Little Old Lady

I feel like a little old lady talking about the weather lately.

But dang, it is smokin' outside. The humidity is like a sauna.

We are definitely cheerful, open up the blinds kind of people but the last couple days I've had them only partly slanted open to keep it cooler inside. Very frugal of me I know. No, it's not a frugal effort as much as an I've got to find a way to cool down so I can keep my make-up on effort.

I guess now I should talk about my regularity. Yeah right.

The big boys and I are reading The Chronicles Of Narnia. It is really sweet and they are eating it up.

This is really riveting reading today I know you are glad you stopped by. So, are you joining a pool this summer or buying one of those above ground jobbers?

Raincheck

This may be going out a little late but I need to cancel the Summer Casual Dressing Event for this morning. I woke up feeling super dizzy today and am not feeling well :(.

If you happen not to check this before you come that's OK. We'll sit around and watch the room spin together. It will be fun.

Summer Casual Dressing Event

Tommorow (Wednesday) morning I am hosting a Casual Summer Dressing Event at my home from 10:00-Noon.

Do you ever look in your closet and find you have nothing to wear? Most women have two spectrum's of clothes in their closet. Cute, Dressy Church Clothes or......Athletic type clothes.

I'm hosting the Casual Summer Dressing Event for my blogging friends and it is going to be a blast. You will learn how to go shopping for casual clothes so that you will be prepared to look and feel your very best this summer! I will show you the latest looks in jewelry and someone is going to win $30 or more dollars in FREE JEWELRY! Even if you are not a 'jewelry person' I want you to come because you will learn some awesome tips on shopping for summer clothes.

Here's how it will work. Bring your babies and we will let them play in the backyard (or the playroom if is it exotically hot).

I will do the Fashion Show from 10:30-11:00. Bring a sack lunch for you and your babies OR $6 for a pizza for your crew and we can run get pizzas from Little Caesar's for lunch...and we can sit around and visit before the beloved Rest Time Hour!

(email me for directions or with questions)

Hair Cut

Well today I made some big plans. We're going to Dallas to visit family AND I have an appointment at at one of the hottest Salons in Dallas (or so their web page says anyway!) to get my hair cut.

If you know me you know that the last almost two years I've been on the Curly Hair bandwagon. I got Lorraine Massey's book Curly Girl and she got me all hyped up on going curly. 60% of women have curly/wavy hair ya know...and it turned out I was one of them. Please don't x out yet I wanna tell you about my curls. I have really lazy S's meaning my hair is not super curly. HOWEVER my new hair coming in like at the base of my neck looks like ringlets. CRAZY! The thing I like about wearing my hair curly is how easy and fast it is. It is also perfect for Summertime. Wash and go, I have time for that! Plus, have you noticed how trendy curly hair is? I have friends getting perms people. That's huge.

Every month when I'm PMS'ing I want to put the hack on my hair. ( you like that southern talk?!) I have officially hit just the skanky (spell check wants me to change that to swanky but that would be a lie) phase of having long hair. It never feels cute to me anymore so I am going to Marc and am going to let him do whatever he wants and turn me whatever color he wants. Unless of course I chicken out last minute and just get a trim...NOT! I really am letting him do whatever he wants with my long old half blond half not hair.

In other news my friend Becke' (and maybe Stephanie? is this what you're doing Steph?) told me about a website called EMeals. It looks very interesting. For $5 a month you get a weekly menu plan complete with a shopping list. You can go to the site to view a sample plan. You can choose low-fat, regular, low-carb, points system or vegetarian. Then you can choose your grocery store-Wal-Mart, Kroger, Publix or ALDI.

As I peered into my pantry for lunch thinking to myself What The Heck's Wrong With Me We Have No Coherent Items In My Pantry For Dinner And Maybe I Need To Do A Blog On Pantry Staples To Get Some New Ideas...I felt like a big old hypocrite somehow. I love to cook but lately have been feeling like the Grocery Store Drop-out. No, that's Beauty School Drop-Out, I meant to say I've been feeling like a Grocery Store Failure.

