- get up & get dressed
- wash face / fix hair
- Plan dinner/thaw meat
- juice, vitamins and wake up kids (kids are usually up by now but they are not allowed down stairs until I call them)
Please visit me at my new home!
~*~The Simple Woman’s Daybook ~*~ 14 July, 2008
Please stop by Peggy’s at The Simple Woman
for all the links entered in this week’s Daybook
For Today…
Outside my Window…there is grass that needs to be manicured
and weeds that need a good whack’in.
I am thinking…about all the “to-do’s” I need to accomplish this week. Thinking it was a good idea (after all) that we
decided to take a break from studies this summer.
I am thankful for…Divine Mercy.
The message of mercy is that God loves us — all of us —
no matter how great our sins. He wants us to recognize that
His mercy is greater than our sins, so that we will call upon
Him with trust, receive His mercy, and let it flow through us to others.
From the kitchen…only breakfast and dinner served this week. Vacation Bible School will be cooking supper for the kids and teachers! Thank you Jesus!
I am creating…my spending plan for next terms school books,
supplies and our upcoming vacation.
I am going…to try and stretch what little bit of milk I have till tomorrow; I really don’t want to tackle the commissary crowd today.
I am wearing…black skirt and t-shirt, hair up in a clip. I’ll shower later when it gets closer to when we need to leave for VBS.
I am reading…up on Sonlight. I am seriously considering
adding a core to our curriculum.
I am hoping…for more thunderstorms,
I really like the sound of storms at night.
I am hearing…the girls wrestle around and the boys
playing connect four.
Around the house…most of the chores were done on Saturday,
just the normal picking up here and there to be done.
One of my favorite things…getting down on the floor with my children, playing and tickling each other.
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week…VBS every evening this week, some shopping to do on Tuesday and a birthday party to attend on Saturday afternoon.
Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you…
Make your own Laundry Soap and SAVE $ 12 July, 2008
I really like to save money and more importantly I like to know/control the ingredients in the items we use. Do a search for recipes and try out a few to get a feel of which process you like. Trent at my favorite money/frugality blog has calculated the savings of making laundry soap and it basically equates out to an average $0.03 cents a load…wow, right. If you want to research this idea more please visit “The Simple Dollar“. Trent has done an excellent job of detailing everything for you!
Liquid Laundry Detergent:
2 gallon Recipe:
3 Pints Water
1/3 bar Fels Naptha Soap, grated
1/2 cup Washing Soda (Arm and Hammer, NOT baking soda though!!)
1/2 cup 20 Mule Team Borax
2 Gallon bucket to mix it in
1 Quart hot water Hot Water
Mix Fels Naptha soap in a saucepan with 3 pints hot water and heat on low until dissolved. Stir in Washing Soda and Borax. Stir until thickened, and remove from heat. Add 1 Quart Hot Water to 2 gallon Bucket. Add soap mixture, and mix well. Fill bucket with additional hot water, and mix well. Set aside for 24 hours, or until mixture thickens. Use 1/2 cup of mixture per load.
5 gallon Recipe: (my favorite)
Water
1 bar grated Fels Naptha soap
5 gallon bucket
1 cup washing soda (Again, Arm and Hammer)
4 1/2 gallons water
Put grated Fels Naptha in saucepan and cover with water. Heat on low until dissolved. Fill bucket with hot water and add soap. Stir to combine. Add 1 cup washing soda and mix well. As it cools, it will thicken. May be used immediately. Use 1- 2 cups per load. I sometimes add
Powdered Laundry Detergent
1 cup grated Fels Naptha Soap
1/2 cup washing soda
1/2 cup 20 mule team borax
Mix and store in airtight container or bag. For light loads, use 2 tablespoon. For heavy loads, use 3 tablespoons.
To make a large batch – grate 6 bars of Fels Naptha Soap and then add 3 cups of Washing Soda and 3 cups of 20 Mule Team Borax. Mix well and store in covered container.
