Neat Chore Site

Here is a neat site that offers an ebook with daily chores listed to clean your house. They also offer one with daily bible readings. I downloaded it for $4 and am using it. It is wonderful! One of the lovely ladies from Momys shared the site with me.

I have had many different chore methods and I never stick with any of them. I was giving this some thought and I realized that basically I don't trust any of them to work. So I am giving this a try. I have tried flylady and I like her principles, but I can't seem to get my mind to work her system without feeling overwhelmed. The ebook consists of weekly printable sheets that are checklist with daily and weekly chores. I am not using them that way. I am doing Weight Watchers, so I have designed a small pocket journal that I print out to keep my points listed on. I went ahead and added my daily chores and lines for a to do list onto my journal. So what I do is just write in the extra daily chores that it gives me. I am also adding in a small declutter job each day. I am fighting the doubt that keeps creeping in and just doing the best I can. And really Flylady is right that housework done imperfectly still blesses my family. My goal is to have my home in order by Christmas (or before Christmas) but I want to work slow and steady.

These past few days have been busy, busy, busy. I haven't had to think let alone blog. But hopefully things will slow down soon. I have started crocheting some tiny teddy bears for Christmas. I will post pictures as soon as I get a few done. I also would like to crochet some snowmen, but I haven't found a pattern yet. I just love snowmen they always make me smile. I have the grand idea of also crocheting the girls some ponchos, but we'll see. If you are interested in crocheting patterns here is a site with a lot of really nice free ones. I plan on printing them out in pdf format and compiling them in a binder when I get time. Well, I had better get started on my chores or the best of plans will fail.

Children and Owwies

Over the weekend on my errand day my son Noah got hurt. He fell on the corner of a bookcase next to my bed (he couldn't have been jumping could he?) and put a big gash in the back of his head. I wan't home at the time, my dh was. Well, I got home and checked it and sure enough it was big. I sighed as I saw that it could use stitches. I didn't really want to make another ER visit. So I grabbed my super glue tube and got to work. I cleaned the wound again, my husband had done a great job cleaning it while I was gone so I just redid it to make extra sure it was clean. Then I held the wound together and glued it together. We waited about 15 minutes and added another coat. Then because it was not the fast drying super glue we waited about an hour before we allowed him to play. This has worked well and it is healing up beautifully. Now I don't want you to think that I wouldn't have taken him to the ER had I really thought he needed it. You will remember that not long ago on errand day Elijah got his finger sliced open with the yard trimmer and had to go get stitches. I looked at his wound to see if it was glueable, but it wasn't and the poor kid had to get a lot of tiny stitches (he healed great by the way). This makes me wonder if I should even go do errands at all? But wait Moses fell when we were all out doing errands and had to have his chin glued closed (he has a nasty scar, poor kid). Hmmm, maybe it is just errands and has nothing to do with me leaving at all? Anyway today poor Noah got bonked in the head about 2 inches from his glued together wound by his 2 year old sister. This raised a large bump and brought a small amount of blood. He is doing well.

Kid's are such troopers. They get cuts and bruises and even broken bones and if they know we love them and are there they are fine. This is the way we should be with our Father. Life can cut us and bruise us and even break us. But we need to look to our Father, see that He is still with us and loves us and be fine. We shouldn't cry and stress and live in fear. We should rest in knowing that even though it hurts He is still with us, holding us through it.

Why is this so hard? I know for me, I will be terrified of something that never happens. When I should instead just look to my Father for provision. And even when horrible things do happen, and they do, I need to be at peace because my Father is in control. I so want to live this way, and sometimes I think I am. But recently I discovered that I am just burying it. I sometimes get cold sores, but not very often, usually only when sick or very stressed. Well I am on my second cold sore in three weeks, and I have not been sick. So obviously I am stressed and not trusting my Father. This is not how I want to live. I want to be at peace in Him knowing that He is watching over everything and it will all work out one way or another. So I am going to meditate on some verses and look to Him and try my best to give it ALL to Him an not take it back. He is so faithful, I want to trust Him as my children trust me.

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." Hebrews 13:5

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 1 Timothy 6:17

Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me! Psalm 66:20

I Added A Christmas Countdown Ticker!

I added a Christmas countdown ticker I thought it would be fun. I think I will leave it up after Christmas to countdown until next year. Maybe then I will start early in the year and not have to try to figure it out now when there are only 89 days to go.

Speaking of holidays, I am about halfway done with my gifts. Some people are causing me brain strain to figure out what to give them. If you are someone I give to during the holidays and you are reading this you know if this applies to you, lol. I want to be completely finished. I don't want to have to do any last minute shopping in December.

