Making Your Home A Haven Challenge - Days 1,2, & 3 - Step One

Okay, so Crystal over at Biblical Womanhood started a challenge about making your home a haven. I am a HUGE homebody, so I really like to enjoy being in my home. Which means if it is cluttered and disastrous looking I can't be happy, and if mama ain't happy, ain't no one happy! So I'm going to go ahead and jump in on Day 3 of this challenge and try to combine the first three days into one! Hopefully this will help me start to feel more in control of my house, which is hard when you have a 20 month old!!

The first thing every day is this-

1. Refresh Your Spirit (5 minutes)

Take five minutes, brew a cup of tea or coffee, and sit down and be still before the Lord. Pray, read a Psalm, thank the Lord for His goodness and blessing in your life.

Having a home that is a haven starts with an inner peace in our own hearts, a quiet resting in the Lord. You can have a beautifully decorated home with everything neat and orderly, but if you are frazzled and frustrated, your home will not be a peaceful place. After all, the saying is so true, "If momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy."

So before you do anything else today, take time to refresh your spirit in the Lord.

and also today-
If you have a chance, I encourage you to think of three things you are thankful for. Write them down and express gratitude to the Lord. Focus on the blessings in your life, not on the things you wish you could change. Choose to bloom where God has planted you! An attitude of gratitude will go a long way in making your home a haven!

The things that I'm thankful for:
1. My Husband - he is the greatest husband and father that I could ever ask for. He loves me and Audrey so much and it shows through his actions.
2. My Daughter - You can't spend time around Audrey and not be happy! She is such a bright light in this sometimes dark and depressing world. It truly is amazing how much a mother can love their child!
3.The Ability to Be a Homemaker and the Sacrifices That Make That Happen - I love, love, love being a stay at home mom. It is the best job ever! Though it is hard and often unrewarding I feel like I'm showing my family how much I love them by being there all the time! I love to take care of my husband and daughter!! And Bryan sacrifices so much for me to be home. He goes to work 5 days a week, every week. And he donates plasma on top of that to make extra money. He has sacrificed some of his dreams to let me live part of mine by being home and raising our daughter. If I don't say it enough, "THANK YOU, BRYAN!!". I love you and am proud to be your partner in life!!

So I have finished this part and definitely feel refreshed and peaceful and ready to start my day!! I'll post Step Two in a bit. Now I'm going to go put my "Thankful" list on the fridge to remind me all day!!

PS - I honestly don't know what's up with the fonts and text sizes. I've tried to fix it several times, but oh well, life goes on!! Sorry!

Time For A 'Friends' Clip...

I Love The Smell...

...of a freshly bathed baby!!!

Cucumber and green tea bath soap combined with lavender and chamomile baby lotion is absolutely heavenly!!

'Deceptively Delicious'

I got this book as a birthday present this year (thanks Bryan!). It just came out about 2 months ago or so. It's written by Jessica Seinfeld, wife of comedian Jerry. And I am SOOO looking forward to actually trying out the recipes. So far I've just been "reading" it. Sidenote: Bryan finds it extremely odd that I like to read cookbooks. Anyways, the whole point of this book is how to add veggies and fruits into your child's diet without them really knowing it. She uses all different sorts of purees (kind of like if you were making your own babyfood) and then adds them into all sorts of dishes. Honestly, I will have to try some of them before I believe that you cannot taste the puree, such as, Brownies with Carrot and Spinach. But some of them actually look pretty good, I can't wait to try the Creamy Potato Soup with Cauliflower and butternut squash or carrot.

The cookbook shows you how to make the different purees (11 vegetable; 6 fruit). It also gives you a basic nutritional guideline for children. And then it breaks down the recipes into categories, breakfast (12 recipes), Mealtime (39 recipes) and Dessert (25 recipes).

Anyways,as you can tell I'm excited about this cookbook! I think it's probably one of those little magical treasures for mom's with picky kids (or wives with picky husbands!)!!

Muggles and Mudbloods and Wizards, Oh My!

