My 2011 Goals

Is it still ok to make new goals if you didn't do your ones from last year?

I'm guessing I'll do better with a shorter list!


~I talked about my money goals here but when I re-read it, I noticed that it all had to do with spending.....like all the stuff I wanna buy. And really I didn't mean it like that. It was more of a plan so as to SAVE better or at least spend smarter. But that's a big one and I may even do a blog update every month with a few more details. Or would that be totally boring?? What do you think?

~I am still working on menuing better. It saves so much money when I am prepared, have a detailed list, and a calculator. Usually I make it out the door with only one of the three. I keep trying new recipes and learning to use up what we have. Library cookbooks are a great help.

When we were in CO I used to get free copies of Cooking Light magazine from the library. We are still reaping the benefits of those days! A couple of months ago one of my Awana peeps was selling junk for school. You know those booklets filled with overpriced wrapping paper and cookie dough? I wanted to buy something from her so I started looking for the most practical thing I could find. And there were magazine subscriptions! And Cooking Light! So I went with that.

But time passed and no magazine. I figured I just donated $10 to the cause and forgot about it. But today there was a surprise in my mailbox! Can you guess? So along with checking out cookbooks from the library I have my very own copy of Cooking Light with my own name on it!

Yep, life is good.

~I want to be consistant with some sort of exercise. I'm such a wimp with a million excuses.

~I have 2 elderly friends that I want to spend more time with.

~I need to speak sweetly. Sometimes I get so frustrated with the way I hear my kids speak to each other but then I realize that they are like little tape recordings of ME. But that starts in my heart. From the wellspring of the heart the mouth speaks. So I want to be careful about taking my thoughts captive to make them obedient to Christ...2 Cor 10:5

~I have found that it usually takes me about 2 years to finish my Bible without hurrying. I am almost in Deuteronomy now so I hope to finish the Old Testament this year.

~I want to pray longer, better, and harder. I wanna be a Moses who takes takes "it" before the Lord. I wanna fall more in love with Him everyday.

~I want to spend more time with COW and be more creative with date nights. I don't want to take my family for granted but to put forth effort to make them feel loved. I don't want to ever fall into an auto pilot mode.

~And last...I need to be on top of my schedule and keep things a bit tighter in the mornings. It is easy for time to get away from us in the mornings and we find ourselves doing school late into the afternoons. And let me tell you that does nothing for my speaking sweetly goal! So when school starts on Monday I'm turning off the phone and computer until everyone is done. I hope it helps.

Go Fit

We got one of these for Christmas! I've only done it once but I've never hurt so much after exercising in my whole life! Oh thank you LB for my rice bag......

I like it b/c it's easy to put together...if you call clipping and unclipping putting together... , it fits in one bag, and you can take it or do it anywhere. There's actually a few more resistance tubes than are pictured but it's just right for the bag that's included.

It's way up there on my favorites list of what my kids got for Christmas.

I don't have any lofty fitness goals for the new year but I would like to find something that I would be consistant with. Maybe this is a good start.

Moses And Andie

In Numbers 27, there is a situation where some ladies were making a special request of Moses.

"So Moses brought their case before the Lord." Numbers 27:5

He didn't say, "I'll think about it", or "We'll see...". But he took it straight to God to see what He would say about it.

My friend Andie is like that. Andie is such a great example of godliness to me and I want to be just like her when I grow up.

One day I asked her advice about a math program for my daughter. Andie is a math whiz and has taught in the christian school. I wanted to draw from her experience. Her answer was classic. "I'll pray about it." And she did!

Now if it were me I probably would've rattled off all the pros and cons and ins and outs of everything I knew. I would've been quick to air my opinion and give a hasty answer. Or as Oswald Chambers says, "trusting in my wits instead of to God." But not Andie and not Moses. They bring it to the Lord instead.

That is the humility of knowing that God is everything and we are nothing without Him.
Today I want to bring it, whatever "it" is, before the Lord in Moses fashion.

I've enjoyed my time with Moses in Exodus-Numbers. His time is almost up and Joshua will be stepping in. And since we have a strong boy named after this strong leader, you could say I'm a little partial to Joshua. I'm looking forward to what God is going to teach me through him.

In Case You Haven't Had Enough Christmas..

Merry Christmas 2 Days Ago!

Or as Jes says, "2 sleeps backwards".


Did you have a wonderful Christmas?


