Happy Homemaker Monday 1/2/12

Posted on by Mary

The weather in my neck of the woods:Gloomy, snowy and COOOOLD!.

Things that make me happy:

Comfy PJ’s.  Somegirls have a thing for shoes, purses and fancy clothes. Me it’s comfy warm Fuzzy Pj’s  Bathrobes and slippers

Book I’m reading:\

the bible, Swiss Family Robinson and Great expectations

What’s on my TV today:

The Borrowers (the movie NOT the cartoon)

On the menu for dinner:

I can’t even think of food at the moment I have beenstruck with the stomach bug

On my To Do List:

Ina moment of feeling pretty good i took down the tree and undecorated the tree. That didn’t last long BUT I need more rest andsome planning I can do from bed

New Recipe I tried or want to try soon:

Aple Bread.  It was a big hit at church yesterday morning

In the craft basket:
Doll clothes and learning to crochet in circles

Looking forward to this week:

Getting better and going to my parents house later this week
Tips and Tricks:..

Storage bins labeled helps distinguish what is in them

My favorite blog post this week:

None

No words needed (favorite photo or picture, yours or others you want to share):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lesson learned the past few days: 

Plans change all of the time keeping flexible makes for a smooth transition for your whole family.  Ifyou  get frustrated so do the kids.  You (I) train my kids how to respond to certain situations by how we react!

Devotionals, Scripture Reading, Key Verses:

See picture above…Provided by Home sanctuary

Goals verses Resolutions

Posted on by Mary

I remember back to one of my very first blog posts.  It was all about how I don’t do resolutions!  I have something else that I do and this year will be no different.  SETTING GOALS FOR THE YEAR AHEAD!

So why no resolutiona and why goals?  Well have no fear I will explain the difference and then share how I do my goals and then I will share my goals for this upcoming year!

 

Okay so RESOLUTIONS!  Resolutions are, shall we say, someimes (and I mean SOMETIMES) last minute not well thought out AND almost NEVER planned out.  You need to do those last two IF YOU WANT TO SUCCEED! And if you do those last two then the first one of Last minute is null in void!

Let’s give some examples:

I resolve to lose 5 pounds.  GREAT BUT HOW?  (you need a plan)

I resolve to spend more time with each of my kids. FANTASTIC, WHY?  (have a purpose behind why you do what you do!)

I resolve to spend more time in my sewing room making stuff for the kids.  WOOHOO BUT WHAT?  (what types of things do you want to achieve?)

The problem with resolutions is that they tend to be too vague!

Goals on the other hand can be some of the same BUT once you start thinking in terms of a goal to reach you need to think through how that is possible!!

A few examples might be:

I want to grow more in  my relationship with God by reading my bible for 30 minutes every day and praying for 30 minutes. (you can add as much detail as you like)

I would like to lose 30 pounds by using the Wii fit plus program for 45 minutes every other day and watching the calories I put into mybody.

I want to spend more time with my kids individually by changing the bed times to individual prayer time and switch with hubby each night.  (Hubby gets two one night and I get the other two and we switch each night)

NOW…a key to achieving and remembering our goals is to REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!!  If you want to achieve your goals you must, and I cannot emphasize this enough, MUST review them weekely!  Set a time aside to review them or CHANGE them.  YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR GOALS.  They are NOT gospel!  Life changes and life can sometimes become insane!

And lastly…..Be careful not to set your goals too high BUT also be careful not to set them too low!  You want to stretch yourself as a person.  If you achieve your goals the first week in February you set them too low!  You don’t want to overwhelm yourself BUT you also don’t want to cut yourself short!

 

OK so now that we have the ground rules laid here is my layout.  Feel free to steal it if you like BUT if you use it on your blog give credit where credit is due.  It’s plagerism otherwise!

Goals for 2012

Family Goals

  1. ______________________________________
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  5. ______________________________________

Spiritual goals

  1. _______________________________________
  2. _______________________________________
  3. _______________________________________
  4. _______________________________________
  5. _______________________________________

Personal Goals

  1. ______________________________________
  2. ______________________________________
  3. ______________________________________
  4. _______________________________________
  5. _______________________________________

Ministry Goals

  1. ______________________________________
  2. ______________________________________
  3. _______________________________________
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  5. ________________________________________

Fun Goals

  1. ______________________________________-
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  5. ______________________________________

Now as you can see you can copy and paste this.  You can omit a heading or add more or less lines.  You can customize this for you and your family!