I did it. I finally broke down and started reading the 'Harry Potter' series.



I'd already seen the first two movies when they were in the theaters. In my opinion they were really good, so I'm kind of surprised that I've never become part of the 'Harry pandemonium'. Honestly, I've wanted to read them, but I just never got around to it. Part of the reason was probably because my husband and I were Youth Pastors for three years and I guess I was afraid what some of the people in church would say if they'd found out (I've been criticized for stupid things before). A lot of people in the charismatic movement in the church think that Harry Potter is evil. That it's trying to lure kids into Satan worship and witchcraft. In my opinion it's just really great fantasy. I love the whole world that is created in the books. They are very well written and are VERY hard to put down. Case in point, I bought the first book last week and made myself only read a few chapters here or there and then yesterday I got the second book and as of last night when I FINALLY put the book down and went to bed, I was already more than halfway through the book. It's too bad there are only seven books in the series! The good thing is that they seem to get thicker as you go!!

I Love A Messy Child!!!

Okay, so my belief is that a child should be a child and being messy is part of that! Why are some moms SO overly concerned about their children getting a bit messy. Maybe it's because most of the time the moms have to do the cleaning up! I try to keep in mind that stains on clothes are okay as are marks from pens on the body. So what if I have to stick my child in the tub one more time that day. So what if I have to wash another load of clothes or, heaven forbid, throw a shirt away (which, by the way, I've NEVER had to do). Life is too short to be so concerned with this. I love the memories that are made when my daughter gets down right messed up! Of course she won't actually remember any of this, but that's what my memory and cameras are for! The pictures and the smiles on my daughter's face are SOOOO worth the extra 10 or 15 minutes of cleaning that I have to do. So I challenge you to bite the bullet and let your children get messy!

Here are a few instances where Audrey had fun getting messy:

This was chocolate pudding!!




This was Pop-Tarts!!




This was highlighter!!


Notice how if I think ahead of time I'll strip her down to just her diaper to save the clothes!!

Does Laundry Make You Smile?

Being a homemaker I'm the one in charge of doing laundry (by default). This task can be so mundane, boring and even at times, overwhelming. So I like to try to find little ways to cheer myself up while doing even the most basic of tasks. One way is to make my laundry area a little more aesthetically pleasing. I found the following idea in an InStyle Home magazine a few years back and it has always stuck with, so a few weeks ago I decided to go ahead and do it already!!

I just took a round fishbowl style vase and a yellow ceramic measuring cup (both are things that I already owned) and dumped my laundry detergent in. My vase can hold a full 40 load box of powder detergent. Putting it on the dryer reminds me not to put anything else there, so the top stays clutter free. Also, the vase and measuring cup are much more pleasing to the eye than a neon cardboard box and the plastic scoop that comes with the detergent. I encourage you to try this idea. See what creative things you have lying around the house to make into the scoop. It could be a measuring cup, or a large, beautiful seashell. Let the creative juices flow and I promise doing laundry will be a little more pleasant!!

Audrey's Growing Up....

I know I still have awhile, but the thought of Audrey not being in her crib any longer has started to creep into my mind. So I've started to ponder what kind of furniture she is going to have when she is ready for her "big girl" bed. I got an Ikea catalog in the mail awhile back and fell in love with the Mammut series of furniture. It's very whimsical and almost reminds of something out of a Dr. Seuss book! I could just imagine her having a Dr. Seuss room eventually....

The Little One Really Hates The Big One...

....but I caught a rare moment of peace!

There's Nothing Like...

...tickling your child!!!







By the way, if you can't tell, I'm both the tickler and the photographer!

Beatitudes For Homemakers

I got this off of another blog, and she got it out of an Amish cookbook.