I won't bore you with all our Christmas pix b/c I think they are all fun....BUT just in case you're in the mood to be bored they're all right here!


Here's something neat we did this year. My in-laws are in FL but we skyped them and it was like they were right there in the corner of the living room watching all the action.


Then we skyped Rommel in CA and visited with him and the kids showed off their Christmas presents.

It was like a coast to coast Christmas. Isn't technology nifty?

And speaking of nifty technology, I'm typing to you now on my new NETBOOK!! And it's even pink. And fits in my purse. I love it.


But now it's Monday. Honey's back at work. We're taking down the Christmas stuff and cleaning up the house. And let me tell you it's a wreck. But that's ok, it was fun.

A Most Wonderful Day!

Today was just one of those days where everything was WONDERFUL. It started off with my eyes matted shut with conjunctivitis. I seem to get this at least once a year. I'm convinced it's not really pinkeye though b/c my husband and kids never catch it. But whatever.

So after cleaning out my eyes and saying good-bye to my big girls who were off to Branson early with friends, I settled in to read my Bible.

Phil 2:5 says, "your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus."
and I read a great definition of this that goes... "it's laying down for the good of others what you have the right to claim for yourself." ( The Love Dare)

Don't you love that? But if you have the time, read Phil 2:5-8 to get it in the full context.

So anyway, after breakfast and chores I read it to the kids and we talked about it a good long time and how it can be practically applied. Good talk. And I do think that imitating Christ will be my theme of 2011 as well as my ongoing one of altering the landscape.

Honey didn't come home for lunch today but I had a great visit with my friend Becky. She is one who gets to the heart of the matter and I always appreciate that.

But school was moving sloooow. And it was a glorious day! Way too nice to be inside bent over books. If everyone had been working diligently all along I wouldn't have hesitated to put it up and go outside. But since they weren't, I kinda felt pulled between enforcing a lesson and enjoying the weather.

Then Honey called and set the matter straight. Mercy, he said. And he was the hero! With me too. I also had a few minutes to talk to him about another way of altering the landscape that I've been praying about. And that was good.

So we put the books up and headed out. Tennis and football in the street. Ripsticks and trikes. 40 Feet Tall on the tramp, and walking around the block and visiting with another friend. Ahhh.....soaking up the vitamin D.

Mayfee checked the mail and there was a Christmas card from a friend with a nice long letter. I went in, made some hot chocolate, and enjoyed reading my letter in total silence while everyone was still happy outside. Life is good.

I took some bread to my elderly neighbor across the street. She loves to have anyone to visit with. I really just needed to work out a quick date with her but she invited me in and showed me all her antiques and every story behind them. And told me all about her friends that I don't know. It was a good 30 minute tour. She is a treasure!

A simple dinner then LB and I got to go to Stormy and MJ's. My cutsie boy has lost his front 2 teeth and is as precious as ever. "perfect" if ya ask him. I also got to talk with his momma a bit as it was her day to visit. She looked great. And before we left, Honey and the kids prayed for them. I also got permission to pick them up from Granny's next week for movie night. Oh happy day!! I love any time that I get to spend with them.

Home at last to a game of Sorry with my little ppl. I got to be red. And I won!
Christmas bedtime books and prayers and talking about Phil 2:5 one more time.

And now a quiet house. A phone call from my girls who are away and they wish I could've seen the Christmas Carol show they saw. I love them.

Thank you God for such a wonderful day!

Menu Plan This Week

I'm happy to say that I'm done shopping anywhere until after Christmas! Of course this morning I checked out the toilet paper situation and discovered that we'll hafta be extra careful to make it these next 3 days.

Here's what we're eating between now and then...

Today
Breakfast - cereal and muffins
Snack - fresh bread and butter
Lunch - meatball minestrone and bread
Tea - clementines
Dinner - leftover soup with cheese toast and salad

Tomorrow
Breakfast - cereal
Snack - chex mix
Lunch - tuna and crackers
Tea - carrots and tuscan dip
Dinner - turkey, mashed potatoes, veggie bake, salad

Friday
Breakfast - apple strudel
Snack - bagels with cream cheese
Lunch - leftovers
Tea - apples and cheese
Dinner - pizza - I'm thinking about making mini pizzas and letting everyone decorate their own.

