17 January 2007

Just pondering...

I know it's been a while since I last posted. I haven't really been busy. Just the basics. However, I have been pondering quite a lot of things. I think that there are times in our lives where we just chug along with our lives, not giving much thought to anything really, and there are times where we think alot. I am at that thinking stage. Thinking about everything and nothing at once. :) A true sign of an ADD mind. LOL

I have made quite a few changes in my life over the past year or so. I would say most of them are for the better. Some things I chose to change, some I did not. You know, in the end it doesn't really matter how the changes come about, does it? Life is full of changes, both little and big, and most of the time we don't have much control over them. I mean, really, how much do we actually have to do with the grand plan God has for us? No matter how much we struggle or resist, we end up where God wanted us anyway. It's just a matter of how long it takes us to get there.

One of my favorite quotes is from Abraham Lincoln. It goes like this "I am confident that the Almighty has His plans and will work them out, and whether we see it or not, they will be the best for us." I think this quote sums up faith, really. Faith in God and His plans for us. Not questioning what He tells us to do, just doing it. This is something I struggle with on pretty much a daily basis. I know what I should do, I know what God is leading me to do, but I still question it. I don't have enough faith in Him, I guess. You know, that's not totally true. I have faith that God can do great things. I have seen them. I just think that sometimes my needs aren't that important compared to all the trillions of needs out there. So, I don't ask God to fullfill my needs. I don't ask Him for help when I need it. I guess I just figure he's too busy. Crazy, I know, but that's what I think sometimes. I have worked hard this year to yield more to God, to have faith in Him and His word, and to trust him to take care of things for me. I do have to say when I have stepped out in faith and truly let Him handle things, they have turned out great. Every time.
Now, maybe the didn't work out the way I wanted them to, or as fast as I wanted them to, or whatever, but they always worked out great.

So, I guess that's all for now. Nothing hugely profound, no words of wisdom, no tasks for you or anything. Just my thoughts. :)

05 January 2007

Great Blog

I read this blog this morning. I think it is a fabulous way to explain exactly what a SAHM does and everyone should read it.

Encouraging word of the day

I subscribe to Klove's encouraging word email. Each day they send you a different scripture. It's nice. So, todays scripture was just what I needed.

Encouraging Word:
Friday 1/5/2007
Commit your actions to the LORD,
and your plans will succeed. Proverbs 16:3, NLT

If you have been reading my blog, you know I have started taking a new direction in my life. Living more for God, less for myself. It's working out great. This verse just reaffirms that for me. I have had great success in keeping the house up, starting and finishing new tasks, and just in everything I have done lately. It has been wonderful. I love how God works.

Just this morning I was feeling a bit overwhelmed. The kitchen drain is backing up into the yard. This means I can't use the kitchen sink or the dishwasher until it is fixed. I called the repairman this morning and they "will send someone out as soon as we can". I'm not sure when that will be, but I called a couple of hours ago. :) The mess of the kitchen was driving me nuts. I want it to look pretty. How it's looked for the past 2 weeks. You know, clear counters, empty sink and all that jazz. I just felt like all my effort for the past couple of weeks was fruitless, ya know?

So, I went to finish up my zone work for this week. (The old me would have just parked myself on the couch or in front of the computer for hours)This week it happens to be the entry area, stair way, and upstairs hallway. I'm working on the walls right now. The entry way has been decluttered and those walls have been washed. The stair railings have been washed. Everything has been vac'd (but it can use another going over). The upstairs walls have been washed. I'm almost done. I have 2 1/2 sections of wall to attack with the magic eraser and a window to wash and I'm done with the zone. Did you hear that??? I'm actually going to get an entire zone finished in one week!!!! I have never done that before. I've started a zone, then fizzled out. I've planned to start a zone, then didn't follow through. This time, thanks to the right attitude and keeping the focus on God and what He expects from me as a wife, a mother, and His daughter, I will actually finish an entire zone. :) Praise God.

So, the scripture today was so fitting for me, as they often are. And I am so glad that God finds little ways to show us what we are doing is right. I love how He works, don't you?


