Works for Me Wednesday

This is a ‘Works for me Wednesdays’ post, on Thursday… In the blog world, you will find a LOT of people who posts their “Works for me Wednesdays’ and they have loads of great ideas.

How many of you have ever shopped for an entire month’s worth of groceries in one trip?

I normally would go to the grocery store every week – well, more like two or three times a week. I would go get a lot of groceries on one of those trips. Then throughout the week, I would run to the grocery store for this or that. I lived about seven minutes from the nearest grocery store and about ten minutes away from WalMart. Can you imagine?

Quite a few years ago, a friend shared with me her shopping habits. She shopped by the month. Then, once a week would go pick up bread and milk. I tried it out and needless to say, I did not prepare well and wound up going back to the grocery store several more times during that month.

About three months before we sold out home, I decided to try it again. This time a little more prepared. I wrote out a menu of our favorite things to eat. I don’t know about your family, but we eat a lot of the same things every week. So, I made a menu for two weeks worth and then just doubled all the items on my grocery list to last me a month. It was a complete success. I saved a TON of money from staying out of the grocery store too.

I post the menu up in my kitchen. Here are few reasons why: It keeps my family from asking the never ending question of, “What are we eating for breakfast/lunch/supper/snacks?” It reminds me of when I need to thaw out meat for tonight’s supper. It reminds me if I need to soak the beans the night before so I can cook them in the crock pot the next day. It also keeps me from wandering around the kitchen wondering what we are going to eat for the next meal. And then order pizza or something else that costs more money and was unhealthy.

Since we eat a lot of fruit and salads, I have a couple more things on my ‘weekly’ list. I buy my milk and eggs from a neighbor every week. And, I have to get bread, bananas and lettuce every week. It costs more at the local grocery store, but it saves all that gas I would be burning up.

Can you already see where this story is going? The Lord has so many ways that He prepares us. Who would have ever thought that I would live so far away from WalMart????!!!! We now live around ten miles away from the nearest and most expensive grocery store. And, the nearest WalMart is around 45 minutes on a good day. Can you even imagine how long it will take when it snows? I have heard they keep the roads scraped, salted, and sanded. But, I am sure it will still be slower driving.

So, shopping by the month ‘works for me’. Please leave me a comment and share something that works for you.

Growing Up 2006-2009

Women's Conference

This weekend was amazing. Not only did I attend the Word of Life Women’s Conference, I attended it with my sister-in-law and my cousin! What a blessing!

They arrived at my house on Thursday evening. The girls were glued to the front door scoping out every single car that passed our cabin. We all were very happy to see them.

We spent Friday just visiting and spending precious time together before we attended the conference that evening. When you are away from your family (for the first time) for an extended period of time, it is so nice to be able to just sit and chit-chat and hang out together.

The Lord is so good. He knows exactly what I need, when I need it. The Women’s Conference was titled ‘A New Chapter’. That is exactly what I am living! The scripture we focused on was Isaiah 43:19 - “Behold, I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert.”

The music from Allison Durham Speer was brilliant. She is by far the most funny and talented person I have ever seen. She was a riot. The Lord has blessed her with a wonderful ministry. Her voice is mind blowing.

The speaker was Carol Kent. What a testimony. She shared with us her ‘New Chapter’. She was teaching on spiritual authenticity, turning your fear into faith, and becoming a woman of influence. I wrote as fast as I could write taking notes. She was phenomenal. I would like to share with you a few things I wrote down.

On Spiritual Authenticity:

A question for us all – Do I defend God’s absolute truth, or have I given in to the popular trend toward relative truth?

The funny, but true – Don’t worry about today, it already tomorrow in Australia.

On Turning Your Fear Into Faith:

Fear is the opposite of faith.
Memorize this: Psalm 56:3 – When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You.

A question for us all – What do you believe about who God is?

Have you heard Him say to you, “Come do the impossible by trusting Me.”?

On Becoming a Woman of Influence:

Godly influence is powerful. The #1 principle is to spend time alone with God.
Then ask God, “Who do you want me to influence?” Cast a vision on that person and tell that person something he or she is good at.

Ask questions. What makes you weep and pound the table? How can I pray for you?

So, I am asking all of you, what makes you weep and pound the table? How can I pray for you?

Surprise!!!

Do you know how nice it is just to lay your eyes on someone you know?