Also as the holidays draw nearer, I am worried about my diet. I don't want to blow it, but so much of our celebration has been about food. I am going to try and find fun crafts and such to do with the children instead of baking cookies as frequently. I am thinking that it might be good for them to not think of food as the main attraction of the holidays also.

I have jury duty on Monday. This is a bummer because I don't feel comfortable driving our car an hour away which is where I need to go, and my husband has to lose time at work so I can do this. I have to show up to ask to be excused. They really need to excuse me because David doesn't get sick time, and we cannot afford at all to lose any money if he has to stay home with the children. My heart wants to fret about this but I can't I have to give it to the Lord. You know the funny thing is, that if I weren't a homeschooling Mom and my husband could take the time off, and we had a reliable car, I wouldn't mind serving for jury duty. I always wanted to when I was younger, but now that I am picked I can't serve or we can't make our mortgage. Isn't that how life works sometime. So please say a prayer that they look favorably on me and release me from jury duty.

Yesterday, I was washing the dishes and my two year old Brook, came into the kitchen, walked over to the laundry room off the kitchen and started to load the washer. We have a front loader and the children have gotten into the habit of tossing dirty laundry in front of the washer on the floor (which makes it difficult to get to the washer to wash the stuff). Brook waded through the laundry and started to load it into the washer. She got most of it too! Isn't that cute! She is my dishwasher unloader helper too. Every time I go to unload the dishwasher she comes up and starts to hand me the clean dishes. It is so cute! And Chloe has started to load the dishwasher with the dirty dishes. If this continues, in the next couple years I won't have to wash dishes at all, woohoo!

Well, I guess that is enough rambling for today. I need to get some other things done.

My Day at the DMV

On Friday I went to the DMV to register a car that my husband's mother has given to us. The DMV is always a lesson in patience, and it's a great place to people watch. Today I didn't have any of my children with me, so I got to people watch. My favorite are couples and parents with small children. I love to see how different couples interact with each other, and when you are not the one dealing with the little bundles of energy it's a blast to watch them. It is also very interesting to observe the different levels of manners people have or lack of them.

While standing in my first line I noticed a ticker displayed that was sharing health tips. The tip I took notice of was the one on hearing loss. It shared how you should wear ear protection if you will be exposed to loud noises regularly or you can have permanent hearing damage. Our home is a loud home. Someone is always doing something. There is always talking and laughing, singing and twirling, playing and roughhousing going on. And plenty of fighting and crying too. Because of this our home can seem overwhelming to those not accustomed to it. During my waiting I gave some thought to preserving my hearing by wearing earplugs daily. Then I thought that I also should preserve the children's hearing they should wear them too. As I thought more about it I got a picture in my mind of all of us walking around deaf and asking, "what?" to each other all day because we couldn't hear each other with the ear plugs in. I figured that that might be counter-productive, so I think I will just work on lowering the noise level of our home.

I was number 46 in line for registrations, and the line was moving at about 10 people an hour. I was supposed to get together with my sister so I was getting worried that I wouldn't be able to. They had just announced number 36 and there were 10 more to go. I groaned silently and pleaded with the Lord to work a miracle and speed things up. My sister is having back surgery on Tuesday, and I wanted to spend some time with her before she has the surgery. Well about 5 minutes after my prayer they announced number 44! They skipped for 36 to 44. Then instantly they announced number 45. And about 3 minutes later, just enough time for me to gather my paperwork out of my purse they announced number 46. I went up and 10 minutes later I was finished and on my way! God is so good, He even cares about little things like waiting at the DMV.

I don't enjoy going to the DMV, but I guess it wasn't so bad this time. I had a pretty good time actually.

Rotten Days Can Change

Yesterday wasn't such a great day. My dh went to change the oil on the new used car his mom had given us, and it was a disaster. He drained the transmission fluid instead. Then we got into a yucky argument where it was all my fault that this happened. I of course took offense and said some not nice things. It was bad. I left the scene of the crime and started to pray like crazy. I knew we needed a miracle to heal this rift. The Lord showed me that I was in the wrong.

