A new me in 2010!

Can I make my goal in GPT this year?

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Menu Planning Monday-12/21/09

With Christmas being this week, meals are going to be light and easy to cook. I've still got a TON of Christmas baking to do (yay! More recipes to come!) and Christmas being on Friday (which means a big meal for us) I'm not looking forward to doing much else this week.

So...here we go...

Monday-


Cheeseburgers, mac and cheese, green beans

Tuesday-

bean soup, cornbread

Wednesday-


Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, corn

Thursday-

BBQ Pork Ribs (w/homemade bbq sauce), not sure on sides yet..lol


Friday-

Christmas Dinner! We missed Thankgiving dinner so we're using it for Christmas!

Turkey
Bread Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes
Green Bean Casserole
Dinner Rolls (homemade)
Candied Yams
Mac and cheese (homemade)
Corn Pudding
Lemon Meringue Pie
Peanut Butter Meringue Pie
other goodies that Mom is baking...lol

Do you menu plan? Join us at Menu Planning Monday!


Down Sick....

I apologize for the lack of content the last few days. I am down with the flu and a fibro flare. I appreciate ya'll hanging in there with me.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

"Please take my Life from me"

As a sat doing my daily readings (a couple books and my Bible) last night, I kept being hit in the face with one concept. We are to die to Christ. The Bible is obvious in this (or at least it is to me.) Gal 2:20 says "I am crucified with Christ: neverthless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (KJV)

Paul is speaking here telling us that the old Paul (the sinner) has died but through Christ he lives because Christ lives in him. I have always loved this verse, but I don't think that its meaning fully set in until last night.

I don't have a specific pattern I follow when I read my Bible. I pray before I even open it that God will show me what I need to learn and will guide me to what He wants me to see. I then open my Bible. It may seem simple or silly to you, but I have never had it fail. I always take something from it.

Last night was no different. I prayed for wisdom and God's teaching and opened my Bible to Jonah. Now we all know this story well I'm sure. God told Jonah to go preach in Ninevah, Jonah disobeyed and was swallowed by a great fish. He repented and God caused the fish to vomit Jonah onto dry land. Jonah then went into Nineveh and preached the destruction that the Lord had planned for the people. The people repented and God showed his mercy on them.

What I didn't know is that Jonah was displeased by the fact that God showed them mercy. He prayed to God about his anger. Jonah 4:3 says "Therefore now, O LOrd, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live."

This verse struck home with me. The circumstances were entirely different than how it hit me b/c Jonah was literally praying for death, but it made me think.

This is what we should be praying. We are to die to Christ. To essentially kill the old us and replace it with what God wants us to be. In Christ we are made new people. It is better for us to die for/in Him than it is to continue to live as our former selves.

Anyhow, I'm rambling. My point is that we should all be praying Jonah's prayer. We should all be asking the Lord to take OUR lives from us and replace them with HIS life for us.

I certainly know that I am. When God speaks, I listen. :)

Have a good one all.

Sing It Sunday

Today's song is another by EH&SS. You'll probably see a lot by them as they are my favorite group.

I want you all to listen to the words of "Out of Bondage." The first verse has been me until just here recently. It's only been by the grace of God that I've started moving past it all.

I hope that if you're in bondage that you will turn to the Lord and let him free you like he has me.


Friday, December 11, 2009

Sweetest Saturday-Peanut Butter Meringue Pie

Ah..desert. I love to bake so I thought that I would share my desert recipes with you each week. A new one every Saturday!

Peanut Butter Meringue Pie-

My aunt has been making this pie for as long as I can remember. It's so rich and soooooo good.

1 c. powdered sugar
1/2 c. creamy peanut butter
1 pie crust, frozen pet ritz deep dish, baked
2/3 c. sugar
1/4 c. cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt
2 c. milk, skim
3 large eggs, separate out yolks
2 Tbsp. margarine
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar

Combine powdered sugar and peanut butter; mix with a fork until mixture resembles coarse meal. Spread most of the mixture (3/4 of it) in the baked pastry shell; set remainder aside.

Mix sugar, cornstarch and salt in large saucepan then combine with cold milk and margarine.
Cook over medium heat until mixture is hot. Lightly beat egg yolks.
Mix some of the hot mixture in to the egg yolks to temper them, then add egg yolk mixture to mixture on the stove.
Continue to cook over medium heat until mixture thickens.
Remove from heat immediately.
Stir vanilla into hot mixture and pour pudding over peanut butter mixture in your baked pie crust.

Beat egg whites and cream of tarter with mixer until soft peaks form; sweeten with 1 teaspoon sugar and beat until stiff. Spread over filling. Sprinkle your reserved peanut butter mixture over meringue.

Bake at 325 F for 20 minutes.

Cool before serving. (Best if cooled at least 4 hours in fridge)

Makes 1 9-inch deep dish pie.

Whoot! I did it!

Freebie Friday

Who doesn't like free stuff?

Here's a few for this week.


Free Walmart Samples-Prilosec, Huggies, Pampers, Benefiber this week.

Free books-Check out the Gutenburg site for free downloads of great books by authors like Jane Austin and more!

The Mutopia Project provides sheet music for download by composers like Beethoven, Bach and more. This is an awesome site and since all of the songs listed are public domain, you can download and print them for FREE!

Get a coupon for a free bag of Stacy's Pita Chips just by becoming a fan on Facebook! Click here to become a fan! *The cinnamon chips are FANTASTIC!*

Get a free sample of NuWave Comfort Patch. Click here.

Free 2010 Calendar from Pillsbury. *Must be a new member to their newsletter* Click HERE

Free 2010 Calendar from Betty Crocker. *Must be a new subscriber to newsletter* Click HERE

Enjoy!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

25 Days of Christmas-Free music!

Amazon is giving away 25 different songs for Christmas!

Check out-

HERE
to view it all.

If you check around there's more than whats listed for 0.00 as well.

Thankful Thursday-My daughter

Welcome to Thursday's new feature!

A lot of time life can get so hectic for us that we fail to stop and remember all of the ways that God has blessed us. I know that I am guilty of it more often than not.

So each week I'm going to post something that I'm thankful for. It may just be one thing, it may be many, but I hope that it will make me realize just how much the Lord has given me and mine and stop taking advantage of it so much.

So here we go.

As I've said before I have Fibromyalgia. My life is affected by this illness in many many ways, most of them negative. Unfortunately, it's not only my life that's affected but my entire family's as well. My husband b/c at times I can't be a proper wife to him, my children b/c I can't do the things I'd like to all the time, etc.

Anyhow, as the weather has turned cold (and I do mean cold) here in Iowa, the flares and the pain have also turned on. I'm not saying that warm weather is pain free, but cold weather is like turning on a light switch. I stay in pain and stiff pretty much all winter.

