look through recipe books and choose something that we wanted to try.
  
• Next, I listed all ingredients needed for each recipe, followed by organizing all the ingredients in 'like' groups and crossing through the ingredients I already had.
  
• Finally I made a list of all the ingredients I needed to purchase.
  
• As for the food budget, I've been tracking our variable expenses for a while now and have a rough figure of what we spend on food and non-food items each month. I divided this figure in half and took that much cash to Aldi and Walmart. I prayed that God would help me stick to the list and that the money I had would cover the two weeks worth of goods.

The end result: I got everything I needed (except I forgot cottage cheese for lasagna) and I went over my budget $7. I'm excited and I feel good about having the next two weeks of meals planned. I need to mention that we invested in 1/8 of quality beef (we split a quarter with another family)--so we have plenty of ground beef in the freezer. Also, I stocked up on chicken when it was on sale. And a friend gave us a ham the first of January. It was already sliced and I packaged it up in freezer ziplocs. So I didn't have to buy any meat this time.

Here's what is on the menu this week:

Monday: Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup* recipe below
Tuesday: Baked Potatoes
Wednesday: Spagetti
Thursday: Homemade Mac-n-cheese with bites of ham*
Friday: Lasagna and bread
Saturday: Breakfast for supper

Chcicken Noodle Soup:
3 1/2 cups chicken broth
dash ground pepper
1 medium carrot, sliced
1 stalk celery, sliced
1/2 cup uncooked extra wide egg noodles
1 cup shredded cooked chicken

1. I've already cooked a whole chicken (from last week). I boiled everything down and bagged up the broth, saving out what I needed for tonight's soup. Heat broth, pepper, carrot and celery in saucepan over medium high heat to a boil.
2. Stir in noodles and chicken. Reduce heat to medium. Cook for 10 minutes or until noodles are tender.

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese: (recipe from my homeschooling friend, Melissa B.)
8 oz elbow macaroni, cooked
3-4 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
13 oz can evaporated milk
1 1/2 c. milk (we use dry non-fat milk for these purposes)
2 eggs
1 t. salt
1/4 t. black pepper
1/2 t. dry mustard
1 cup diced cooked ham

1. Combine all ingredients except 1 c. cheese in a greased crockpot. Sprinkle reserved cheese over the top.
2. Cover, cook on low 3-4 hours. Do not remove lid or stir until mixture has finished cooking.

I found this great recipe for french bread over at Pleasant View Schoolhouse. I really want to try this recipe...maybe I'll plan for it the next time I go to the grocery.

For more recipes and meal plans, run over Organizing Junkie's Meal Plan Monday.

Decluttering my Email Inbox

I have such a great feeling of accomplishment...it was only my email inbox, but it was a cluttered mess. I read a very helpful post by The Lazy Organizer. In her post, she said that she added three more folders that have cleaned up her inbox for good. Well, me too!!

I was always scrolling back and forth through emails that needed attention. So, why not make a "Needs Attention" folder? In all, I created 3 more folders (I already had my family, friends, homeschool, etc. folders in place.) Mine are titled slightly different than The Lazy Organizer's are.

Needs Attention today
Needs Attention 1 week
Future Interest

Each day I will place emails that I need to answer today in the Needs Attention today folder. Clever, huh? I must empty this folder each day.
Each week, starting with Sunday, I will place emails that I need to handle within a week in the appropriate folder. This folder must be viewed and managed on an almost daily basis, so that I don't miss anything.
And the Future Interest folder for things I'd like to look at, or think I might use, but not now.

So, for the exciting news, I started this morning with over 300 emails sitting idle in my inbox. Right now, at this very moment, I have 8. 8, yep, that's all. I love this new system; I don't think I will dread getting new mail anymore. And visually, it's all so freeing. I can breathe.

Today, my email inbox, tomorrow, my house. :)

Visit Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer for more Works for Me Wednesday ideas.

Works for Me: Encouragement

My love language is definitely words of encouragement. I love to give words of encouragement and I love to receive words of encouragement.

Last night at our local homeschool meeting the speaker was a veteran homeschool mom. Her children are now in their 30's homeschooling their children. I smiled when she said, "We homeschooled when homeschooling wasn't cool." (After the country/western song by Barbara Mandrell "I was country when country wasn't cool.") She encouraged us that in homeschooling our lives become training fields for our kids. They watch us and model themselves after us. What a big responsibilty and a challenge to live our lives according to God's Word. She also encouraged us to know the strengths and weaknesses of our children. Give them opportunities to explore what they are good at. She said that it was the times of play and free-time that solidified what her children became. For example, her one daughter always loved to dress up in homemade costumes and put on plays. Today she writes children's Bible curriculum--turning Scripture into plays for children. Our speaker wrapped up her talk by reading a story called "The Invisible Mom". It is kind of long, but it has a wonderful message.

Here are some links that offer encouragement:
Jeannie Fulbright has a list of encouraging articles, mostly related to being a wife, mom and homeschooling parent.
Nancy Leigh DeMoss has a wonderful bunch of articles on a wide variety of topics. Click on "Grow" on the left-hand side bar.

Go visit Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer for more Works for Me Wednesday ideas.

Forward! March! Organization!

January screams ORGANIZATION to me. I must answer it's call.

Some ideas to get me going:

Books I borrowed from the library. (You'll notice a theme here.)
A Simple Choice: a practical guide for saving your time, money and sanity by Deborah Taylor-Hough
How to Simplify your life: seven practical steps to letting go of your burdens and living a happier life by Tiki Kustenmacher
Ordering Your Private World by Gordon MacDonald


Websites:
Organized Home has a household planner that you can print...for free. The list of printables is outstanding. In my organization frenzy, I'm also working on monthly meal plans. The printable at this site will help with that. And a Pantry tracker?? Be still my heart. How many cans of cream of mushroom soup do I have to buy at Aldi before I start using a Pantry tracker??

This site has some tips for decluttering once and for all.

And any organizing post would be remiss not to mention The Flylady. Tomorrow I'm going to declutter the living room...I don't know if I'll find 27 things to throw out, but we'll see.

What does January say to you? Do you have a great freezer meal that your family loves? Share, won't you?