I will post my goals later as I haven’t quite finished them yet!!!

Thankful thursdays- Possibilities

Posted on by Mary

with each house we have owned our possibilities have been limited…mostly because of space limitations!  But we have also had time limitations too!

 

Well after talking with hubby last night We have a new possibility with our new to us home!

 

First of all it’s scay when hubby starts off a conversation with…”you may not like this idea but…” Nine times out of ten i love the idea but it cracks me up just the same.  and this case was no different.

It starts in our unusually LONG living room…where there is a rather large tiled entry way…it is the THIRD entrance on the front of the house. We were orginally going to take out the door and replace it with a large window like the one right above it on the second floor BUT now hubby is gonna  build a wall thereand make it into an office with an outside entrance!  this is a great idea for a couple ofreasons…..

1. it will have limited light which is great fro hubby since light bathers his eyes

2.  it is bigger than the room upstairs that he was going to use for his office

3.  walls are easier to build than changing a door to a window.

 

now there is a hidden blessing in this new  possibility!   And that is what to do with that tiny room upstairs?  Well what we decided has me beyond ecstatic!

I already have a craft room and a closet dedicated to crafting and the like BUT it is still considerably smaller that what i have now…LOL GO FIGURE!   A huge house with a small craft room No big deal at all BUT I was wondering where my sewing machine was going to go…there was just no place for it….Now I know…That room hubby said could be my sewing room and what a blessing to have possibilities.  thank you Lord for answers in the small stuff!

SPARKLE!!!

Posted on by Mary

Let’s face it some women are like barracudas…snapping at everything that glitters or shines.  they want lots of jewelry (and high end stuff to boot) and they are not satisfied until they get it.   Well I’m here to make a confession….I am NOT one of those girls.  I am comfortable, not too fancy and i like simplicity!.  i don’t like loud colors though I do like color!! though at one point you may have thought otherwise if you saw my wardrobe of black, white,gray and navy Blue:)

 

But i must confess that there is one time of the year that my heart leaps for joy and that is the SPARKLE of Christmas.  That’s right SPARKLY STARS, TWINKLING LIGHTS, GLITTERY GARLAND AND TINSEL, AND SHINY ORNAMENTS!  All just make my heart smile.

But, when i speak of all these things I am not referring to the commercializingof chrstmas.  Sparkly stars remind me of the brightest star that shone that first Christmas leading shepards and eventually about 3 years later the wise men.  The twinkling Lights remind me of the awe struck shepards as they stood on the fieldsas the angels announced the arrival of baby Jesus, the glittery garland and tinsel remind me of the gifts of the kings (though it was not that  first Christmas)  Christ is worthy of everything we have.  And lastly the Shiny ornaments- the gifts and blessing that God has given to us.  we all have those ornaments that are well loved, they may be chipped and faded but they mean somehting to is, something special.  i have such an ornament hanging my my tre right now I can see it from where I sit.

It is a small felt stocking with a piece of hite yarn whip stiched around the edge.  it has a piece of snow white fake fur accoss the top and the initials MLS is sparles across the front.  i remember making that stocking.  i was in Kindergarten and my brothers each have one too. Those sparkles don’t “sparkle”anymore BUT as long as I can i will never consiously get rid of that stocking.

And as we each have different ornaments and some may signify different things in our lives God has ornamented our lives with blessings.   So now you know why i get giddy and hy I smile when I see sparkle this time of year.

Thankful Thursday-SO MUCH

Posted on by Mary

SOOOOOO as I was thinking about to write one thing kept popping into my head…Our new house.

 

We took possession on Monday!   we live in a perfectly lovely home now. Welike it a lot BUT it just wasn’t made for a family of six.   How we found the house was of God.  We drove past this house so many time and never noticed the reality sign so as we were driving past one day I said to hubby “what’s wrong with that one?”

We turned around and went back , we pulled into the driveway and said we can at least have our realtor check into it”    Copy the number down”  so I began typing it into my cell phone….I was confused when I looked up and said that can’t be right  that is so and so ‘s number from church.   Hubby looked at the sign and sure enough it was owned by someone in our church.  It’s perfect in every ay and we never would have thought this house could be are But God knows what we need best and if we are faithful He will bless and he has…above and beyond our wildest dreams!