You see, my husband had asked me to take the vehicle in to get the oil change. At the time I couldn't afford to do that and he has always changed the oil on our cars himself, so I didn't submit and try to squeeze out the money. Well, he later asked me to go ahead and buy the oil, so I did. What I didn't know is that he had no idea of how to do it on this car. This is the first time he has ever had a sport utility vehicle, and it is a little different. Well, he didn't feel like he could do it. He didn't ever tell me this, but I never took the time to find out why all of a sudden he wanted me to take it somewhere when for our entire marriage, he has done it. So I had to apologize for not obeying. We did mend our rift and must have looked like newlyweds to the neighbors as we were hugging and kissing in the front yard, lol!

Anyway, things are good now, the car has fresh oil AND fresh transmission fluid and it sounds better. We just need to make sure that we have the transmission fluid at the proper level and we are good to go. So in the future, I need to listen. Not just to my husbands word's, but to his heart.

Spirulina

I have been struggling with exhaustion for a long time now, and I have sought out answers. I haven't gone to a doctor because that is an absolute last resort. So what I am trying right now is spirulina. This is a benificial algae that is loaded with protein, b-12, iron and all kinds of good stuff. I got myself over to Wild Oats and bought a bottle of tablets for $18.99 and I am going to take them for a month and see if I feel any different. I started taking them two days ago and so far have noticed an appetite decrease. Which of course is a good thing, and I hope it lasts. When I wake up I feel a little less foggy, but I still don't jump out of bed, and I haven't turned into a cleaning freak yet like I hope to once I get some energy. So, I am just hoping that it builds up what I am lacking in my body and gets me back where I should be. Because as I have started dropping pounds, I was starting to feel terrible. I don't know why but every time I have dieted, I have gotten really exhausted.

I have lost 15 pounds so far! I can hardly believe it! I still have a long way to go though, but at least I am taking steps to get there.

I will post about spirulina again if I should see anymore benefits from it.

Getting Ready for Errand Day

Tomorrow is going to be very busy. First I have to leave very early to go to the dmv. I want to get there right when they open so that I am not stuck for hours. This means that I have to have breakfast ready for my crew so that when they all get up they have something yummy. I also need to plan their lunch. This will mean breadmaking today for me. I hope to get up early enough to get my workout in before I leave, but that bed is very hard to get out of, lol!

After the dmv I will run to Super Walmart and get some of my shopping done. Then I will zip over to my sister's house and we will go to a movie. We have been wanting to do this for a while but it hasn't worked out. She is having surgery next week, so we really want to make it work tomorrow. I don't really have the time, those of you with large families that don't live in town will understand that a shopping trip takes ALL day. But somehow we will work it out. Then I will take my sister home and I will zip over to Costco. I will get my Costco shopping done, and then I will bring a pizza home for my starving and neglected family.

You know, on my shopping trips I always do feel as if I am neglecting my family. It is silly because I am shopping FOR my family, but I still feel that way. And then when I get home I am exhausted. It really doesn't sound like much reading it here. How come it feels like a lot to me?

Hmmm, dmv could take 2 hours. Okay 2 hrs, Walmart will take at least an hour maybe an hour and a half. Okay that is 3 and a half hours. Time with sister (fun) 3 hours. We are up to 6 and a half hours now. Of course three of them are fun hours, wink. Last is Costco which will take about 1 and a half hours. That puts us at 7 and a half hours. Oh, I have to add commuting in, that is an extra hour. Hmmm, I am up to 8 hours away from my family. I guess that's why it feels like a big deal. I don't like to be away from my family, even though they drive me crazy sometimes, lol!

Earlier today I had shared about the dog being in the house and scared. Well he didn't ask to go out because he was to afraid, and he wet on the floor in THE ONLY ROOM WITH CARPET! The only way I discovered it was that I sat down on the floor to pick up some scattered laundry and got wet, yuck! I was so frustrated! I try to remember that he is getting old, he will be 9 this year on October 31st. But man I didn't really want to clean the rug tomorrow. Sigh, I guess that is part of having a dog, and he really is the sweetest dog.

Last Night Was Rough

Last night was a hard night for me. First I went to bed around 9 feeling really sick. So I went to bed hoping to feel better in the morning. About 1 a.m. the dog starts barking so I get up to let him in. Turns out we are having an thunderstorm, and my big, fluffy, Samoyed is afraid. So he decides to walk the house always returning next to our bed for me to pet. You might be thinking big deal the dog is walking the house. Well, we have all hard floors except in one room of the house. So we kept hearing click, click, click and he NEVER stops panting so on top of the clicking it was hu-hu-hu-hu LOUDLY. My poor husband isn't really fond of Gus anyway so I moved onto the couch hoping the dog would follow me. He didn't, he decided to smother the boys by jumping on their bed with them. They didn't appreciate it. But finally he settled down and I fell asleep on the couch with no blanket.