The current flare however has been worse than most. My range of motion has diminished to almost nothing and my ability to walk has been severly cut in half. So last night I had had enough of the pain and stiffness and decided I was going to go soak in the tub. After soaking, and finding no relief, I made my way back downstairs and sat down on the couch.

As I sat, I whinced and whimpered from the pain that shot thru my back. It was at that point that I realized just exactly how wonderful my child is. My daughter. My sweet little 4 year old daughter, sat down beside my and began to rub my back.

After I few minutes I realized that I had water in my ear and there was no way I was going to be able to go back up the stairs for a while, so I asked her to run and get me a Q-tip and off she went. A few minutes later, she comes down the stairs carrying not only a Q-tip but also a blanket for me because "you might be cold."

After all that, she promptly sat down next to me, curled up and fell asleep while hugging my arm as gently as she could.

I looked at my husband and told him that we did indeed have a wonderful child and that if I've done NOTHING else right in my life, I've done right with her.

I am so thankful that I have her. I've always "known" she was a great kid, but I don't think it fully set in until last night. I hope and pray that I can continue to raise her right. We've got a long way to go..lol.

Thank you Lord for giving me such a wonderful baby girl and for helping me to raise her your way.

"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Prov 22:6

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

The new budget-week 1

So I didn't get the 20.00 I wanted to saved because of a couple of things going awry, but I did manage to save almost 10.00. Considering we started out with nothing saved this week, I'm happy with that.

So in my never ending search for tips to help us save and manage our money I have come across some really great articles that I wanted to share.

There's way to many to put into a post so they'll be listed in the new side bar to the left along with the blogs and organizing sites I'm falling in love with.

Check them out!

Wordless Wednesday

Now normally I try to keep politics out of this blog.

BUT...after driving past this billboard too many times, I can't anymore..lol.

This is a real billboard in my hometown. It's above a REAL video store, put up by a REAL man who lives in a neighboring village.

Whether or not I agree with it. Whether or not I think it was the right thing to do, I still have to say God Bless America.

Why?

Because in this country we DO have the freedom of speech needed to put up things like this.

This is my first wordless Wednesday post. This billboard makes me go all wordless like. LOL.

Here is a link to the newspaper article they ran not too long ago about this board.

Click HERE to read the article.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Sing It Sunday

Welcome to the new weekly feature for Sunday. Each Sunday I'll be posting an uplifting music video for you to watch! I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.


There was no better gospel group in my opinion than the Cathedrals. They were truly a gifted group of men. Ernie Haase has moved on since the passings of George and Glen and I truly love to hear him and his new group sing.

Anyhow, this is my all time favorite song that I've ever heard Ernie Haase sing and MAN can he sing it! I hope that it lifts you up as much as it does me. God Bless. :)


A new budget...

Conservator: A legal term that is used to describe an individual who is appointed by the court to manage the financial assets and affairs of and individuals that is under some kind of a legal disability.

My husband is considered 100% disabled by all forms of the US Government. He receives SSDI and a pension from the Navy because of it. As a result of this disability, he has a conservator. When we began dating and got married I saw no reason to try and change who this person was b/c he had been "with" her for years and was comfortable with her. So we kept her.

Over time tho she has changed. She's become hostile and just plain rude. She's no longer doing her job effectively so at this point, my DH has decided she needs to be replaced.

Since he has never seen me manage money for real (come on, 75.00/week isn't really managing money), pay bills, etc. He's reluctant to trust me. That's fine, I have no real issue with that, but he would like me as his conservator. It just makes sense to me now.

There is the problem that he doesn't fully trust me and there is the problem that I don't know how he will handle me telling him "no, you can't buy that b/c I won't give you the money for it," or "No, you can't know how much money is in the bank right now," and I'm sure you get my point.

So what to do?

Why an experiment of course!

From now till February, I have control of 100% of the cash that comes into this house. That means all of his money from the side jobs he does to keep busy, my money and our "weekly living allowance" as well. Until now he has been managing it himself and we are drowning. Yes, all of our bills are paid, but there is no money to actually live on the way it is right now.

So we are doing an experiment. Partly to show him that I'm fully capable of making a budget (done) and sticking to it and partly to find out if he can handle me handling the money. He's mentally ill, so we aren't sure how he will handle it being ME that tells him no when he really wants something.

If it doesn't work, it doesn't work and we'll know that before we make it legal.

We don't have much coming out, but as I figured it, we have roughly 160.00 in cash coming into the house each week. (note again: this does not include the money for the household bills, etc, this is just our living money.) We should have at least 30.00 a week left over, but for some reason we don't.

I've figured it out and I'm on it! LOL

As it stands it's my goal to save at least 100.00 in that 9 weeks. I'm adding a ticker to the top of the page to help track our progress. Please keep us in your prayers!

Monday, November 30, 2009

On with the cleaning!

In a way I hate the holidays...

Don't get me wrong. Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I try to keep the Christmas spirit going all year round in my home.

BUT!

I get so wrapped up in what's going on that things start to slip. My house is a wreck. Right before the Thanksgiving holiday we shampooed the carpets downstairs. This meant moving everything out and then putting it back. Unfortunately nothing got put back where it was supposed to.

SO.

I am starting over 100% with the getting organized thing. Thanks to my DH and my boys I don't really have a choice..lol.

So here goes nothin!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Chicken Fried Rice

Okay, I'm late in posting this..lol. Sorry! Monday was a rather bad day for us. I would ask that you all keep us in your prayers please. We're going thru something right now that only God can help us fix.


Now! Onto the regular posting!

Today's decluttering went quite well. In the bathroom I cleaned out the medicine cabinent getting rid of all expired meds and compressing double bottles into one etc. Also cleaned out my drawer of junk..lol. Got a half of a 13 gallon trash bag out of the bathroom.

Onto the Master bedroom...it was scary. I literally mean it scared me. :D Anyhow, I got all laundry that was sitting around put away nice and neat, got the bed moved and the dresser moved and the entire thing spic and span. Took out 2 bags of old clothes or ones that no longer fit DH or myself.

Onto Mmmm-Monday!

Today's Mmmm moment is homemade Chicken Fried Rice! YUMMY!

  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
  • 3 eggs, beaten
  • 3 cups cold cooked white rice
  • 2 cups chopped cooked chicken
  • 1/2 cup sliced celery
  • 1/2 cup shredded carrot
  • 1 cup frozen green pea, thawed
  • 2 green onions, sliced
  • 1-3 tablespoon soy sauce

    Directions:

  1. To cook chicken-wrap tightly in foil (making sure to seal the ends -- you want it completely wrapped) and bake on a baking sheet @ 350 for 35-40 min or until no longer pink. No seasonings needed. The foil keeps the juices in with the meat resulting in a VERY moist piece of chicken.