04 January 2007

Suffering Withdraw.

Ok, I am having serious withdraw symptoms here. Scrappy Chic is down and I just don't know what to do with myself. ROFLOL I lead a sad little life. LOL

Well, I am off to clean the walls in the stair way and upstairs hallway since I don't have Scrappy Chic to distract me. :)

02 January 2007

Home Management Binder

Well, I finally have my Home Management Binder together. There are a few more sections I need to finish up, but it's pretty functional. I figured since it was done, I could post pics and maybe describe it a bit. So, here goes.

Here's the cover

I have Proverbs 31:27-28 on the left hand side. It is a great motivational scripture for me.






Here's what you see when you open it up. This holds a pencil, a pen and sticky notes. I have a thing for sticky notes. LOL They are probably the single most important thing a person needs for organization. ROFLOL




Here's the first page for our calendar section. The picture at the bottom says " To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven". I thought it was fitting for a calendar section. The calenders I use are free from Donna Young.




Here is the master schedule page. The picture at the top says "God did not call me to be succesful. He called me to be faithful" I am still working on tweaking the schedules, but it's all working out just fine.

Here's my cleaning section. In this section I have the daily cleaning schedule, which looks like this:


Cleaning Schedule

Monday-Zone work (see calendar); vac downstairs; 15 minute project

Tuesday-Zone work (see calendar); vac stairs and upstairs (including the boys’ rooms); 15 minute project.

Wednesday-Zone work (see calendar); finish 2 loads of laundry; vac downstairs; 15 minute project.

Thursday- Zone work (see calendar); wash throw rugs; vac stairs and upstairs (including the boys’ rooms); 15 minute project.

Friday-Zone work (see calendar); finish 2 loads of laundry; vac downstairs; 15 minute project.

Saturday-Yard work; trips to dump and/or recycling center; prep for Sunday (meals in crockpot, church clothes ready, .

Sunday-Church; relax w/family.



I also have a step by step emergency quick clean plan I got from here. I have also copied FlyLady's detailed cleaning list and tweaked it a bit. My zones are numbered differently than hers. I did mine based on how my house is layed out from the front door in a sorta clockwise direction. :)It works for me and that's what counts, right? Oh, I also printed out the New Year Grand Plan and have that in there as well. I am also going to put detailed cleaning instructions for each room in this section, so that everyone knows what I mean when I say "go clean your room". LOL There will also be basic directions for washing and drying laundry. I have cards with laundry instructions taped to the inside of the cabinet that holds my laundry supplies, but they are out dated. :)






Here's my Meal Plan, Grocery Lists, and Inventory section. Right now there is nothing in there. :) I will be putting basic instructions on how to make kool-aid and tea for the boys. I plan on putting my pantry and freezer inventory lists in there. I am thinking about having a couple of weeks of pre-planned menus in there. We don't have the opportunity to shop loss leaders here, since there is basically one store to shop at. Don't get me wrong, I can find good deals at the local Tesco, but the majority of my shopping is done on base. Anyway, I figure since there aren't any pesky sales to keep me from pre-planning the menus, I might as well do it. :)


Here's my Inspirational section. I wanted a collective place to keep Laine's Letters and other motivational and inspriation articles and such. So that's what this section is for.

I also have a Phone/Address section. I am still working on a divider for that, so no pictures yet.

All in all, putting together this binder was fun and helpful. It made me really think about what I want to achieve in my home this year and how I needed to go about getting those things done. It was a tremendous eye opener and a major stress reliever. Once I get everything tweaked and in the binder, everything will run more smoothly. No more asking mom 1000 times how to make kool-aid, no more checking up and making sure chores are done "the right way". Everything will have a how-to and everyone will have acess to that. Not at all like now where the only place this valuable information is stored is in my head. LOL So, if you have not started a binder and do not have a managable plan for your home, I suggest you seriously look into it. Now binders might not work for everyone, but I am willing to say they will work for the majority, especially the more scattered, fly by the seat of your pants type like me.