Beatitudes For Homemakers
by Ella May Miller

Blessed is she whose daily tasks are a work of love; for her willing hands and happy heart transform duty into joyous service to all her family and God.
Blessed is she who opens the door to welcome both stranger and well-loved friends; for gracious hospitality is a test of brotherly love.
Blessed is she who mends both stockings and broken toys and broken hearts; for her understanding is a balm to her husband and children.
Blessed is she who scours and scrubs; for well she knows that cleanliness is one expression of godliness.
Blessed is she whom children love; for the love of a child is of greater value than fortune or fame.
Blessed is she who sings in her work; for music lightens the heaviest load and brightens the dullest chore.
Blessed is she who dusts away doubt and fear and sweeps all the cobwebs of confusion; for her faith will triumph over adversity.
Blessed is she who serves laughter and smiles with every meal; for her cheerfulness is an aid to mental and physical digestion.
Blessed is she who introduces Jesus Christ to her children; for Godly sons and daughters shall be her reward.
Blessed is she who preserves the sacredness of a Christian home; for hers is a divine trust that crowns her with dignity.

Pumpkin Patch

I took Audrey to a Pumpkin Patch this afternoon. I wanted to do it last year, but I never got around to it, so this year I was bound and determined to go! I was very pretty outside today, in the high 80's, with a breeze and clear, sunny skies. So we went and walked around the patch for about 30 minutes. I took a LOT of pictures of her, but unfortunately I didn't have my husband there to get her to look at the camera, so most of the pics are of the side of her face! At one point I resorted to dangling my keys next to the camera to get her to look! There was one pumpkin that she took to big time. It was a small pumpkin, I think they called them 'We Be Littles', and she carried that thing around for most of our time there! We left with 2 'We Be Littles', and one 'Spooky' pumpkin. Here are some of the pictures:

This was my favorite picture!


Audrey with her lil' pumpkin...


The little one in her hand was her favorite!


Checking out some pumpkins...



There are just SO many to check out...

YUMMY!

I made these Eagle Brand Magic Cookie Bars yesterday and boy are they GREAT!!! Everything comes in the box, all you need is 5 tablespoons of butter. It has a graham cracker crust, and is topped with sweetened condensed milk, coconut, walnuts, chocolate chips and butterscotch chips!!
Try it if you ever get the chance!!

My Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday, I'm now the ripe old age of 24! At first my birthday started off terribly, my mom called (her and my dad were supposed to come up to take me to breakfast) and told me that they wouldn't be coming because my grandma had a mild heart attack the night before and was in the hospital. But after talking to my grandma on the phone and realizing that she was okay, I was able to enjoy the rest of my day.

Bryan took the day off of work to spend it with me, he also lined up a friend of ours to watch Audrey during the day, and his mom to watch her during the evening. After we dropped her off, the rest of the day was spent shopping, eating and napping! What a GREAT way to spend the day!

We ate out three times yesterday (well,4 if you include the ice cream stop!) and I don't think that I've eaten that much in the past 3 weeks! The place we went for dinner was my favorite restaurant, Pappasito's, where I pigged out on chicken fajitas, YUM!

Some of the things that I got from Bryan for my birthday were:
~a book called 'Deceptively Delicious'
~'The Iliad' by Homer
~the movie 'Knocked Up'
~the new Foo Fighters cd

And on Friday he's going to take me shopping again at Old Navy because by the time we got there last night I was WAY to full to try things on!

So, even though my birthday started off bad it ended up being absolutely WONDERFUL! Thank you SOOOO much Bryan! You are the best and most thoughtful husband EVER!!

Friday Favorites - October 5th Edition

I know that this edition of Friday Favorites is late, but better late than never, right?!
My favorite thing this time is a wooden jewelry that my mom gave me on my wedding day. It has a picture of her and I from when I was 2 months old. When opened it plays 'You Are My Sunshine' which is the song that she would sing to me when I was a baby.

Halloween Cookies

So anyone who knows me knows that as the years go by I love Halloween increasingly more!!
So on October 1st to celebrate my favorite month I made a batch of Halloween Cookies. They were just regular sugar cookies from a mix that I rolled out and cut out with my new Halloween cookie cutters (which I got from Target, they were $1.00 for 10 cutters).
The shapes were:
~2 different tombstone shapes
~2 different ghost shapes
~a pumpkin
~a haunted house
~a spiderweb
~a bat
~a scary cat
~and a crescent moon



I put Halloween frosting (orange tinted vanilla) with Halloween sprinkles on the cookies.
I can't wait to make these again!