  2. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat
  3. Pour in the eggs; cook and stir until scrambled and firm. Remove from wok, and set aside.
  4. Put remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in the wok and turn heat up to high.
  5. Stir in rice until each grain is coated with oil.Stir in chicken, celery, carrot, peas and green onions.
  6. Reduce heat to medium, cover and allow to steam for 5 minutes.Stir in scrambled eggs and soy sauce, and cook until eggs are heated through.
  7. **NOTE: The rice used in this HAS to be cold. I fix mine in the morning and then leave it in the fridge until dinner time.
Enjoy! Tomorrow is Timeless Tuesday! I love all things vintage so on Tuesday's we're gonna explore that love! Hope to see ya'll!

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Mission: Declutter: Day 2

LOL I thought that I would just keep up with the Mission theme...

Anyhow, so I got all the things I wanted to get done today and more done today! Yay Me!

Here are the pics. I forgot to take a pic of the dishes cupboard before I started but it was so bad that the doors would barely shut. The entire top shelf was falling down on us b/c of all the useless lids that I had stored up there.

The Pots and Pans Before: See my toes sticking out there? Lol I had to sit on the floor to be able to reach back there...and yes, that is a drawer without a front...lol. It literally fell off in my hands today. Gotta get some good glue tomorrow.
















The Pots and Pans After:

















The junk drawer before:


















The junk drawer after:

















The dishes after: Lol yes I know they don't all match. There's like 3 different sets there..lol.


















The food cupboard before:

















The food cupboard after:

















All in all here is what left my home today:

a part to a food processor I don't have any longer
a skillet that was no longer useable
6 lids to storage containers I no longer have
3 cans of food past they're expiration date
sugar and coffee that had lived past it's life in a canister
a cutting board I never used that was just taking up space
6 ac adapters that went to nothing in this house
2 extra phone line cords
2 grocery bags of useless papers

Whoot! I am rockin it! I forgot how much of a "high" you can get just from getting something organized! Lovin it!

On tomorrow's list is:

Clean out the fridge (no before pics b/c frankly I'm embarrassed by it)
Pull out the stove and wash the wall behind and beside, sweep and mop back there.
Clean and organize the bathroom drawers
Clean and organize the linen closet
Clean and organize the Master bedroom
Go thru all of mine and DH's clothing.
Clean the floor of the Master Bedroom closet.

Pics to come tomorrow! Wish me luck!

Also tomorrow is MMMM-Good Monday. Every Monday starting tomorrow I will post a new and yummy recipe. I've had enough time off that I've tried more than a few. :)

Mission: Declutter: Day 1

LOL like the title? Sometimes it can seem like de-cluttering and getting things all spiffy clean is a mission.

Anyhow...my list for yesterday is done! Yay!

The desk:

Before:

















The desk after:

































The spice cabinent before:








































After: I got a microwave stand last week. Look at how I made use of the drawer that is on it. :)








































The food cupboard before:


















After:




















I feel so much better now that I've actually gotten a few things done.


My list for today?

Clean out the fridge (I'm really scared of what might be living in there)
Clean and organize the pots and pans cupboard
Clean and organize the dishes cupboard
Clean the Master bedroom

Wish me luck!

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Back to the grind....

I SO need to get my home organized again. With my FMS attacking me as hard as it has lately it's fallen into a terribly unorganized state once again.

So...

Here are today's projects:

Desk-clean and organize
Spice cabinent-clean and organize
Food cabinents-clean and organize.

Will post before and after pics once they are done. :)

Thursday, November 19, 2009

An apology and life as I know it now...

Life is one of those things that can turn itself upside down without asking for you permission and there's nothing you can do about it.

Most of my readers know that I have fibromyalgia. This horrible illness is has taken over my life. So many things that I used to do I can't anymore. I can't hold my child, I can't stand and do dishes, I can't clean my home in one day. What took me 4 hours to do before now takes 3 days.

So life as we know it has changed drastically. I ask you all now to pray for me and my family.

I am going to try to be around more often. I have good days and bad but no matter what, writing in this blog helps me.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Today's Projects

Today's Projects are:

Clean dining room
Clean living room
Clean bathroom
Organize bathroom sink and linen closet


Hopefully I can get it all done.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Menu Planning Monday 7/10-7/17

Here is this week's menu plan. No dates for all except for the Chicken Fried rice. That will be on Friday when my stepdaughter comes to dinner.


Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Amish Casserole

Chicken Fried Rice

Pizza Pasta Bake

taco pinwheels

Fettuccine Alfredo

bbq ribs

Need help planning menus? Check out menu planning Monday at orgjunkie!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Back to Life

So I will say that I kind of did enjoy my 2 weeks without the pc. I got to spend a lot more time with my family. That was good and bad. Since we had July 4 thrown in there, we went and watched the fireworks.

Well, needless to say that my youngest stepson and I had fireworks going of our own. He is forever picking on his little sister and I have to admit that I am more protective of her than I am any of the stepkids. Most likely because she is my own. Anyhow, I had finally had enough and told him so (I tried to keep it polite), which proceeded to do nothing more than to tick him off. Lol, by the time the fireworks started tho, everything was okay.

I will say this. I have 222 (not really, but a lot) cookbooks in this house and I don't use a single one. All of my recipes are stored online. SO...when I went to plan the menu for this week, I couldn't cook anything..lol. I didn't have my recipes! I have never wanted to throw a temper tantrum more than I did that day. But I made it thru without the recipes! Yay for me!

I need to get life back in order...and I need to get back to organizing. We are headed to Ohio on the 22nd and I would like for most of it to be done by then. I know this won't happen so I am not even going to pretend that it will. I am just going to take it one step at a time.

So...

Today's projects are:

Clean out the pots and pans cupboard and replace the items back in neatly
Scrub the kitchen floor
Re-organize the spice cabinent again (just needs straightened up)
And...
Clean out the bathroom and linen closet.

Lol, I was doing my hair the other day and looked down at MY drawer. Damon has his, Emma has hers and I have mine. Oh boy! Does that drawer need some organizing help! Lol


Wish me luck and if I can find my camera I will post some before and after pics.

Also, I am still decluttering clothes, but am no longer donating them. I have a friend I will see in Ohio whose daughter is the perfect size for them so I will be taking them to her when we go.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Back online

Well...

The last 2 weeks have been kinda hectic around our house.

First off, my pc crashed. Yup. Dead. So, it took us 2 weeks and paying more than its worth to get one from Rent A Center today. Normally I wouldn't do rent to own, but since I need one desperately to work, we had no other choice.

Secondly...apparentally my husbands vasectomy has reversed itself. I suffered a miscarriage this past week. No, I have not been with anyone else and I am getting really sick of that question. The good thing is that my husband knows this. Please keep us in prayer, we didn't realize how badly we wanted another child until we lost one.

Because of the miscarriage, the love dare got put off...I will be restarting it tomorrow so wish me luck, we all know how much trouble I had with day 1 the first time around.