Lord have mercy when I left the store last Friday I whipped in to get us a pizza for dinner on the way home. Props to me, I know. Sigh.

Can we talk about my hair some more? What if I look like a total freak after my cut? And what if he dies my hair some nutty color? Will a summery shade of OPI on my nails and a cute purse be enough to divert the eyes from my head? On the other hand, what if the Paparazzi starts chasing me because Marc lives up to his 28 reviews on the web? What ever am I going to do?

Promise me if I'm back in the next two weeks crying a river you'll stick by me and come eat ice cream and chocolate cake?

Rain

I love when God runs the sprinkler system/car wash for free.

We planted a Japanese Maple and some Gardenia bushes so they may live now that they're getting a drink.

Our Orange Tree is growing like crazy. There are probably 30 orange buds on it and it is so pretty. We have 4 tiny green oranges. I wander how long it will be until they turn orange.

A few weekends ago I attended a Pampered Chef party at my good friend's house. I got a new baking stone (YEAH!) and the little $1 cookbook. There is a recipe for a Bacon, Linguine, Tomato pasta toss and can I just say it looks amazing. You dice up a package of bacon, brown it, it has diced tomatoes, garlic, onion, cream cheese, linguine, fresh parsley and diced grape tomatoes. My family will kill me if I serve it but you know what, I have half a mind to make it anyway because it looks amazing.

It is almost 11. I'm still in pj's drinking coffee. The kids are on there 2nd movie and I've been chilling out. Lazy days are the best. Yesterday was our last day of Bible Study. It is always a great feeling to complete a year studying God's Word and I am always ready for the summer. More relaxed reading.

It was share day yesterday and to hear the other women share what they learned from the year is simply amazing. The one word that spoke to me the most yesterday was...

Immerse yourself in His Word

A Prayer

Please give me eyes to see you
In the midst of fingerprinted days
Sticky floors
Peanut butter and jelly lunches
Loads of laundry
Diaper changes
Millions of questions
From things under the sea
To things that fly in the sky

I want the gift
The gift of joy in the mundane
The gift of laughter in chaos
The gift of rest in business
The gift of restoration when I'm tired
The gift to enjoy this moment

Fill my sails with the Holy Spirit
So my cup won't be full
But so it will overflow
Spilling into all my relationships
Sending me out in joy
Leading me forth in peace

Official

It's been official before but now it's official official. You know the we wrote a $500 check to buy materials official. We're not buying a white conversion, I don't crank out my own grain, I secretly hope the denim jumper from Chadwick's makes a comeback but I try not to dwell on it and we are homeschooling this little boy starting August 16th. We got to pick our start date and everything. The decision to start him at age 5 or 6 was hard but I asked lots of moms with boys and they all gave unanimous advice. Enjoy that last year with him at home. Give him the gift of time. I wouldn't take this year back for all the money in the world. But now, sweet little 6 year old, we are getting ready to enter a new era and your Daddy & Mommy are very excited about it and the big grin on your face when you hear us talking about it tells me you are ready too.
This is him getting his first Bible on his birthday. Today when my husband and I went to choose and purchase curriculum for this little guy it was so exciting. Watching Shane write that check filled my heart with so much joy. We don't buy lots of stuff but this was one investment that felt so joyful. He'll actually be part of an accredited Christian Academy and he'll get report cards and stuff.

Of course I have to throw in another picture because that's the kind of Mom I am. This was a Saturday morning. A girl in our area was raising money for missions. We looked out our window and our yard was filled with monkey's. Don't you love that morning hair? I could eat him up. Except for when he's smiling at me at 6 in the morning.

Today was the last day of Bible Study, the boys are done with Speech Therapy and our schedule feels free. Summer break is the best feeling. I'll try not to dwell on the fact that my boys are getting up at 6am-ish. I'm praying it's just an awful phase that will pass quickly.

Last week I had the idea I'd give up cream with coffee in the mornings in an effort to loose a little weight. I'm proud to announce that campaign lasted 8 hours. What was I thinking? Temporary insanity I guess. My friend Michelle told me something that I've been trying.