Christmas!!
Breakfast - muffins
Lunch - sub sandwiches and chips
Dinner - Big Breakfast ....waffles, biscuits and gravy, eggs, turkey sausage, hashbrowns, juice
Dessert - still thinking.... better be something that doesn't require a trip to the store! Ideas??

And then there's Sunday. And that means church and date night (!) and cleaning out the fridge for lunch. My date night menu = free Papa Murphey's pizza, fries, and ice cream sundaes.

Some Texas Goodness

(With no pix yet. Sorry.)

We just got home from a weekend trip to visit my family for Christmas. A short trip but full of some fun.....

~CT just comes alive on the farm. He loves it loves it loves it. So his favorite present was a coupon to come stay with Nana and G'pa anytime he wants and stay as long as he wants. Lane got one too. He's already planning his next trip.

~Lots of g'mothers in the same place at the same time. Remarkable really. We are blessed to still have so many. And I tell you they look prettier every time I see them.

~Love my parents! All of them.

~Cookie decorating.

~Thoughtful presents and yummy food.

~Deer watching.

~New shoes for Eldest.

~Pestering Lane at 2am b/c she shared a bed with me and I could. It was a funny night.

~The mouse in the laundry room did not bite my face off.

~Movie night. The Wizard Of Oz. A first for some of us.

~A packed van. Seriously. And then we realized that some of us smuggled in big teddy bears and stuffed animals that took up substantial real estate. Ahem.

~A drive home a different way that was very pretty and shaved some time off the trip.

Thank you so much to my sweet family. I love you all so much!!

I Wanna Be A Caleb!

Numbers chapter 14 tells the story of the 12 spies going into the promised land. 10 spies report that the land is good but there is NO way of taking it. Might as well start packing for Egypt. And the entire Israelite community starts grumbling and wailing! Seriously...over the opinions of only 10.

But Joshua and Caleb saw things differently even though they did not disagree with the report that was given. Their trust was in the God Who had proved Himself mighty on their behalf...not in the strength of man. Joshua and Caleb did not, as Oswald Chambers says, "enthrone common sense". They were recklessly abandoned to God. They did not judge by outward appearance but trusted the Lord to bring about what He promised. Their eyes were on God, not men.

Of Caleb, God says he "has a different spirit and follows Me wholeheartedly." Numbers 14:24

I wanna be a Caleb!

Zumba Kids

This is for my friend Robbie who sent me a Zumba dvd for Christmas. I'd never even heard of Zumba! Am I behind the times or what? The second I put it on I had lotsa kiddos giggling and wiggling. It was fun.

Thank you Robbie!

Ramblings Of Recently

~I got pulled over for speeding yesterday. 45 in a 35. Grrrr.....
But he was merciful and let me off with a warning. Jes thought it was really cool and couldn't wait to tell all the kids at home.

~We have apples! Azure Standard finally delivered. 40# of organic fujis to play with. 1 box is almost gone already. Mostly we've just been eating them but I've also made an apple dip and some spiced apples that the kids were crazy about. I'm down to my last quart of applesauce so that's my project for later this week.

~Snotty noses around here. I usually avoid whatever goes around but not this time. Gotta hurry and get well for Awana tomorrow. This is our last one of the year and I can NOT miss! I'm hoping my visitor from last week comes back. I love my Awana peeps......

~I'm so close to being finished with our Christmas shopping. You should see our closets. Our walk-in closets are now peek-in-from-the-door closets. Mally and I have some wrapping to do. She's been wanting to wrap and scrapbook with me. My scrapbook stuff is waaayyy back in the back of my closet so that's not going to happen.

~Getting ready to go to Texas!

~I had 2 cookie sheets of hamburgers ready for the grill last night when Honey came in and said it was broken! Augh..... So on to plan B. Which was supposed to be today's lunch.

~I've been working on the flylady routines to clean our house. Not bad. This week is the bathroom and 1 extra room. For us this means Lane cleaned all the tubs yesterday while I cleaned the boys' bathroom. Today I'm going to rearrange Mally's closet (1 extra room). And the rest of the week we'll keep plugging along at various things in those rooms. I'll have the kids clean out the cabinets and drawers, windex the pix, clean the baseboards, and scrub the grout in the boys' bathroom. The thing I like about this system is that it is not time consuming like the all day Friday housecleaning was. It's pretty easy when we divide it up.