Suddenly I hear loud crying that doesn't subside like the usual crying that sometimes occurs with children in the night. So I get up and discover my little darling Brook has fallen out of bed and is afraid. I climb into bed and get her and Chloe back to sleep. This time I not only have no blanket but no pillow either. So, after I am sure that they are asleep well, I get up, weave my way through the mess, (of course they didn't put their toys away the night before like they are supposed to) and go back to my bed. Ahhhh, the peace, the quiet, the pillow and BLANKETS. It was wonderful for the hour I got to stay there. But then the awful alarm started to beep, man couldn't they make it more pleasant to listen to? Then I could have just slept right through it. Anyway now I am exhausted, and my neck hurts pretty bad, but at least my husband got good rest and my darlings felt loved (well okay even the dog got a bit pampered, the poor guy). I will make up my sleep tonight.

My Idea

I have been having a horrible time being motivated to get the laundry done and put away lately because there just hasn't been room to put it away. And we don't even have very many clothes each. All of our laundry is in two dressers and one closet for the whole family. Coats are in a separate closet. I did this because the children would inevitably throw the clean in with the dirty in their rooms and I kept having to wash everything all over again, not fun. So all the laundry had been moved into the school room closet and the dressers put in there. But we had grown out of the closet. I had given up and felt hopeless, my poor husband was feeling the same way. When I realized his despair I began to pray for a solution. Not having any money to buy anything limits the options, but I knew there had to be one.

So when David was gone yesterday and I was making a half-hearted attempt to put away the clean laundry it came to me. I took one of the closet rods from the kids room and some extra clothesline I had bought for a craft project earlier this year. The rod in the school room closet is extremely high because we had raised it for storage purposes. So, now I took everything out of the closet and measured down the right length of clothesline. I doubled it so that it is a double strength and tied it around each end of the rod. Next I took my staple gun and secured the clothes line to the rod so that it couldn't slide off the end. Then I tied the clothesline to the upper rod, which doubled the clothing storage space.

David's clothes are on the upper-left rod, mine are on the upper-right rod. The children's clothes are on the lower bar with the boys on the left and the girls on the right. This holds all of our in season clothes! God is so good to show me how to solve this problem with things we already have.

Next I want to tackle the dressers. They are cheapies and they are falling apart. When you pull a drawer out it slides out onto the floor or my foot, ouch. I think I will buy some of those stacking plastic drawers. Not the really wide ones, because they get to heavy and the drawers don't open or shut right. I can try to buy one set at a time each grocery shopping trip until that problem is solved.

I am just so encouraged. I was starting to feel like we really are growing out of our house, which is a bad way to feel. Now I have hope that with creativity and lots of prayer, our home can be a pleasant place.

As I Start My Holiday Planning

As I start my holiday planning I am really enjoying the memories. One of the really funny things that happens every Christmas is that on Christmas morning my husband will see something neat that the children recieved and ask who gave it to them. The hilarious thing is that somehow he always manages to ask about something we gave them, lol! He honestly doesn't remember what we gave them, and we don't even give them a whole lot! It is so funny, I always say we did and he is like, "oh". You might be wondering if I consult David about what I buy, yes I do. I ask and show him the things I purchased, but he just doesn't remember. It is so funny to me.

So far I have bought one really large gift and some smaller ones for the children. I have also bought some things for family and friends. Something I am trying this year, is wrapping the things right away when I bring them home. Of course I have to label them to or else this wouldn't work to well! I have about 7-8 things wrapped, so not a whole lot. But if I am consistent I won't ever have to do any long wrap sessions which I really don't like.

Another thing I need to do is to get my holiday planner printed and ready. I keep track of Christmas cards, gift ideas, gifts purchased, favorite recipes, stocking stuffers etc. I also keep a record of all I have spent on Christmas. This helps me to budget better. Hopefully next year I will do better on budgeting. This is going to be our first totally cash Christmas, so I am not sure how that will affect things. So far I have been blessed with things I have found. Hopefully that will continue.

And this reminds me that I really have been enjoying my Budget Map checkbook register. It is starting to really help me see where our money goes. I am seeing that even though I do waste some, we also just have a very tight budget. I do think that it is a bit expensive and can't see one box making it a full year as the advertisement says. I am going to try to create my own sheet that is set up the same way that I can print out. I just can't see spending that much all the time. But we'll see.