She said think about your hunger scale. 1 is I am starving 10 is Thanksgiving dinner full. To loose weight you want to be in the 1-5 range when you eat. I like this approach. Except for the good Mother's Day food I ate all weekend it's been working well. Do you think I was leaving an entire enchilada from the best Mexican place this side of heaven on my plate? I think not. I do hope there is good Mexican in heaven. Surely.

Content

You know what's interesting? The less we have and the less we do the more content we are.

Making room for life by being a good manager of my time/resources is a challenge for me. It is not impossible but it is not natural either. I'm trying to change this one good choice at a time. On the way home from exercising' this morning I found myself asking God what we should do today.

We had a blank slate with no commitments at all. I know what I want to do but asking God what he wanted me to do is how I'm trying to orient my days.

I'll tell you exactly what I've been doing the last 2 hours. I made my bed. Cleared the clutter from the living/bedroom/play areas. I mopped my floor, had a peanut butter/honey sandwich with a cup of coffee, lit some candles and have been sitting in my chair enjoying my Bible.

It's raining and dark outside, my lamps are on, my candles are lit and my home is peaceful. Who knows what the rest of the day holds but so far it has been nice.

My plans changed. Today I was going to get a headlight fixed and go do something else although right now I can't remember what it was. I guest posted at Moop & Saba's today.

So, this week is Kithen week at Flylady's. This is my favorite zone because it's where I began with Flylady 9 years ago. My husband and I were living in a tiny, one bedroom apartment. Every Friday morning we'd spend 2-3 hours working together to clean the apartment from top to bottom.

By Sunday evening the place would be a complete and utter wreck again. It was so frustrating because it wasn't that we didn't clean regularly, it was that there was not a place for everything.

Last week I went to our Women's Ministry Director's house for the evening. I asked Char if her house always stayed so clean? She said it is always this tidy and picked up because I have a place for everything. That right there is the key.

Start today in your kitchen. Set your timer for 15 mintues and grab 2 empty Wal-Mart sacks and choose a cabinet. Mark one sack TRASH and mark one sack YARD SALE or GIVE AWAY. Your job is to toss 27 items into the bags. Start decluttering today. I'll never forget the first time I did a 27 fling boogie. I opened that cabinet and tossed gourmet hot chocolate from a Christmas gift, ugly mugs I didn't LOVE, all the random things that I never REALLY used or that didn't make me happy when I looked at them now.

"There is a time to keep and a time to throw away" Ecc 3:6

Food Reviews

This week has been a Pioneer Woman Recipe week at my house. She has a website with wonderful recipes or you can purchase her cookbook which I hear is great. Let's start with the sides.

Restaurant Style Salsa- (click on words 'Restaurant Style Salsa' to the left and the recipe will come up in another window...***** I rate this Five Stars*****, you can toss anything you have into a good salsa. The key-Food Processor, fresh cilantro, canned tomatoes, salt, onion. After that lime if you've got it and fresh garlic if you've got it.

Pico de Gallo- *****I rate this Five Stars***** Amazing! Once you make her Pico you can toss it with an avocado for Guacamole.


I made the salsa a second time and added more onion to make it a little more chunky.
Simple, Perfect Enchiladas- *****5 Stars!***** These suckers rocked. My pan held 16 enchiladas. The left overs are yummy too. (side note: be careful about your enchilada sauce. I bought the Mild Las Palmas 28oz can and it was too HOT...I've tried the Kroger brand and it is not as spicy)

Refried Beans: I learned how to make these from my sister The Spunky Kiwi. You put a large can of beans in a pan, spoon a little taco sauce on top, top with fresh grated cheddar and bake alongside your enchiladas.

Brisket, Baby- *****5 stars!***** When I make this again I will use LOW SODIUM SOY SAUCE. The marinade calls for a cup and a half I believe. I used regular soy sauce and it was REALLY salty. I happen to love salty food but your average Joe would probably thank you for choosing low sodium. Check out her link on this one. It's a honkin' slab of meat that will sort of freak you out as you are cruising around the grocery store with it looking at you. BUT, it is worth it. 2 days of marinating 1 day of cooking filling your house with an amazing BBQ joint smell, and days of left-overs and meals.