Fall At Our House...

As I've said in a previous post, I LOVE FALL!!! Everything about it is absolutely divine! When the weather starts to change it gets me even more in the Spirit of Fall (here in Central Texas the early Fall temperatures are still soaring). I love the scents that come along with the Autumn season. All of the pumpkin and spice scents just make me melt! I also love all of the rich colors and the fact that nature is so celebrated in all of the pumpkins and gourds and apples and leaves that come along with the seasons decor. It truly is wonderful! So far my personal collection is still extremely small, but in the years to come I plan to make my autumnal decor grow!

First, and foremost I think that scent draws you in, so I got a Harvest Spice scent air freshener.



These are Pumpkin Pie scented candles hanging on 2 wall sconces in my living room, they smell absolutely delicious!



This is a Pumpkin Swirl scented candle that is in the main bathroom.



This is my Dining Room table, with yet another Pumpkin Swirl candle. The candle holder is actually a coaster from Pier 1, the table runner is a new find, also from Pier 1, and the candle stick holders are a ruby red color, I bought them at a garage sale and believe that they are from Avon.



These 3 little felt pumpkins sit atop my television. I bought these last year at the local grocery store for $1.00 each.



This little white ceramic pumpkin is on my coffee table and I found it for $2.50 at Target. I plan on getting some fall candy to put in it.



And this is what greets you at my front door. My mom made this and gave it to me on Sunday as a pre-birthday present.

And although I don't have much "actual" Fall decor, most of my house is done in rich colors such as browns and oranges and mustards and reds and olives and rich Robin's Egg blues. So my house coordinates well into the Fall season!

Happy Fall to you!!!

Back to FLYing.....

This summer I had barely any work, so Audrey and I were home most of the time. There would even be a period of 2 or 3 days where we didn't go ANYWHERE. During that time I really started to FLY. Check out FLYlady to see what I'm talking about. I was doing so well keeping up with the housework, I was making dinner almost every single night, I was getting into a really great routine and was getting excited about starting to "school" Audrey. Well, fast forward 2-3 months and it's all gone by the wayside. I keep up decently with the house work, I cook a couple of times a week and I have absolutely NO routine anymore. I also am a month behind on starting "school". Why is this? Life happened. All of the sudden I'm got SWAMPED at work, a few of my co-workers and I have joked that we should set up cots at the church because we practically live there. There have been many days over the past month and a half where I've had to work twice in a day. I go in for awhile in the morning, come home, feed Audrey, put her down for a nap and then feed her again once she wakes up and then we're out the door for the rest of the evening. Once we get home from the evening shift I feed her and then put her down for the night.

BUT, now, starting on Monday, my life will hopefully be less chaotic. I've dropped 2 of the evening shifts at work (they are both on days where I already have something going on in the morning). And my schedule will be much more set for the rest of the month, and into November. My goal is that starting this weekend I will get back into the swing of things. Namely, FLYing. The FLYlady program really has proved to be a lifesaver for me. I'm so much more calm when I have a routine. I've lately found myself to be getting angry very easily, and I really don't like that. I'm ready to get back to my normal, happy life. I'm ready to actually start schooling Audrey, I'm ready to have enough energy to start swimming again. Folks, after tomorrow (my last double shift day) I will be back to FLYing and my daughter, my husband, and myself will be SO much happier for it. I hope to grab a few spare moments tonight or tomorrow to come up with my routines for the days when I'm home and the days when I work. Wish me luck!

Another Great Article....

Here's a great article on the over-medication of our kids.

Interesting Article....

Here is an interesting article on the use of plastic grocery bags. Made me think, at the very least I'm going to start taking my plastic bags back to the store to recycle them, but I'd like to eventually start buying reusable canvas bags for my grocery transporting needs.