This past Thursday evening, Michael and I had just laid the girls down to sleep. They were still getting up in their attempts to stay up just one more minute. They always have to use the bathroom, get a drink of water, or get one last huggie and kissie. Michael’s phone rang and one of our dearest friends was on the other line and asked if we had enough oatmeal for two more in the morning. Michael was still on the phone and kind of in disbelief himself. He looked at me and said, “Melody is here.” I said, “Melody?” I am thinking, “Melody who? I don’t think I have met anyone up here named Melody. Who could it be?” When Michael opened up the door, my eyeballs just about popped out of my head; here comes my beloved friends, Jerry and Melody!!! I was in tears.

They had come up for a conference. And they came by to see us. We knew they came up to see us and to drop by the conference!

We had so much fun. They came over Friday morning and had oatmeal with me. Michael had said the night before to me that I better tell them what was in it first. Jerry said, “I know what’s in it. I saw it on the blog.” Haha… Jerry wanted to go to class with Michael and Melody stayed and hung out with me and the girls. She was in desperate need of some strong coffee, so we rode over to Crossroads. Crossroads is a dangerous place for us women. Do you see that lovely toboggan?

On Saturday, we had plans already to go to a farm with our Sunday school class. So, Jerry and Melody came with us. The picture you see above is them crossing over a swinging bridge finding their way through a corn maze.

We had so much fun with them here. I am so very blessed to know them. Thank you both for spending your time to come to see us. It was such a blessing.

Jerry and Melody, you can stop reading this now. I know you…..

To everyone else, let me just explain a little of our relationship to Jerry and Melody. They are related to us; our brother and sister in Christ. Jerry is our Sunday school teacher and a wonderful friend also. The Lord has used him in a very special way in mine and Michael’s life. The Lord has taught us so much through Jerry. I got to know Melody soon after I started in Jerry’s class. She invited me to come to her house for two Kay Arthur Bible studies and the rest is history. The Lord has used her in a mighty way to change my life. Thank you, Lord for bringing them into our lives.

Steel Cut Oats - Crock Pot Style

Here is a picture of all the things I use to make oatmeal in the mornings (except for the bananas). I took this picture so that you could get an idea of how big my Crock Pot is. It is a 1.5 qt. size. You can find one at Target or online at Amazon. It works great.

I read this tip the other day. If you have a large Crock Pot, you can make this recipe (or any recipe for a small Crock Pot) and put it into a small oven safe bowl and sit it inside of your big crock pot and it will work.
Here is the recipe for all of you. This is one serving.

At night I put these things into my Crock Pot:
1 shake of salt
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
2 Tablespoons of dried cranberries
1/4 c. of Steel Cut Oats (not pre-soaked)
1 c. of water

I put the lid on and leave it until morning.

It takes about two hours to cook - so plug it up two hours before you plan on eating breakfast (or lunch or supper - just in case you happen to get addicted to it.)

I stir it. I have forgotten to stir it and it didn't make a difference.

After I dip out the oatmeal, I add these things to my bowl:
1 teaspoon of honey
1 Tablespoon of walnuts
1/2 of a banana sliced up (Then I eat the rest. Or if Michael is eating oatmeal, we share.)

I only really measure the oats and water. The rest of the ingredients are approximate measurements.

Enjoy.

Ticonderoga

We took a trip to the 'other' Walmart in Ticonderoga.

We were told that the drive was beautiful, but this was just overwhelming.
This was the "Kissing Bridge" in a nearby park.
No, we didn't kiss in the bridge - Michael is still coughing.

This is a beautiful waterfall to the left of the bidge. Check out the sign we saw there.

Birthday Fun

Today is my birthday. I am not posting this so all of you will know that. (Who wants everyone to know they are ANOTHER year older?) I just had to share this story with you. It cracks me up just thinking about it. Michael actually took a picture of me this morning – still in the bed – I am NOT going to post that one! Hannah took this one of me a little while ago. She always wants to take pictures of me. My hair was finally washed and dried and I was willing to let her take one.

Anyway – back to the story. Hannah announced last night that I was to have breakfast-in-bed this morning because it was my birthday. She wanted her Dad to set her alarm clock to ring at 4:45 in the morning so she could wake me up and sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to me at the exact time I was born. (I’m sure it was such a good idea to share that bit of information with her.) Her Dad and I both agreed on a ‘no’ answer for that one.

I woke up around 5:15 and got up to go to the bathroom and get the morning started like normal. Hannah, with her hair all down in her face, got up and followed me there. She said, “Mama, you are supposed to stay in the bed and have breakfast-in-bed.” I said, “I know honey, I just needed to use the bathroom and I am going straight back to bed. It is too early still for you to get up and make breakfast.” So, she went back to bed and I got back in the bed and told Michael the conversation that had just taken place.