My Hobby

One of my hobbies is designing various forms on the computer. I have wanted to do something useful with these forms, but because of differences in software, I haven't. Well this past week I learned how to turn my forms into pdf documents which means that many people can use them. My next problem was how to share them. I have solved that problem by creating a Yahoo Group that I will use exclusively for forms and links to forms that are useful for home management and homeschooling. As soon as I have actually put some forms on it, grin, I will post the link. It is a no mail group, so there won't be any messages, just a place for forms, wonderful forms.

Anyway, I hope that some of the forms I create will be a blessing to others.

If You Want to Wake Up Feeling Weird

If you want to wake up feeling really weird injure yourself while sleeping. It makes you feel slightly crazy. Last night I went to bed, and slept really soundly. This morning I woke up with an inch long scratch that bled well on my chin. You would think that I would have woken up when I scratched myself, but I have absolutely no recollection of how I did it. I can logically think how it much have happened, but it seems really weird that I don't remember it at all. I mean when my husband wakes in the middle of the night battling the blankets in his sleep (he really does this, he will wake, sit up and start hitting the blankets. He thinks in his dream something is attacking us and he is fighting it off in his dream and on the bed, lol!) I remember it. So I think I should remember doing bodily harm to myself. But I don't. Of course my husband doesn't always remember his nocturnal battles either, so I guess it is normal and I am not crazy!

But, I still feel really weird each time the children ask me what happened and I have to say I haven't the slightest idea, lol!

It's Just Not the Same

Yesterday my husband took the 3 boys to his sisters house for a visit. The house felt so different without them. It just felt so empty. I know they had a good time, and the girls and I didn't pine away. We had a good time, but the house just seemed so much quieter.

What the girls and I ended up doing is using play make-up. The girls made themselves up which was a hoot! Then it was my turn, they painted my toenails, and made up my face. Boy was that a sight to see. I had blush in place I have never thought to apply it. And who would have thought that several letter H's applied strategically with dark eyeshadow on my cheeks could be so attractive, lol! We girls had a good time, but I did miss my "men".

They will be going off again today to watch one of their cousins play in a football game, so we will miss them again. In this case, absence really does make my heart grow fonder (or at least opens my eyes to my fondness for them all). I wonder what the girls and I will do today?

One More To Go

We have had a hard time financially this past spring and summer. But I am encouraged right now, because I only have one more hospital bill to pay. We had several trips to the ER this past year, and I have my final bill and after that we are DONE! Hooray! Now if only nobody else would get hurt.

With the holidays coming up I am beginning to plan what to give to who. So far I have only started on my children, but I am rolling around ideas for others. There is someone in our family that is a BIG seller on Ebay so I am having a challenge finding something to give that isn't just going to end up on Ebay. I am thinking that homemade is the way to go for that family. You know the gift that says, "you can't get rid of me, nobody will buy me, you are stuck, so enjoy me!". I have many ideas, but most of my ideas are not really matching my checkbook balance, so I will have to revamp them. Anyway, I really enjoy this time of year. A time when I can buy gifts and give them and people don't look at me like I am a nut for giving them something.

And the fall is such a beautiful time, a chill in the air, beautiful color changes. Urges for hot chocolate become strong in our home. We have a rule here so that my children don't get to much hot chocolate. The children only get cocoa on snow days. This may seem like not much considering we live in a desert, but it is enough and it has ended the nonstop nag for yummy cocoa. Now if you live in the east or Alaska where the winter is full of snow, this might not be an option for you. For us it works.

Bittersweet

Today I heard the news that a very sweet Momy gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl. This is such a blessing and I am so happy for her, yet at the same time I feel like crying. I have wanted twins since before we started having children and as I see my childbearing years coming to a close soon, I just feel so sad that I haven't had twins. I have always wanted boy/girl twins since I was a young girl, and even with 6 children born to me, I still want them.

It has never hit me this hard before though. I guess part of it could be that next month I would have given birth to another child if I hadn't miscarried. But deep in my heart I know that God has His reasons and plans for not allowing me twins. Perhaps I couldn't handle it physically or emotionally or maybe my husband. Or maybe there is a totally different reason that I will never know.

Anyway, I am very happy for Linda who just gave birth via c-section to two beautiful babies! I am praying for a quick recovery for her!

I Guess It's a Guy Thing

I was cooking lunch today and I walked through the hallway to bring some laundry to the back room. On my way back to the kitchen I noticed Noah helping to put some of his sisters toys away. He was trying to put away one of their doll strollers. As he was fiddling with it he said, "How do you fold this thing up anyway?". Chloe rushed over to him and said, "here you use this thing on the back..." and she showed him how to do it.