Night 1: Brisket, Mashed Potatoes, a veggie

Night 2: Cowboy Nachos-put meat & cheddar over chips and bake till cheese melts. Serve with Pico & Salsa

Night 3: French dips. Put meat on hoagies or french bread topped with Pepper Jack, Provolone or whatever cheese you like.

You can also freeze the chopped brisket you don't use this round. Fabulous investment of time and money. You buy a 10 pound brisket (mine was only $1.88 a lb) and it goes a long way.

I'm not skinny so you know you can trust me on these that they are all great.

(if you see one of The Pioneer Woman's recipes you like, click on the link and at the bottom of each of her recipes you can print the recipe out!!!)

Bon Appetite and no you cannot blame me if your buttons start popping off your jeans and yes I will go shopping at Lane Giant with you if need be. Thank you and have a nice day.

Fruit

It is amazing what a few days of order can accomplish. We are rested. We've been enjoying family and friends. We've been eating good food. Our house is looking clean one room at a time. The kids are playing with their toys that have been organized and majorly downsized. In a word I'd say our home is Peaceful.

Sitting Room BEFORE:

Sitting Room AFTER: This is the formal dining room that I don't want to crowd with a big table we'd use 3 times a year. I've tried lots of different arrangements in this space and this table is my favorite so far. This small kitchen table covered with a tablecloth has the look and feel of a desk, yet the room is very open making the room look bigger.


Living Room BEFORE: Shame on me for not taking better pictures. I was iffy on if Shane was going to help me move the armoire but at 8:34pm 2 nights ago when he said he would I jumped up like a rocket and started taking nic nacs down.

Here is the kitchen table in our living room. I love moving this little table around. There is a blank space between the pictures, a tree used to be there. I'd been wandering how the armoire would look in that space. What do you think? (p.s. I love this next picture because it is a reflection of real life: lamp shade whompy jawed thanks to a game of indoor football, baby in pj's, all kids half dressed, wipes and tissue on the table, fresh flowers in a vase that needed to be tossed 2 days ago but I just can't bring myself to do it, and that's just the part that made the picture!)

Do you see my 2 new topiaries on the mantle? $4 for the pair at a yard sale thankyouverymuch.

Here is what I wanted for this room:

• TV not to be the focal point
• A cozy feel
• Good furniture arrangement for conversation

The perk to having the TV here is that when I'm washing dishes 21 times a week plus snacks if it's on and I want to watch I can. The Biggest Looser is our show we watch every week.

Sample Schedule

6am: (OK, 6:45am): Bible and Coffee Time
8am: Exercise
9-11am: Get Ready/Load of Laundry/Housework
11-1pm: Lunch/Time With Kids
1-3pm: Rest/Nap Time
4pm: Dinner Prep
5pm: Dinner At The Table
6pm: Free time
7pm: Baths
8pm: Bed

Do you find it hard to set up boundaries in your day? How much access do people have to you? Do people's access to you effect your productivity? Today as I was folding laundry I was thinking about the olden' days. When you lived on a farm in the middle of nowhere with your family and spent your days (I'm guessing) tending to your house, food and family. It was hard work but it was a simpler time.

Yesterday I deactivated my Facebook account (temporarily I think). It was so hard to shut it down. It is something really enjoyable for me but it's a time waster and until I can get my ducks in a row it has to stay off my plate.

Take the phone off the hook. Oh I love this one. In the afternoon, from around 1-3pm my phone is off the hook. I don't silence the ringer I take it off the hook. No phone calls to return by looking at caller ID and no interruptions.

Turn your cell phone off. It's awesome. If you are spending time with family, friends, or just taking time for yourself turn that puppy Off. Feels good. My mom always used to take the phone off the hook during dinner. It told us that our time was important and other people could wait.

Take a staycation. Leave a recording on your voicemail telling people you'll be back May 11th. Do you need some time away from everything? Give yourself the freedom to take a break.