Cubby Decluttering.. Pics Included

So, I did get the pictures taken and Dave is uploading them as I type. I am sure they will be ready to post before I get done. I think the area looks great, if I do say so myself. It also makes a great home for my Home Management Binder. :)






So, here is the before picture. Lots of crap.












Here's the after.












It looks much nicer, and no, I didn't shove everything into the cubby. Now I might have done that in the past. You know, "outta sight outta mind" and all that jazz. LOL I did put a couple of things in the cubby. Actually I think it was just 2 things, oh wait, it was 3. LOL But it doesn't matter. :) Well, look at that, you couldn't even see the back of the couch in the before picture because there was so much crap piled up on there. I am thrilled. :) The basket is holding dry erase markers, a small dry erase board and the dry erase eraser. LOL There is a huge dry erase board mounted to the wall on the left. It's a remnant of our homeschooling days and now it serves as our message board. :)


So, another area added to the "been decluttered" list. Whoo Hooo!!!!!!!!!!!

01 January 2007

Whew

So, I have gotten the top of the cubby cleaned off. I'm not up for sorting it out right now. I'm thinking I might just lay some fabric on the top so it is long enough to hang down the front until I get the curtain sown for it. Hmmm, there's an idea. I did manage to get a before picture, so I will need to get an after pictures as well. Now I just have to get them posted. ROFLOL

Dave has spent a good part of the day going through his closet and the upstairs closet that has had his clothes in it for a while. He has gotten 2 big boxes of things to give away. That is so awesome. He tends to hold on to stuff. :)

I am off to find some fabric for the cubby and get the last few things put away. Oh, I also need to vac as well. Since it's technically in the dining room, it needs vac'd. And since we had rice for dinner and Griffin is a heathen, the dining room needs it anyway. LOL

Cranberry Muffins....An Update

So, I made the muffins. They turned out good. The first batch I put a spoonfull of leftover cranberry sauce on top, then baked. The second batch I mixed the cranberry sauce in. I prefer the second method. It was easier and resulted in a less messy final product.


So, here's the recipe I used. I will put the changes I made in purple, of course. LOL


Basic Muffins
http://dinnercoop.cs.cmu.edu/dinnercoop/Recipes/jody/Muffins.html

2 cups flour
4 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, well beaten
1 cup warm milk- I didn't warm the milk
1/4 lb. butter, melted and cooled slightly

Preheat oven to 400oF. Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together. Mix the eggs, milk, and butter; add to dry ingredients, stirring only until the flour is moistened. Spoon into well-greased muffin tins. Bake ~20 minutes and serve immediately.


Variations: (Bacon, Cheese, Cranberry, Nut, Date, Upside-Down) Bacon: add 1/2 cup crisp dried bacon to dry ingredientsCheese: eliminate sugar and add 2/3 cup grated sharp Cheddar cheese to sifted dry ingredients. Sprinkle with paprika before baking.Cranberry: mix 3/4 cup chopped cranberries and 1/4 cup sugar. Add to the dry ingredients.Nut: add 3/4 cup chopped nuts to the sifted dry ingredients.Date: add 1/2 cup sliced pitted dates to the sifted dry ingredients.Upside-down: in the bottom of each muffin cup place 1/2 teaspoon butter and 1 teaspoon brown sugar. Add a few nuts or raisins or 1 stewed dried fig or apricot. Cover with batter and bake as directed.

I put one heaping teaspoon full (the regular eating kind) on the top of the filled muffin cups for the first batch. For the second batch, I just mixed the remaining cranberry sauce (about a cup or so) right into the batter. No other changes.


Now we have quite a few muffins for snacks or breakfast. All in all it turned out great. Instead of putting the cranberry sauce on the top, you could fill the muffin tins half way, put the cranberry sauce, then fill the muffin tin the rest of the way. That would be less mess, I think, but it was a bit more time consuming than I was looking for at the time. I might get pictures up here, but then again, I might not so I'm not making any promises. :)