This was so funny because with whatever stroller we have David never knows how to fold it. He will look all over it and not know what to do, LOL! So, I guess it is a guy thing and it starts young!

This World Is Not My Home

There are many in my family that strive for bigger and better houses, new cars, beautiful furniture, fun gadgets and toys. I like all of those things and I do my share of striving or I wouldn't have any of these toys, but my focus is different. You see, as others close to me have worked hard and bought bigger and better houses every year although their families hadn't grown I haven't felt that drive. For a while now I have wondered what is wrong with me. I mean surely if I tried, we could do the same thing. But I just haven't wanted to, even though we are squeezed into our house, I am content. I don't want to try to increase our payment and the duration of our payment by moving out and up. I just don't see it as being prudent. Now if we pay off our home and decide to sell and relocate, that is another story. Then we would only buy a home for what we get for this home, if we were able to move into a bigger and better home for that, great! But I just don't see the wisdom in being stuck in a home that realistically you don't have any chance of paying off. But still somewhere inside me I thought that this feeling of mine was really backed by laziness or some other equally unpleasant motive.

Well this morning I was reading through a book titled Living More With Less by Doris Janzen Longacre. I had an "aha!" moment. I finally figured out why I am not motivated to spend every extra cent on my home. I don't need to, this isn't really my home. Here the passage that brought me my breakthrough:

This world is not my home. Here is the starting point. As good as it is to make a house comfortable, Christians freely admit their longing for Home. No inheritance, real-estate settlement, or faultless house plan fully answers the cry for roots. Christians consciously travel toward a better housing developement--a home in the city "whose builder and maker is God".

Living by this hope (not just singing about it!) means less time, money, and personal pride invested into housing. Expectations go down, contentment go up. Furthermore, with the assurance that "in my Father's house are many rooms," we can sometimes accept homelessness, as Jesus did. He became one of the refugee's, the shack-dwellers, the evicted of the ages.

The above passage made me realize that it just isn't important to me, because something much better is. I am not lazy, I just know that this is not my true home. I don't want to run after those things. So I am so encouraged now that the Lord has revealed something in my heart that I didn't even know was there. Isn't He so good!

My New Chore Binder

I have created a Household Management Binder, and in it I am keeping my important info, but for daily use, it is a bit bulky. I have also created a chore card box, that I thought would make things easier, one time being pushed off the desk told me different.

So, here is my new idea. I took all the little cards and turned them into checklists. I made different checklists for each day for two months. Then after two months I will reprint them and start all over again. Kind of like a to-do list that is already filled in. Shown above are two pages from this binder. The first is obviously the checklist, and the second is a page to keep me on track with meals and my weight loss. Having a small binder to use elimates the daily bulk of my Home Mangagement Binder, and it also elimates the hassle of many little cards.

The first page above shows the daily chore schedule, and the second page has places for the daily menu plan, notes, appointments, to-do's, idea's, and my Weight Watchers food journal. This allows me to be more focused because what I need to use for the day is all together. No more flipping through cards or going from one book to another. And no more feeling like I have to lug around a HUGE and heavy binder for my daily duties.

So far I am very happy with this. The only other thing I will add are pages for prayer and bible study. This will be easier than using the big binder in the mornings. Maybe I will add some journal pages to keep track of the children's special moments too, I don't know though. I like to check things off of a list so I think that this method will be very encouraging.

Crash

No, I haven't crashed yet, lol! This is a title of a movie that David and I recently watched together. Before we watched it I was feeling pretty down and needed a good cry. You know those days that you need a good cry, but can't seem to accomplish it? Well I was there, man I love hormones. Anyway, we watched this movie and it made me cry! Sometimes movies will bring silent tears to me, but this movie actually had me sobbing, just what I needed, yay! Anyway we thought this movie was good, but it isn't for children. And we have a dvd player with a profanity filter built in, so we didn't have to hear any foul language. If you don't have one of those, you probably don't want to watch this movie.

Yes we watch movies. I know it is bad and I really want to kick the habit, it just doesn't seem to be happening. We don't have cable so we don't get any regular television, so we rent movies. We do this through Netflix, where would you believe we actually rent tv shows? Usually the older ones, but sometimes a new one catches our eye. Well I guess that is relative, because if it is on dvd it isn't all that new! David and I watch movies in the evening when the children are in bed, it is like our 'date' time.