I've got some fun pictures coming your way. Day 2 of having some routine and less time on the computer has yielded some great things in my corner of the world. My house is looking awesome. I dusted a layer of dust that I'd be ashamed to give the amount of, but it is looking and smelling good.

I got Mr. Bugs to move 2 armoire's for me last night with strict instructions from him that this better be there new permanent home. Heh heh heh, I said, Sure, OK Honey, Sounds great.

What about you? What boundaries do you set in place for your days?

Left-Overs

Do you ever get to that place where you feel like everything and everyone is getting your leftovers? The yucky, unappetizing remains of what's left over?You look for quick fixes to get things back in order and your attempts yield nothing more than a heated up plate of junk?

That's where I've been living the last few weeks. Running on fumes, unorganized, tired, feeling chaotic.

The words that should describe my Spirit filled days are order, peace, joy, life, kindness, patience, gentleness...to name a few.

One thing absent from my days has been order. Everyday looks and feels different. As bad as I do not like a schedule, some amount of routine is necessary so I can have a map to see where I need to be going each day. Here's what I've come up with so far.

My top priorities:

1) My relationship with God. This is the most important thing and if it is lacking I know something is wrong with how I'm spending my time and my days.

2) My relationship with my Family. The days quietly slip by and sometimes I even feel that I miss my family even though we've all been under the same roof.

3) Housework. As bad as I wish this wasn't at the top of my list it is what it is. I am in charge of keeping house. I want my home to reflect peace, contentment, warmth, good food, joy, relationship. If junk is everywhere that fosters peace for no one.

4) My Business. God has entrusted a fruitful business into our hands and I have people that I'm responsible for shepherding. It is a blessing and my responsibility to be faithful to God's provision for our family in this area.

5) Everything else I want to invest time in. Here's where the rubber meets the road. There are lots and lots of things I want to give my time and energy to. The bottom line though is that I only have so much time in a given day. I believe God has order and a plan for every single thing we are supposed to give our time to each day. If we'll be sensitive to what needs to be done and what opportunities God has inserted or deleted from our day we'll have the ability to walk in peace.

There are some days I just want to load up the bus and go window shop at Targe' because it sounds stinkin' fun. Here is the hard part. Sometimes as the Mom we have to be disciplined and look at the big picture. Ask some hard questions. Is this decision of how I'm spending my time beneficial? Is it productive? Can it be delayed to another day. If you are like me you do not like to deny yourself. You want quick fixes and gratification.

Don't you just love the sluggard verses in Proverbs (insert laughter here). The sluggard looks at harvest time and finds empty fields.

The month of May is going to be me sharing my journey of trying to be fruitful at home. Here is my tip for today in regards to keeping house. We have a love hate relationship with Flylady and we fall of the wagon and get back on again and that's great. Her greatest gift to me has been the concept of ZONE WORK. Breaking my home into Zones and spending a little time each day in the zone.

She has revamped her Daily Cleaning Missions and you can get the entire week at a time on her website now. http://www.flylady.net/ Go to her website with your calender, jot down the mission for each day and you'll know where to spend a few minutes each day. If you are feeling really ambitious you can take a peak at every Zone for the month of May and pencil it in.

Remember you reap what you sow. Whatever you invest time in is what you'll see the fruit of in your life.

Vacation

Shane took some days off this week.

We mulched flower beds.

Boy do we ever had a lot of flower beds.

This is random but I got an ear infection and it came on during a girls night out and had me in tears it was so painful.

I've been cooking up some new things in the kitchen.

I'm thinking of deactivating my Facebook account for a few weeks. Life seems so unorganized for me right now and I'm thinking of what I can take off my plate until I get things reigned back in.

I made an Elmo cake this week. My friend Erica loaned me a grass tip and that was the funnest thing. I took a can of Vanilla icing, mixed in extra powdered sugar and filled an icing bag she gave me. It was a blast.

We've been in the closet tonight. The weather is terrible around here. Tornadoes.

We planted a Japanese Maple and 3 Gardenias in one of our flower beds.

Today I bought a 10 pound brisket. We'll be talking about that soon. Until then, I hope everyone has a great day of rest and worship tomorrow.