Also, I get to go see my mom! We will be heading to Ohio the week of the 22nd! Yay! I also get to see my best friend since Kindergarten for the first time in over 10 years!! YAY again!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Love Dare-Day 2-FAIL!

So I failed day 2.

I blew up today. I got so sick of no one picking up after themselves, leaving the house wrecked and all that I blew my stack. I did do well in that I didn't spew nastiness and I kept my voice down to a dull roar, but I was very negative.

I did manage to do the one thing out of kindness tho. I stumbled across a recipe for Egg Bread and it turns out that it is the same recipe that my DH's grandma used. When I first made it, he took one bite and said, "Grandma?"

So this morning, right before he went to work on the paper routes (DH is disabled veteran who does a paper route for a boredom cure), I popped a loaf into the bread machine. It was ready when he got back since I did a rapid cycle loaf. Nice and warm for him to enjoy.

So I will be re-doing Day 2 again tomorrow. Seems the hardest thing for me has been to control my negative thoughts and words.

I am not giving up tho. I will make it thru this.

In other news...

I AM GETTING A DISHWASHER! *WHOO HOO*

I will be buying it tomorrow. I am still unsure as to which one I am getting so I will let you all know how it ends up.

It will be a portable since we are renting our home and can't install one, but I am so excited! Dishes are the bane of my existence!

Hope you are all having a great week! Please keep me in your prayers!

Monday, June 22, 2009

Love Dare-Day 2

I DID IT!


YAY!


I made it thru the whole day today without saying ONE negative thing to him. I did say a couple things under my breath to myself, but it wasn't said to him and I was in a different room so he didn't hear me.



So I am moving onto Day 2. I knwo that I still said the two things under my breath, but I feel like that is something that will fix itself as time goes on.


So here is Day 2...


"In Addition to saying nothing negative to your spouse again today, (OY VEY) Do at least one unexpected gesture as an act of kindness." (Excerpt from the Love Dare)


So, here we go...


Today's Scripture is Eph 4:32 " Be ye kind to one another, tender-hearted and forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you."

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Menu Planning Monday for week of 6/22-6/26

So only planning Monday thru Friday this week.




Wednesday-Chicken Nuggets, Mac and Cheese, veggie

Thursday- Pork Chops, fried tater w/gravy (will use gravy recipe listed HERE), veggie

Friday- Baked Spaghetti, garlic bread


For the most part, this week is a panty/freezer week. The two chicken meals will be from a whole chicken in the freezer, the pork chops from the freezer as are the chicken nuggets. I had to buy a few staples for the week, and a few things for the menu, but all in all, I saved 70.00 this week by using the pantry/freezer.


Do you need help planning menu's for your family? Tired of always wondering what's for dinner? Visit Menu Planning Monday at Orgjunkie.com


The Love Dare Update

Okay, for real...am I really that bad? I am supposed to be on day 3, but I can't get thru day one! 3 days I have been trying to do the day one challenge...get thru one day w/out saying anything negative and 3 days I have failed.


Oh you all, please pray for me that I will be able to get it. I am not giving up on this. Last night we got into a fight and it was right out of the Fireproof movie. I want my marriage to be better. I want the marriage that God intended us to have.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Love Day-Day 1

I was so touched by the movie "Fireproof" that I went out this morning and bought the book, "The Love Dare."

For those that don't know, the Love Dare is a 40 day challenge to help you be a better husband/wife and to improve your marriage.

Here is what the book says...

"Receive this as a warning. This forty day journey cannot be taken lightly. It is a challenging and often difficult process, but an incredibly fulfilling one. To take this dare requires a resolute mind and a steadfast determination. It is nt meant to be sampled or briefly tested, and those who quit early will forfeit the greates benefits. If you will commit to a day at a time for forty days, the results could change your life and your marriage. Consider it a dare, from others who have done it before you." (excerpt from the Love Dare, Stephen and Alex Kendrick)


Day 1:

Day one seems like it will be a simple thing to do. I am smart enough to know tho, that it most likely won't be.

Today I am to say NOTHING negative to my husband. I am extending this to my children also. If a situation arises where I feel like I want to, I am to bite my tounge.

We will see. I will let you know how I do tomorrow, along with the Day 2 challenge.

The scripture for todays dare is Eph 4:2 "with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,"

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Fireproof?

I am sitting here now trying to keep the tears from falling. I just finished watching the movie "Fireproof" with Kirk Cameron in it. All I can say is wow.

Until this movie, I would have said that my marriage was a good marriage, but within the first 10 minutes of the movie I had recognized my husband and myself on the screen in front of me. More so...I recognized myself on the screen in front of me.

As the movie progressed I found myself drawn in wondering if it would indeed work and once the main character found Christ, I found myself longing for what once was. I am not now a Godly person. I won't lie. I haven't been to church but a handful of times since I left my father's home. I smoke like a freight train, I occasionally have a drink. I am very quick to anger...and when I am angry, I spew violent, cruel things from my mouth that burn the other person the same as acid.

I used to be "Godly." I used to walk closely with him. I used to know him.

I have forgotten him.

I have turned away from him.

I want the peace that I once felt. The comfort in knowing that it all was in His hands. The feeling of love knowing that someone other than me cared. I miss that.

So I am asking you all to pray for me. Pray hard for me..lol. I am a stubborn one and He will have to work extra hard on my heart. He already is.


Back to the original topic.

After seeing this movie, I realize that I need to not only find the Lord again, but I also need to be a better wife. After all, isn't that why I started this blog in the first place?

So...I will be buying the book "The Love Dare," and doing the dares in it. I want my marriage to be better. I want my life to be better.

So pray for me and wish me luck with "The Dare."

:)

Recipe-Homemade Calzones

Oh these were so yummy! I didn't get a chance to get a pic of them b/c they got snatched up so quickly!


Please make sure that you read the recipe notes at the end.

1 pkg dry yeast
1c warm water
1t sugar
2T oil
2 1/2 c flour
mozerella cheese
pizza sauce
pepperoni
mushrooms
whatever other pizza toppings you would like to add



For Crust:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in the other ingredients until well mixed. Let stand 5 min.
Roll dough out into rectangles and move to lightly greased cookie sheet or pizza pan.

For assembly.

Spread pizza sauce ON HALF of rectangle. Layer your choice of pizza toppings and finish with adding a good sized handful of mozzerella cheese onto toppings. Fold remaining half of dough over to cover toppings and pinch dough seams together all the way around calzone to create a seal.

Bake at 425 degrees for 25 min or until dough is done.


NOTES: I doubled the dough recipe to make 3 good sized calzones. I also used my bread machine to mix the dough. Please note that this is a VERY sticky dough. Unless you flour or grease your hands, it will stick to you and everything it touches.


In other news, here is what has (or will be today) left my house in continuing with the 365 Day Challenge.