Anyway if you need a good cry and you have a profanity this was a good movie. Of course it could have just been my hormones ;)

This Past Week

This past week I have been trying hard to learn my new chore routine. I haven't got it down yet, but I will keep trying. It doesn't help that this is the part of my cycle where I am so tired that I feel like I am trying to walk through water and there is a good chance if I sit on the couch I WON'T be able to keep my eyes open. I have started taking my vitamins and that seems to be helping. I think cutting calories so drastically has really affected me, it has made it harder for me to concentrate, which is why I haven't been blogging as much. I just haven't been able to keep a thought focused. But since I have taken my vitamins again and with food to aid my body in absorbing them I am starting to be able to think again.

Have you ever tried to tweak a budget or pay bill with your brain on hold? It is a funny sight. Or how about cleaning the house with a fuzzy brain, you go into one room and have no idea what for. Or you start cleaning something, get interrupted and can't remember what you were doing. But now that my brain is starting to clear, I am sure that I will be able to get back into blogging. And maybe I need to keep a pen and pencil handy to jot down my thoughts so that I don't lose them so quickly, lol!

I was blessed with some early Christmas shopping by purchasing something for a really great price. I won't say here what it is, because my sons regularly read this blog. It does feel good to be starting Christmas planning. I would really like to be completely finished before Thanksgiving so that I could focus on decorating and cooking and enjoying the season. And also so that we can focus on Jesus more. It is so hard to communicate to the children that Christmas is about Jesus if I am spending all my time shopping and wrapping and agonizing over how I don't have enough money to buy so and so the gift I want to. So my goal is to have it all done descreetly before Thanksgiving. Hopefully my brain fog clears completely so that I can do this in and organized manner.

Marriage

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing[a] her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body. "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."[b] This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. Ephesians 5:25-33

This is an interesting passage of scripture. It is used for so much. It clearly teaches men how they are to love their wives and shows women how they are to be loved. It also teaches women what their men NEED. Our men need our respect. Whether they be successful businessmen, or a clerk at McDonald's, they need to know that we respect them. This can sometimes be very difficult particularly if you happen to be in a season of picking at your partner. You know those seasons? The ones where you see all of your spouses flaws and wonder how you got where you are? You know the seasons where you seem to focus more on the fact that your wonderful man isn't following the verses above in the way you think is right? These seasons hit us throughout our lives, and it is how we weather the storms in them that determines the fate of our marriage.

My husband is going through some things lately, it feels like it's been forever to me, and it has pulled him into himself. This is bad for me and the children, but how I deal with it is the key to our marriage. You see that is not the only passage of scripture on marriage in the bible. There are many verses on how we are to love others and interact in relationships. I can wallow in pity and gripe at my husband complaining to him that he is not loving me correctly, and that he needs to do this or that or the other thing. Or I can pray for him, and love him where he is at. I can respect him with my submissive heart and I can praise him to my children when he is in earshot. I can stand by him, which communicates the I trust and respect him.

And these verses also do something else for us as women. They validate our feelings. For instance, I have felt somewhat unloved during this difficult time for my husband. I know that I am loved, but I haven't felt it. But, I have felt guilty being honest about it because my husband works hard to support our family so I felt like what more could I ask. But that is not really being honest to myself or God in my prayers. This verse gives me the freedom to acknowledge that I can expect more when it says, "he feeds and cares for it". The feeding is working to provide, the caring is all the little things that tell a woman that she is loved. They are all those little extras that every woman instinctively knows, and that men forget how to do off and on. But these verses this morning have given me the freedom to come before God with my tired heart and share without feeling like I am being a whiner. But the next step after releasing my burdens to the Lord is to love my husband. To respect my husband and not to worry about what I am getting back. The Lord will work in my husband, I need not nag or become bitter to him. I just need to love and respect him, and with my burdens released to the Lord, I can. I can develop the sweet spirit that is pleasing to the Lord. Yes, this passage has a lot to offer!

Katrina

This has been such a horrible catastrophe for our country. I can't even imagine what these people are going through. I keep praying for them and weeping as I read the stories. We don't have television in our home, DVD's yes, T.V. no, so the only info I am getting is online. I want to help but don't where to do it. It is difficult when my bank balance is $11 and we are all the way across the country, but I know that these people need so much. I have heard from my mother that the local Red Cross turned people away that brought clothing and blankets saying that they would only accept money. This upset me because these people NEED clothes, they NEED blankets, they NEED everything.

HSLDA is trying to organize help for homeschooling families, and I hope to be able to offer help there, but I cannot offer nearly as much as I would like to.