Great post from the Rockin’ Granola 12 July, 2008
For everyone wanting to simplify their day, do please read Kara’s post on ”Creating a Daily & Weekly Routine“.
Twenty Four Tips for a Better Life by Nancy’s Comfortable Cottage Living 11 July, 2008
1. Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile. It is the ultimate anti-depressant.
2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
3. When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement, ‘My purpose is to __________ today.’
4. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured.
5. Drink green tea and plenty of water. Eat blueberries, wild Alaskan salmon, broccoli, almonds & walnuts.
6. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
7. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip, issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
8. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out credit card.
9. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.
10. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
11. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
12. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
13. Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.
14. Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
15. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
16. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: ‘In five years, will this matter?’
17. Forgive everyone for everything.
18. What other people think of you is none of your business.
19. GOD heals. . . and He can heal everything if its in His plan. We just need to trust His bigger picture.
20. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
21. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and family will. Stay in touch!!!
22. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
23. Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements: I am thankful for __________. Today I accomplished _________.
24. Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.
Monkey Munch Recipe 9 July, 2008
One night I was watching Jon and Kate plus 8 and Kate was making this concoction she calls “Monkey Munch”. It looks to be a real treat for kids. Needless to say I looked up the recipe; can’t wait to make it!
9 cup Chex
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
Put cereal in large bowl. Melt chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
Pour over Chex cereal, put into a large plastic bag with powdered sugar and shake well to coat.
Spread mixture evenly on wax paper and allow to cool.
My Favorite Prayer book 9 July, 2008
THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER:
First published in 1880, Rev. Cramer begins at the door of the Church with the mother who has come for God’s blessing upon her as a mother. He continues to explain along with this beautiful ceremony, the vocation of Motherhood and the virtues necessary to fulfill this important vocation.
Rev Cramer explains how a young woman should approach the sacrament of matrimony and then assists her in the proper education of her children. After all the important advice on raising children many prayers are included covering all the situations of a mother and her children.
This book, considered timely at the turn of the century, is more so now since in the past many lessons that may have been overlooked by mothers were taught by the sisters at Catholic schools and mothers could also find true Catholic answers to the circumstances of daily life. The lessons that are learned at the foot of the mother are necessary all through life and unto eternity. This treasure for mothers will provide the advise mothers need to raise their children and the prayers she should daily raise to heaven to request graces for her family.
MOTHERS WILL LEARN:
* Duties toward their children and how to fulfill them
* The proper love they should have toward their children
* The examples both good and bad that they give to their children by their actions
* How and when to introduce the children to the truths of our holy religion
* How to behave with regard to the faults of the children & how to rid their children of faults including:
* Stubbornness
* Vanity
* Lies
* Irritability
* Anger
* Selfishness, and more..
* The importance of modesty and innocence
* The mother’s direction of her children
* God’s word concerning parents and their duties
* How to pray for her children and herself
* The duties of a mother of a priest
PRAYERS:
* To offer Holy Mass to obtain the graces necessary to fulfill her vocation.
* To offer Holy Mass for her children.
* To obtain the grace to give good example
* For the most important situations and necessities of a mother,
* To obtain the gifts of the Holy Ghost
* Prayers for children preparing for their first Confession and for children preparing for their first communion
* The Holy Way of the Cross to be made by the Christian mother for the benefit of her children
* The Rosary of the Christian mother
* To obtain for a son a vocation to the priesthood
* Many more!
Routines 8 July, 2008
Our Daily routine
Here is our daily routine that we generally follow:
Morning:
I do not set an alarm in the morning, but I usually wake up between 6:00 and 7:00. Here is my morning routine:
- oversee breakfast prep. / prayer reading while kids eat
- kids morning routine: make bed, wash up, brush teeth
- discuss chore lists w/kids
- start laundry
- Play time outside (we’re taking a summer break from studies)
- Dinner @Noon
Afternoon:
After dinner clean up I send the big kids up stairs to read and the two little ones stay in my room for quite time. I usually read or put my feet up for a bit.
After an hour and a half, I get everyone up and give them a snack. Then we take a walk or play outside some more.