2 bags of donated clothing
4 bags of recycled pop bottles
1 very full recycling tote to center


I hope you are all doing well.

It occured to me today that if I stopped for a few, let's say 5 minutes and cleaned a little bit of my bathroom everytime I was in it, that I would most likely have a very, very clean bathroom. Don't get me wrong...it's not filthy, but it could use a little touch up right now.

It also occurred to me that even if your bathroom is spotless, if the toilet or tub are dirty or dingy, the entire thing looks filthy.

So, I am making it my goal to clean one small thing in there every time I go in there.

Will you join me?

Monday, June 15, 2009

Recipe-Chicken Fried Steak

Chicken Fried Steak w/white Gravy.


So yummy. We had this for dinner tonight. Yummo!

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast (save some cash and buy bone in and cut skin and bone off yourself)

38 saltine crackers (1 sleeve), crushed
1c flour
1 pinch cayanne pepper (optional)
1/2t garlic powder
1/2t baking powder
3/4c milk
2 large eggs
1 1/2c veggie oil

Season chicken breast with pepper. In a bowl, combine flour, garlic powder, baking powder, and saltines. In another bowl, whisk eggs and milk together.

Dredge chicken in the flour mixture then in the egg mixture, then AGAIN in the flour mix. Heat oil to 360 degrees. Fry one side of chicken for 3-5 minutes, flip and fry the other side until golden brown or until done.

Cover tightly with foil until gravy and rest of meal is done.

White gravy

2T drippings from chicken
1/4c all purpose flour
3c whole milk (2% works fine)
salt and pepper to taste

Add flour to drippings and cook until light brown and smooth. Slowly whisk in milk and cook until thickened. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve over chicken fried steaks.


Sunday, June 14, 2009

Today's Project--the grocery cupboards

I have not went thru my grocery cupboards since right after we moved into this house (June 08). I know, I know. I am embarrassed.

So lets get this over with...


Before...

























And After....






















Now I can tell what I have too much of and what I need to stock up on. And I got that big and bulky bread machine out of my dining room. I do use it a lot, but it's much too big to leave up on the counter.

Here's what has left my house today as of this writing.

A bunch of expired foods


One de-cluttered Spice Cabinent

My husband had this antique secretary that he hadn't taken very good care of just sitting in my dining room. I needed a place to store my spices. So, six months ago I took the remaining door off, dusted it and moved it into my kitchen. There it sat, organized at first, but by yesterday it was...well..overrun. Things were just being thrown into it, not being put back where they belong. That was my project for the day.


Here are a few before pics.































AND....drum
roll please...here are the afters!





































Whoo Hoo!

Here is what has left my house over the last couple of days.

A bunch of old newspapers went to the recycling center, a computer desk, and some old clothes. I am loving this 365 day challenge!

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Zwaggle Here..Zwaggle There...

I have stumbled across the most awesome site.

Zwaggle.

Its like Ebay but you get points. Instead of making actual cash you receive Zoints to spend on the site. You pay shipping for the items you "buy". I just got my daughter 2 pairs of shorts for 3.18 in shipping.

If you would like an invitation, please leave a comment with your email and I will send you one.

Don't worry about your email showing in the comment. I have them set so that I have to approve them. Any comments requesting emails will not be shown, I will send the email then delete it so it doesn't show up to the entire world. :)

Zwaggle is an awesome site and I am so glad I found it.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Happy B-day To Me!

Birthdays are always a time of reflection for me. I look back over my life and remember the good times and smile, I frown over the bad times and I shed tears for the times I am still not sure of.

My life has not been all roses and candy. I am 27 and on my third marriage. My first husband was horribly abusive. I barely made it out of that marriage alive. My second husband (my daughters biofather) was lazy and an alcoholic. After six years and being homeless more than once with a child under 2, I moved on. You can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped. My husband now is a wonderful man. He has helped me to heal all of those wounds that life has left on me. He has helped to take a broken heart and has pieced it back together. I truly believe that God led us to meet and fall in love.

My mom was sick my entire life. I can still remember taking a blanket that the EMT's had left at my house to show and tell in kindergarten. I thought it was so cool. At 13, she almost died. She was literally given 12 hours to live. She says she saw Jesus (all I saw was the ceiling, but I am not going to tell her she didn't see it, I know it's possible) and suddenly she was not dying anymore.

My father was a Marine. He was a perfectionist Marine. Nothing I ever did seemed good enough for him. He was also a Baptist preacher. We didn't get along very well. Yet since he went Home to be with the Lord, I feel as if a piece of me is missing. I miss him terribly even if we didn't talk much.

I have made my share of mistakes. I am a clean drug addict and a sober alcoholic. I will forever be a drug addict and an alcoholic. I am very aware of exactly how little it would take of either to cause me to fall. I once dabbled in the occult. I thought I knew everything. It amazes me now just how little I actually did know.

But I have come thru it. I wouldn't change any of it. All of it has molded me and made me the person I am today. I am stronger now than I was then. I am wiser (I hope..lol) than I was then. I am more self-confident than I was then.

So Happy B-day to me! Here's to another year!

I am woman...hear me roar....meow. :D


Birthday Clipart

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

More clutter...

Here is what has left my house today...

10 used file folders
3 hanging folders
25 pieces of useless, no longer needed paper.


In other news, we had the appt for our daughters behavorial evaluation today. The doc is 99% sure that she is adhd, the only problem is that she is only 4. He said that she is an extreme case. So, we have to take her down to Iowa City's Childrens Hospital to be evaluated again. They (along with us) will see if it's severe enough that it warrants meds this young (which I DON'T want) or if they think therapy or other methods will work.

Please keep us and my little one in your prayers.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Sick

So I have come down sick with a 24 hour bug. It hit the baby (4 y.o.) first then Damon and now me. Fun. It should be gone by tommorrow.

As a result, I didn't get to start the Master bedroom decluttering today like I had planned. Ah well, there's always tomorrow.

I did however get rid of some stuff for the 365 day challenge.

Here is what left my home today.

2 highlighters
5 packs of unopened post-its
3 packs of pencils

May not seem like much, but its definately noticeable in my desk drawer.

Tomorrow we have a behavioral evaluation for our 4 year old. We are fairly certain that she has adhd. Wish us luck and please keep us in your prayers.

365 Days of Decluttering Challenge

I stumbled across this the other day via THIS blog and it looks like a great idea to me. So, I am going to jump right in and get busy. Anyone want to join me?

Here is the lowdown:

Everyday for 365 days, you must remove (at least) one piece of clutter from your home. That's it! Just think about it. If you removed 365 pieces of clutter from your house how clean and crisp would it be?

I LOVE this idea!

So here we go!

I will be starting today!

Oh Yum! Homemade Oreo's!

These are so tasty! Bet ya can't eat just one! Lol. I have pics of them when they are done, but I didn't think to take any while I was making them.