But, I CAN pray. I CAN pray for the people that I am reading about. I can pray for safety and healing and salvation. I can pray for those mothers that lost their babies to be healed and not end up bitter women. I can pray for the man who kept promising his mother in the nursing home that he was coming and then was unable to get to her until after she drowned, for healing. I can pray that our nation would turn to the Lord.

Most of what I am hearing online is about how lawless it is and how slow help is in arriving. Yes, those things are true. But what about the churches nationwide that are scrambling to offer whatever support that they can? But about the thousands of Americans that are donating money, time, clothes even their homes? Yes there has been some horrendous behavior and needed rescue and supplies came late, but let's also see the way many of our citizens are helping.

And yes, I see the big picture. Our nation is going to change. Where these people end up living permanently will change, many won't go back, they won't be able to afford to. And gas, yes it is going up, higher than we have seen it. This will affect the price of EVERYTHING. Our nation will change because of this storm. Could it be judgment? Perhaps. I don't want to think about it one way or another, but whatever the reason this happened, we can turn our focus to the Lord of heaven and earth or onto ourselves. I have run errands since this disaster and the conversations are more about the inconvenience of the price of gas instead of what these poor people are going through. That is sad.

Balancing Life Changes

I am a terrible housekeeper. I am trying hard to improve, but I am very lacking. I also lack the ability to try and change more than one area of my life at a time. I seem to be able to only focus on one thing at a time.

Like right now I am trying to lose weight. And it is a big thing for me and takes every bit I have leftover from homeschooling and caring for my family. I know it sounds really silly, but I have for years used food as my recreation and relaxation. I don't get "days off" so my fun became eating whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. Looking at it, it really seems ridiculous. But this is a big life change for me.

I have many different areas that need improvement in my life, and many things I need to change. I am trying to become a better housekeeper and much more diligent in getting school done. But I seem to short circuit and only one of these areas gets worked on at a time. I mean we get school done, but not at the level I would like. And the children are fed, and the dishes get done eventually, but this is not the level of housekeeping I want to achieve. But if I try to change and focus harder on the house or school than my weight loss falls away and I start wanting to eat whatever I want.

The older I get life seems to be about balance. When I was younger I thought it was juggling. But juggling is stressful and sometimes things fall. But balance is peaceful and calm. And when things are balanced nothing falls, only when things get out of balance. So I need to learn the art of balancing the jobs I have. Each one weighs a certain amount and I need to figure the proper way to carry each job for balance. I am sure that the reason I fail in one area when focusing on another is because I let it get out of balance. I should evenly distribute the weight.

But how to do that is a great mystery to me. I have created chore systems and they are a beautiful thing to behold, but if I don't USE them then they don't really help. I guess the only real way to balance life is to pray and plan. And if it isn't working than to pray some more and tweak your plan.

I will learn to balance my life with the Lord's help. Perhaps that is the entire secret of a balanced life, focusing wholly on the Lord and then He will direct each step that I take. Not focusing on the problems at all, but on the Lord and then just doing. It sounds so simple doesn't it?

Black Widow?

Tonight I was washing the windows on my mother-in-law's car which she is giving to us. As I opened up the back Chloe freaked out because she saw a spider. Seeing the spider crawling out the back of the car I bravely said, "Honey, go get Dad! It's a Black Widow!" You might be wondering how come I didn't just kill it myself, but I wanted my man to feel strong and like my protector. Well, that's my story anyway.

So after my husband killed it, it happened to be a male, we discussed how it wasn't a Black Widow. It was a Black Widower. Why can't they get that right? Or I guess it really should be called the Black Better Run Quick Because She's Gonna Eat You spider.

Well, I guess that is enough deep musing for today.

Rescuing the Refugees and Sin

I just read a news report about the refugees and how New Orleans is chaos. It is just so sad. The rescue efforts have had to be stopped until they can get the city under control. They can't evacuate anymore people because of all of the threats from people carrying guns. It saddens me because I know the dire need these people have to be pulled out of that mess, but the violence is preventing rescue workers from getting in.

How sad that the sinful human heart is what is preventing them from being saved. I can't even imagine what those people are going through, and I am praying for them constantly. Even so, I can see a similarity in our hearts concerning salvation. The sin in our hearts prevents us from the salvation we desperately need in Jesus. If Jesus hadn't touched our eyes so that we could see and be freed from our sin in Him, we would surely be doomed to destruction. In the same way the military will come and touch their eyes by forcing order so that they can be evacuated and reach safety.

This is such a sad time for our country. And it is hard to see so plainly the wickedness in men's hearts as revealed by this disaster.