Today's meals...
Breakfast - leftover cream of wheat. We never have leftovers of this b/c the kids LOVE it. But yesterday I used sucanat in it and nobody was impressed. Weird...sucanat's yummy. For some reason it didn't go with the cream of wheat so well. I doubt anybody's going to be too excited to see it again.

Lunch - cottage cheese and last night's leftovers.

Dinner - salisbury steak (gotta do something with those hamburgers), mashed potatoes, broccoli, and salad

Snack - smoothies
Tea - apples and dip

2011 Financial Goals

I've been thinking about some goals for the new year and reviewing my last year's goals.

For this year I'd like my major area of change to be the way I manage our cash budget.
This year was not so great as I was often over budget in one category and had to supplement from another...or from my personal allowance.

I'm not sure just how to do better with the groceries unless we drastically change the way we eat. Honey was not in favor of that idea....and I'm glad. So I will pray for wisdom and be careful with my menuing.

My main goal in managing the cash is to only spend 1/2 of what is in the envelope. That means that I will have to save up double for whatever I want to buy and will be more careful with misc spending.

I've also made a list of purchases that would be nice for 2011.

~wood floors
~gas logs
~porch lights
~bathroom faucets
~new sheets
~floor lamp for dining room
~pressure canner

~more foods from the farmer's market to can. I'm loving my canned foods. So much that I'm a little stingy with them and I hate to empty a jar. That means in order to feed my food-in-jars addiction, I need more food in jars.

~a laptop for Lane. Her's just broke and I'm praying for a new one.

~keyboard upgrade for kids. 3 kids taking piano lessons now and we'd love to have a full-sized keyboard.

~Nourishing Traditions book

Obviously some of these are major and would not come out of the cash budget. And many of these will have to wait. But hopefully having the planned purchases before me will help keep my eyes on the bigger picture.

Christmas Play

Our family was involved in the Christmas play at Immanuel this morning.

Loved it!!

Everyone had a speaking part except our eldest son who helped with the presentation portion.

Basically the kids presented the sermon this morning through singing and acting out the nativity.

My shepherds. See the staffs? During rehearsal my son got a nice staff for about 2 minutes. They they decided that the guy playing Joseph should have it so he lost it. The next morning, all 3 boys got up first thing dressed in coats to find some sticks to make staffs. I even had to make a trip to the store for some sand paper.

The littlest wise man. Isn't he cute? He hated the outfit, said it was "too gurly", but did a great job anyway.

Sing!

Remembering her lines and smiling at the same time.

Me and some Awana babes. So happy to see them there and for my family to meet them.

At the end there were little bags full of apples, oranges, nuts, and candy with a tract. A very thoughtful touch.

Thank you kids, thank you Immanuel. Great job!!

All Better!

Know what I did this afternoon?

Moved all the plates and cups back to the bottom cabinets. I moved them up top after some grumbling from the taller set but it was just too much trouble for the little ones to unload the dishwasher with everything way too high. And since they are the ones that unload the dishwasher most often, back to the bottom they went!

Of course that meant moving all the tupperware and the smaller appliances and just about 1/2 the kitchen once I got started.

WHY do we have empty cottage cheese containers? And a zillion (maybe more) tupperware lids without bowls? No more!

And while I'm at it, how 'bout reorganizing the pantry too?

Niiiice.......Momma's happy.

Now to tackle the drawers.....

Today

Today was not my best. Ever have one of those?

Nothing big. Just lots of little things. Wasted time. Missed opportunities.
The kids were not quite themselves either and I didn't respond the way I wished I would've.

The Christmas party at church was fun though and I'm glad my girls were there. Abigail's wooden fish and calculator provided the laugh that I really needed.

I'm glad it's bedtime and I hope I get another chance to try again tomorrow.

Teach Me To Bless

In Numbers 6, I found a great lesson this morning.

"The Lord said to Moses, "Tell Aaron and his son, "This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them...." Numbers 6:22

It's followed by the famous blessing that's quoted in movies and books "The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace." Numbers 6:24-26

Did you notice how the Lord taught Moses and Aaron how to bless? Right down to the specific words to say. It reminds me of the fact that there is nothing good in myself. All good things are from the Lord.

I'm not very thoughtful. Kindnesses don't come so easily to me and I miss lots of opportunities to love others. My selfishness keeps me from thinking of others. Sometimes I think of things later but feel so bad to have missed it.

Now I'm praying for the Lord to teach me to bless just as He did for Moses and Aaron. A kind word, a card, a phone call, a gift, an invitation, a prayer, maybe just a smile......whatever.