Now, I am going to fill you in on a little background of my morning breakfast. I eat oatmeal. I do not eat oatmeal from a little package, thanks to a very dear friend of mine (and I know he is smiling right now). I eat Steel Cut Oats. I cook them in the crock pot for two hours. I prepare half of what I do to them the night before so they can soak overnight. When I get up at 5:00 in the morning, I plug the crock pot up and let the oats cook while I have my time with the Lord, exercise and shower before the girls get up. I am the one who prepares breakfast. Hannah helps get the table set and I get mine and Michael’s oatmeal ready. After it finishes cooking, I add raw honey, walnuts and bananas.

So, since we all fell back asleep (except for Michael, he was studying). Michael came to wake me up around 6:55 to ask me to fix the oatmeal before Hannah got up because he has NO CLUE how to ‘fix’ the oatmeal. (The definition of ‘fix’ in NC is different from the definition in NY.) So, I was sneaking around in the kitchen this morning trying to fix the oatmeal and not wake up Hannah. I hurried and got back in the bed and acted like I was sleeping. As soon as I laid my head back down on my pillow, I heard her getting up. She went straight into the kitchen to prepare breakfast. Now, she thinks her Dad is a genius because ‘he’ already had the oatmeal prepared. So, they woke Cari up and came and ‘surprised’ me with breakfast-in-bed – complete with singing and a beautiful card.

Hannah was upset because she didn’t get to give me a gift. But, one day she will realize the meaning of Psalm 127:3 – Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward. She is my gift. Thank you Lord for my children.

Needs

We have been here a little over a month now. True to myself, I have already started packing up stuff that I don't need that I brought. My mom is shaking her head up and down as she is reading this (I am sure). Aside from God, my husband and my children, my mom knows me the best and she knows how much joy it brings me to simplify.

I thought my simplicity journey began when I was about seven months pregnant with Hannah. I started to clean out a closet that was packed with stuff I didn't use in order to make room for all the cute little clothes and more stuff I 'needed' for our new baby. I thought I was simplifying, but I only replaced the stuff with more stuff.

Then when Cari was still being formed, I was cleaning out a second closet – to stuff with more stuff.

Getting rid of stuff to buy more stuff is not simplifying.

Looking back, I realize exactly when it began. When we sold the first house we built, we moved into a smaller space. To be a little more descriptive, it was in my cousin’s basement. Now, for all of you who are imagining cement block walls and a cement floor – you are mistaken. The basement was finished with carpet and vinyl flooring, finished walls, a lay in ceiling, laundry room, full kitchen and bathroom. This might be more than you wanted to know, but you are still reading, so I will go ahead. The girls’ bedroom was behind a quilt that we hung up to separate their room from the rest of the house. Our living room consisted of our entertainment center, a couch, a chair and an end table. Our bedroom wasn’t a bedroom. Our bed was in between the living room and the kitchen – yep, you guessed it, right under the dining room chandelier. When I say ‘room’, there weren’t any walls, just an open space leading into the next open space.

Needless to say, the space was smaller than we were used to. So, when we packed up to moved, we only unpacked the things we 'needed' and left the rest in boxes.

When we finished building our second house, I packed up the stuff in our basement/home and moved in. We unpacked just those things and eventually moved all the rest of our stuff into our new basement and it sat there unpacked for months.

I realized just how much stuff I had and how much stuff I didn’t need.

I soon started to clean out that stuff. We had a couple of yard sales and gave a lot of it away.

Little by little, our possessions started to dwindle down to just what we 'needed' – or so I thought.

We moved again and brought into my mom and dad’s house ‘just what we needed’ and still, when we moved here, we left some of those things behind. There are still boxes upon boxes of things in their basement waiting on me to get rid of.

So, we moved here and brought just what we ‘needed’. And if you came by to visit, you would see four boxes in my bedroom already of things packed back up – things we did not need. Michael and I have already been pointing out things to each other. These things will be brought back to my mom and dad’s house – to be stacked with our other boxes of stuff in their basement and await their departure.

Which brings me to my final thought – 1 Timothy 6:8 – oh and maybe a washer and dryer (smiling - it might not be 'needed' but it is very much appreciated!)

Picture Day

Today is picture day at the BI. He looks so good dressed up.

I am so blessed to be his counterbalance.