Homemade Oreo's

Wafers-

1 1/4c all purpose flour
1/2 c unsweetened dutch process cocoa
1t baking soda
1/4t baking powder
1/4t salt (omit if using salted butter)
1 to 1 1/2 c sugar
1/2c plus 2 tbl (1 1/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temp.
1 large egg

Filling:

1/4c unsalted butter (I used salted and it turned out fine)
1/4c veg shortening
2c powdered sugar, sifted
2 tbl vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar throughly.

On low, add butter and then egg.

Mix until dough comes together and forms a mass. (I thought I had done something wrong..for a while, it resembles corn meal, but keep mixing, lol...it will come together.)

Drop by rounded tsp, 2 in apart on wax paper covered cookie sheet. Slightly flatten.

Bake 9 minutes. Less if your oven runs hot.



Filling:

Add butter and shortening to bowl,

slowly add in sugar and vanilla.

Beat on high until firm.

***NOTE**** I had to add a small (like 1/8 c ) amount of milk to get mine to work right. Try it w/out then use your best judgement as to whether you need to add some or not.

Assembly:

Spread cream on one cookie, then top with another.

Recipe makes 25-30 cookies.






























Happy Baking!

Saturday, June 6, 2009

There are other places too...

So I am not only de-cluttering my house, I am also de-cluttering my computer.

So...tonight I cleaned up my email.

Now yes, this can take a long time to do depending on how much crud you have in there. Mine literally took about an hour. But my email is now cleaned and clear and easy to navigate. I also cleaned out my documents, placing them in the appropriate folder. LOL, you should see my recipe folder now..FANTASTIC! So easy to find them now.

Here's how I did the email.

Step one: Log into your email (this really is a duh moment..lol)

Step two: Pop open your inbox and go thru each message. If you need (notice I said need, not want) to save the message, place it in the appropriate folder. If you don't have a folder for that category, create one. Delete each message that you no longer need.

Step three: Open your spam folder. If you use yahoo like me, then there are probably some good emails mixed in there. Go thru it. You don't have to open each one (unless your email client makes you) but go thru by title checking off (if possible) each one that you don't need. If you find one that you DO need then move it to the right folder or to your inbox to be filed later (see step 5), otherwise, delete.

Step four: Your Folders. Now if you are like me and have a habit of just throwing things in folders and forgetting about them, this is where its going to get boring and tedious. Go thru each folder message by message. Save only the ones you NEED (again, not want). Delete all others. You may be surprised. I was able to delete 4 folders all together.

---Side note: I had a folder in my email for recipes that people had emailed me. What I did when I was cleaning them out was copy/paste the recipes I wanted to save to a word document. Each category has it's own word document, so casseroles, sides, deserts, etc. I was then able to delete the folder all together and still have the recipes, now placed in category's where I can find them easily.

Step five: Once you have done the folders and deleted everything that you didn't need, go back to your inbox. All of those messages that you moved into here from your spam folder now need to be put in there right place. Place them in the appropriate folder.

Step Six: Take a deep breath and relax. Take a look at your nice, clean and easy to navigate inbox! You did it!

Right now (literally taking a break to post this) I am cleaning out my picture folders. I have so many pictures that are doubled and in some cases tripled that I really need to go thru them. It is a very daunting task (I love to take pics), but I will get it done.

I am making a lot of headway on getting everyone's clothes gone thru. I have finally made it to the bottom of that ever growing pile in the basement. YAY! Now I just have to go thru the closets and dressers.

I have decided that I am enjoying myelf. I LIKE living with less clutter. It's very freeing and there's a sort of "high" from looking at something that is nice and clean and clear. I think I am becoming obsessed with everything being in order. I suppose there are worse things that I could be addicted to.

Hope you are all having a good weekend and happy de-cluttering!

Getting Rid of the Old...

So lately I have been on a mission...

A de-cluttering my house mission.

I started last week...lol, if I didn't KNOW better I would say that I am nesting (DH has a vasectomy) because that's what it seems like.

Anyhow, so far I have freecycled a bunch of file folders that I wasn't going to use, a tote full of books that I will never read, and I have a huge box of clothing that doesn't fit anyone. I am going to pull out the really nice clothes (as in look new) and take them to the consignment shop down from my house and the rest I will freecycle. They are all in good condition, just some are better than others. I wouldn't donate something I wouldn't put on myself, my husband or my child.

Anyhow, I am on a mission. I am sick and tired of my house being messy and clutter being everywhere. This may have something to do with the new meds that I am on for my bipolar disorder, but hey, if it is, it isn't a bad side effect.

I want a home that is pleasing not only to God, but that is also pleasing to my husband. I think I am well on my way to obtaining that.

Wish me luck! :)

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Product Review: Ragu Classic Alfredo Sauce

A couple weeks ago I was able to pick up Ragu sauces for 1.25/jar on sale. Since this was almost a dollar off the regular price, I picked up a few of the spaghetti sauces and one of the Classic Alfredo sauces.

I had been wanting some good fettucine alfredo for a while, so I figured that this was an easy way to get what I wanted for a lot cheaper. Normally it costs me around 6.00 just for the ingredients to make the sauce, so for 1.25 I was game.

So last night I cook up the fettucine noodles, steam some broccoli, shread some chicken and whip up the dish using the jarred sauce.

Now normally I will doctor the sauces to taste, but going on a friends recommendation I didn't this time.

Boy do I wish I had.

The texture of the sauce is perfect. I will give them that..it isn't too runny and it isn't too thick..its just right.

BUT!

The taste is horrible. Not horrible in the "Oh my I wish I'd never eaten that," but horrible in the "I'm eating cardboard" kinda way. It is about 90% tasteless. Every so often I would get a bite that had a little bit of flavor, but for the most part it was bland and tasteless.

Final thoughts? It wasn't worth my 1.25 to buy it. If I was in a pinch I MAY buy it again but it would take A LOT of doctoring to make it taste good.

All in all I give it a 3 star rating.

Menu Plan for the week of June 5 to June 12 and some updates.

A few updates first...my bipolar disorder recently went to a place that I don't like to be. I am considered to be full blown manic right now. I managed to get an emergency appointment at the doc's on Tuesday and they changed all of my meds. Basically if I am manic and on meds, then said meds were not doing what they were supposed to.

I could use ya'll's prayers.

Damon has decided that it is time for us to go back to church. I would have been going myself, but to be honest, my mental health issues make me paranoid of new people and new places so I cling tight to Damon whenever I am in a new situation.

Please keep us in your prayers that we will be able to find a church home that works for both of us. We are both Baptist, but our views on things differ somewhat and it can make it hard to find a church.

Okay, now to the menu...Some of these are just repeats from last week. When my mind took its little walk, things were kinda messed up so Damon and the monkey child (4 y.o) kinda just grabbed and growled.