But since it doesn't come to me naturally I was happy to read this lesson this morning and pray for the Lord to put it into practice in me!

She's Done!

After 2 years of twisting, pulling, rubber bands, picking colors, making appts and being careful of what she ate, her braces are OFF!! And I think Drs Udouj and Bobak did a beautiful job.

On the way home we had to stop and get doritos. Because we could!

I love seeing the different stages of teeth. It just speaks of healthy growth and sweet change.

What a change! In so many ways. Love that little girl face...and the big girl face. Isn't she pretty?! Congratulations LB!!

Ramblings Of Recently

~Friday! You probably knew that already though, huh? I've decided to take off school every Friday from now til Christmas in order to do Christmasy type things with the kids. We have some crafts to make, some shopping and wrapping to do, a gingerbread house to decorate, and some baking to drool over. Today is shopping with Jes....and maybe someone else, and finishing the Christmas letter.

~Do you want a Christmas pic/letter? If so, e-mail me your address.

~Grocery shopping this week with Mally and ZBoy. And GASP! I locked them in the car!! In their carseats! But wait. Mally's big enough to climb right out and unlock the door. So that's what she did. Why did I have that moment of panic? I guess from having babies so long that could not climb in and out of carseats by themselves and that was always a fear of mine....especially in the summer. Even though all was well and it was NO big deal, I was shaky when she opened the door.

~My younger kids are in the Christmas play at Immanuel. We've been practicing their parts and today we'll work on the song. I hope a lot of my Awana babes are there so they can meet my kids.

~LB has had such a blessed week. Wed was Awana and she came to me earlier in the day and said, "Hey Mom, tonight is Awana!" (My sentiments exactly...we both missed the week off) Yesterday she got most of her braces off and got to spend the morning baking and visiting with the ladies at church. Today she spends the day with my friend Becky doing some Christmas stuff with her.

~Know what? Even with all my company and special Thanksgiving food I was only $5 over budget in my groceries. I figured I could take that out of gifts...don't ya think?

~But know what else? I also kept all my allowance money for the whole pay period! As in I didn't spend any of it. The reason that is so significant is b/c I always use my allowance to supplement any other catagories that are short. So that means all was in balance!

I need some new chapstick. And my favorite kind is pricey. But there was no way I was going to break that $20 to buy chapstick! (I wonder how long I can keep it this time??) Later I found some more chapstick in my Awana bag that I forgot I had.

~We had some jurisdiction changes this week. 2 of them I'm especially happy about. My eldest son is now in charge of all the laundry and my 9 yo is in charge of making cereal. Both of them have done great this week.

~I started a new Margaret Jenson book yesterday. I cried from the start. But then the flood gates were opened and I cried about everything.... a friend of Honey's that I prayed for that I don't even know, the recent fight I had with Honey, everything. Finally I decided to sleep it off.
Probably shouldn't pick up that book again for awhile!

Today's meals ~
Breakfast - cereal
Lunch - spaghetti and other leftovers
Dinner - pizza, salad, and apple crisp
Tea - oatmeal muffins

Awana Night!

Awana night! Boy did I miss them last week when we had to break for Thanksgiving. Whatever will I do this summer??
Here's the girl of the night. My one and only who used to never speak has earned her first red jewel! I'm sooo proud of her! Not only that, but she's also talking more in general and is speaking up instead of whispering in my ear. Great job!

Me and my class. We were missing some tonight.

Cuddles.

Silly boy!

Happy to be back!

Good lookin.

Sweet.

Tonight....

We sang a Christmas song.

Ate hot dogs and chips for supper.

Prayed for better grades, healing, and for those who weren't there.

Played some new games.

Worked on Verses.

Earned some awards.

Admired MJ's new trick and loose tooth.

Listened to Joey's new song.

Doesn't this look like a ton of fun?

It is!!

The Christmas Spirit

J.I. Packer has a great definition of the Christmas spirit in his book, Knowing God.

"The Christmas spirit does not shine out in the Christian snob. For the Christmas spirit is the spirit of those who, like their Master, live their whole lives on the principle of making themselves poor - spending and being spent - to enrich their fellow humans, giving time, trouble, care, and concern, to do good to others - and not just their own friends - in whatever way there seems need."

THAT'S what I want to be! That's what I'm praying for.