Meal #1-Meatloaf, Mashed taters, Mixed Veggies

Meal #2- Garlic Cheddar Chicken (this will be a first for us..will let you know how it turns out), broccoli casserole,

Meal #3- BAS (breakfast at supper) Sausage gravy and biscuits (I only use the gravy recipe posted here, not the biscuits...also, I use regular sausage instead of maple...turns out great!)

Meal # 4- Spaghetti, garlic bread, lettuce wedge with dressing

Meal #5- Hamburgers, french fries, homemade Mac and Cheese (this mac and cheese recipe is awesome!

Meal #6 Lasagna, garlic bread and salad

Meal # 7 Chicken fried steak (also a new recipe for us), fried taters and green beans

Wow, we are trying a lot of new recipes this week! I will let you know how they go.

Do you like to menu plan? Need ideas for getting started? Check out Menu Planning Monday at orgjunkie.com!




Monday, June 1, 2009

Menu Planning Monday

So, since I shop Friday to Thursday, I am late getting this up...ah well, maybe next week will be better.

Here's a quick rundown of the meals planned for this week. I have decided that no meal will have a specific day b/c frankly...I am not that organized yet..lol.

Meal #1-
meatloaf,
fried taters,
veggie

Meal #2-
goulash (we ate this today)
veggie
bread

Meal #3-

Fettucine Alfredo (cheating and using jarred sauce..got it for 1.00 the other day, cheaper than making my own)
Garlic Bread

Meal #4-

Chicken and Homemade noodles
mashed taters
veggie
bread

Meal #5-

BAS (breakfast at supper)
Sausage gravy and homemade biscuits

Meal #6-

Chicken fried rice (this is an awesome recipe that can be adapted to use chicken, pork or beef...use your best judgement on the soy sauce tho...)

Meal #7

Herb Rubbed pork chops (will post my recipe after I figure out exactly how much of each spice I use)
veggie
sweet cornbread


Do You Plan A Menu? If so, join us at orgjunkie's Menu Planning Monday. Over 300 ladies post their menus...get great ideas and great new recipes to try!



Sunday, May 31, 2009

The Wonders of Accupuncture

As most of you know, I have fibromyalgia. (For more info, click here ) We have tried a lot of different treatments since my diagnosis in 2007, but really, none have worked all that well. Pain meds don't really help, meds specific to FMS haven't helped, soaks in the tub, etc...nothing was working. So out of desperation I asked my doc about trying accupuncture.

Trust me...this was a big step. I HATE needles. I will run from someone with a needle. I would really like to just shoot the person who invented them. So for me to ask about this meant that I was tired of treatments that didn't work...tired of hurting...tired of fighting.

Anyhow to make a long story short (it actually took me almost 3 months to get the first treatment), I would like to say *climbs up on my soapbox* that accupuncture is the greatest thing to have ever happened to me.

I have had 3 treatments as of this writing and I don't hurt. I don't deal with the stiffness in the mornings, I don't have the headaches as often, simply put...I feel 100% better.

The treatments are bad at all. The needles are one piece, where the bottom of the needle is straight and then it sorta weaves into a spring. They don't hurt going in, most of them I don't even feel and the ones that I do feel, hurt less than if someone had pinched me. I love the practitioner that I see...he's got a great sense of humor and is gentle with me since he realizes that even the slightest jarring of the wrong place at the wrong time can put me down for days, he's just a great guy.

And then there's the added benefits. I am (usually) much more calm after the treatments. I mean who wouldn't be after lying in a dark room with a heat lamp shining gentle heat on you and beautiful chinese music playing softly in the background for 20 minutes? Lol. Its great.

So...if you are having a hard time with stress, pain or whatever, I would recommend getting yourself some needle treatment. :D

Just do yourself a favor...make sure that the person you are hiring to do the job is actually certified. I'm told that a person could really mess you up if they didn't know what they were doing.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Ha! I rule!

Lol...

Every so often I get sick of the clutter around my house and I de-clutter. Guess where I am right now? LOL

So I decided to start where I was. My desk.

It has taken me an hour, and there's still one shelf and 2 drawers that are bothering me, but I can get them here in a bit after I take a break.

I wanted to share my progress so far tho.

Got rid of a bunch of junk papers, cleaned out my daughters bookshelf and straightened it up...still gotta hunt down the books she is missing, got the top shelf (dh's), cleaned out my bookshelf getting rid of a lot of books I will never use (craft and cook) posting them on freecycle, dusted the entire desk (minus the shelf I haven't done yet and the 2 drawers), and wrangled the gazillion ink pens floating in hyperspace..lol.

Here are some pics to help get you all motivated. Yes, my pc monitor is huge and old, but I love it, lol.




































Hope you are all having a great week. I still haven't made out my menu for next week, but I am getting to that later today. Will post it when I get it ready.


Happy Weekend!


OH! If you are wondering about the website that I have on the pc in the pics it is orgjunkie.com. Its a great site for organizing tips!

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Wow!

It's been a while since I have posted. Things had gotten really hectic around here for a while. We had b-days and graduations and more..lol.

So...here I am again.

Our family is doing really well. Both of my daughters (17 step and 4 bio) have graduated their respective grades. The 17 year old is planning on going to college near here and majoring in early childhood education. My 4 year old will be heading to kindergarten a whole year early. IF we can get her adhd under control.

We just recently found out that she does have adhd. We are just learning how to manage it, so if anyone has any tips, we sure would appreciate them. We are going to try and control it without medication, but if thats what it takes, thats what it takes.

Have finally gotten back to menu planning. I realized that if I had just bought what I actually needed for meals this week that I would have only spent like 65.00 at the store. So, next week we will try to only buy what we need.

I am not posting my menu for this week as my planning week is almost over, but I will get back to posting it again on Thursday.

Hope you all are doing well!

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Chicken Noodle Soup! Wow!

So I made the chicken noodle soup last night..WOW!

Here's the recipe, gotta try it out!

Directions

  1. 1
    In a large saucepot, saute carrots, celery and onion in the butter for 2 minutes over med-high heat.
  2. 2
    Add broth and bay leaf, give it a stir, put the lid on the pot and crank up the heat to high until it start boiling.
  3. 3
    When boiling, remove lid an drop in the noodles, chicken and seasonings. Give it a good stir and leave the lid off.
  4. 4
    Boil on med-high for 25 minutes.
  5. After 25 minutes, lower heat to get a good simmer. Simmer for 20-30 minutes. Remove Bay leaf and serve.

    YUMMY!! YUMM!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Menu Planning for week of March 20-26

I haven't planned my menu's in a while and to tell you the truth, we have been eating less and less of a great meal since then..AND my food bill has jumped again.

So here we go again and hopefully this week I can lower that bill again. I have decided tho that I am not going to pin myself down to a certain meal on a certain day.

Dinners:

**Note if it has a 0.00 price it means I already have it. The prices in parenthesis are what I paid or would have paid. Same with the total. Without parenthesis are what I will pay, the ones with are the complete and total of what I did or would have paid.

Meal # 1
Bacon, egg and cheese quesadillas ---BAS night (breakfast at supper night)
Bacon- 1.99 for 1lb deli style bacon
Eggs-6 eggs 0.00 (.50 for 6)
Shredded Cheese-0.00 (.99 on sale)
Tortillas-1.49

Total for meal- 3.48 (4.98)

Meal # 2
Spaghetti-
Hamburger-0.00 (1.69lb)
Spaghetti Noodles-.89 (sale buy)
Spaghetti Sauce-0.00 (.88 sale)
Mushrooms-1.00

Total For Meal-1.89 (4.46)

Meal #3
Beef Stew over Buttermilk biscuits
Beef Stew-0.00 (3.49)
Biscuits-2.38 dzn

Total for Meal 2.38 (5.87)
1..89+
Meal #4

Hot dogs, Mac and Cheese, green beans

Hot dogs-.89
buns-.99
mac and cheese 0.00 ( .50 sale buy)
green beans-0.00 (.49)

Total for meal-1.88 (2.87)

Meal #5

Chicken Noodle Soup-will freeze half

Chicken-0.00 (2.49 for whole)
Chicken broth-0.00 (bought it cause I needed it for something else and didn't use it) (5.00)
Noodles-2.00
carrots-0.00 (.69)
celery-1.19

Total for meal-3.19 (11.37)
Total divided by two since I am freezing half- 1.60 (5.68)


Meal # 6

Hamburger Stronganoff

Hamburger 0.00 (1.69)
Onion Soup mix 0.00 (1.19)
Cream of mushroom soup-0.00 (.50)
sour cream 0.00 (.88 sale)
onion-.33
egg noodles-1.00

Total for meal 1.33 (5.59)


Hmmm....can I really feed the family 6 dinners for under 20.00? We shall see. Wish me luck.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

"When will you remember me?"

I was raised in church my entire life. I am the daughter of a Baptist preacher. I once walked with God closely.


Somewhere along the road I lost my way. I couldn't tell you when or where, but it happened. I am finding my way back now.


I haven't prayed in a LOOOONG time. For a while there I pretty much forgot that God existed except for the hard times. I remind myself of the Children of Israel in the Bible who only prayed when they needed help.


This was one of those times.


I want another baby. I can't have one as my husband had a vasectomy 12 years ago (with his first wife). I know that the only way I am going to have another child is by the Grace of God.

So I turned to my old ways. I prayed.

And I prayed...


And I prayed.

Then one day, my 4 year old decided that she wanted me to read the Bible to her. So I did it...at the time I wasn't real happy about it, but I did it.


I let her pick where we were going to read. She picked the Bible up and just opened it, pointed and said "here." Lol.

She had opened it to the story of Hannah praying that God would give her a baby.

I'm not ignorant...lol, I learned a long time ago that the Holy Spirit will speak to us when we least expect it. I read her the story...and I paid attention.

So from then on out, I prayed Hannah's prayer..."remember me Lord..."

After about a week of praying this...and I mean pretty much non stop praying this, I repeated the words "remember me Lord" and I promise you..it was pretty much instant, the Holy Spirit spoke to me with "When will you remember Me?"


I had forgotten Him and of course, he knew that. So I have slowly started to find my way back. Not because I think I will get a baby out of it (I may never get that baby), but because I've realized I was so much more happier when I walked with Him. I crave that relationship that I used to have, that closeness I once had with the Lord...the trust and faith I had.


I'd like to ask you all to pray for me. I need all the help I can get.

And to ask...

Did you remember him today?

Friday, March 13, 2009

About Me

Who is the woman behind A Helpmeet for Him?


I am a 27 year old woman. I met my husband online and married him 9 months later. He truly is the love of my life.

I am the mother of one very active four year old (hereby known as the baby in my posts) and stepmom to 3 teens ages 14,16 and 18.

We reside in Northern Iowa in a 4 bedroom house with a guinea pig named Milkdud and a cat (aka as the Queen) named Bella.

I work from home doing website management. Basically I run websites for people who do not have the time to do it themselves. My husband is a medically retired Navy vet who served in the Gulf War.

I have Fibromyalgia, Bipolar Disorder and a few other illnesses.

I love the Lord, but my walk with him is labored. We seem to have an on again, off again type of relationship. I know this is more my fault than his. I work on and struggle with this every day.

I love to sing. Music has always been a type of therapy for me and it continues to be. There is nothing more soothing to my soul than the old time hymns that I grew up with.

I also crochet, although not very well. I just recently taught myself but I feel I am doing well with it.

Lastly, I sincerly hope that you will enjoy your time here with me. This blog is about my journey to becoming the wife that not only I want to be, but also the wife that God intended me to be.


Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Bean and Bacon Soup recipe

1 lb dried navy beans (Soaked in water overnight or quick soak method)
6 slices bacon, from butcher chopped in pieces (thick slices)
1/3 cup chopped celery
1/3 cup chopped carrot
1/3 cup choppeed onion
5 cups chicken stock or beef stock
celery salt
pepper


Cook bacon in soup pot till browned but still limp.

Remove bacon from pan and reserve two tablespoons bacon fat.

Cook carrots,onions, and celery in bacon fat over medium heat till soft.

add beans and broth to soup pot with bacon and veggies.

Bring to boil and turn heat down to simmer for 1/1/2 hours. (you may not have to cook it this long)

Season with celery salt and pepper and serve with crusty bread and butter.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Updates and weekly shopping trip

So its been a while.

Things have been really hectic around here this week. I've had to make 3 trips to Des Moines, which is about 2 hours (give or take) from my house, and I've had to put 2 of our animals to sleep this week, one of which was a big rabies scare. Everything has turned out okay, other than I put a cat to sleep that didn't really need it. But the vet said that the symptoms he was showing were too close to rabies to tell, so there was really nothing else to do.

On to the weekly shopping trip. I am really proud of myself this week. Whereas I usually am able to fill my cart to half full, this week it was overflowing. Yay! Lol

Here's some of the great deals we got.

Eggo Waffles--1.18 ea
Roll sausage-.99 ea
sausage links-.99 ea
orange juice-1.99 ea (like .70 savings on ea)
Eggs for .88 dzn
Jumbo hot dogs for .88 ea (my daughter has an addiction to them)
bologna for .88 (another addiction of hers)
Kraft mac and cheese for .49 ea
sour cream for 1.39

AND My DEAL OF DEALS!!

6 2-liters of Diet Dr. Pepper for 1.32!! TOTAL!! TAX AND DEPOSIT AND ALL!! WHOO HOO!!!

Anyhow, I hope you all are having a better week than me