Around 4pm I start supper and the kids get to watch a show or dvd while they fold their laundry.
Evening:
We eat supper between 5:00-6:00 and everyone helps with clean-up.
- Free time
- showers and brush teeth
- room clean up
- Read family story to the kids
- Prayers
Kids are in bed by 8pm
Quite time for me reading, prayers.
I try to get to sleep by 9:30, here lately it’s been way later.
THE SIMPLE WOMAN’S DAYBOOK 7 July, 2008
~ Please visit Peggy for all the links entered in this week’s Simple Woman’s Daybook~
FOR TODAY
Outside My Window…the skies are cloudy.
I am thinking…all the Saturday chores that were left unfinished
I am thankful for…good friends
From the kitchen…dishes are screaming at me.
I am wearing…my husbands Army t-shirt and my black skirt, hair is swept up.
I am creating…chore charts for the kids rooms.
I am going…to stay home all day.
I am reading…my favorite prayer book!
I am hoping…to postpone our trip to Texas, hopefully we can wait till October.
I am hearing…silence…the kiddos tummies must still be full.
Around the house…there is much to do.
One of my favorite things…is writing in my journal.
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:…classes for three days and maybe a Friday night movie with the kids.
Here is picture thought I am sharing…
Daily Routine 3 July, 2008
Do you have a plan for each day? If you have children, a routine is a must! Life is made so much more difficult by not having one. Finding ones rhythm can be challenging at first, this is especially true for us who’s own mama’s did not equip us with the necessary tools.
I did not have a childhood with chores or routines. My dear mama believed kids needed to be kids and enjoy much freedom. No chores were served up…nope not even our own rooms were cleaned by those who dwelled there. I never did my own laundry till I was a teenager…for shame. For us grown-ups that “enjoyed” such a leisure childhood such as mine know all to well that they have been “handicapped” by a lack of discipline in the domestics from an early age.
If you have yet to find a routine that works for you, do not despair; I will share more as this day allows; however I will end here since I have a few “to-do’s” this morning to accomplish.
Take care~
Simple Taco Recipes~ 2 July, 2008
My Simple Taco Saladcan of ranch style beans – drained
shredded cheddar cheese
Fritos corn chips
catalina dressing to coat
I mix all this up and serve it on Fridays
I do not care much for lettuce so usually I do not have lettuce on hand to use in this recipe. My mama makes her Taco Salad the usual way with taco meat and lettuce.
Taco Crescent Ring
2 packages crescent rolls
1 lb. ground beef
1 envelope taco seasoning
1 C. grated cheddar cheese
optional -
shredded lettuce
chopped tomatoes
green onions
1 C. sour cream
salsa
Brown ground beef in a skillet. Drain off grease. Add the contents of the taco seasoning and follow package directions. Unroll the 2 packages of the crescent rolls. On a cookie sheet, place the crescent roll wedges in a circle, with the wide side of edge towards the middle, pointed edge towards the outside. Add the cheese to the ground beef and stir it in.
Place the ground beef on the crescent rolls and wrap the pointed edges around the meat mixture so that it forms a ring.
Bake at 375°F. for about 12 minutes.
When baked, remove from the cookie sheet and place the ring on a platter.
On the inside of the ring, place the lettuce, tomatoes and green onions.
Serve the sour cream and salsa in bowls on the side.
Cut into wedges and serve.
Lovely Mornings~ 2 July, 2008
Sometimes it is so hard to get going in the mornings. I am not a morning person but mornings would not be so difficult had I went to bed at a decent hour. I have a tendency to stay up late reading…there I said it. With the husband away my late nights are later than usual. I know that when I do not put God or His “will” first, my life can get out of balance. Hannah Whitall Smith said in the last paragraph of the first chapter of her lovely book, “The God of All Comfort”.
“Mistakes in the telling there may be, and for these I ask the charity of my readers. But the thing I want to say, and to say in such a way that no one can fail to understand is this, that our religious lives ought to be full of joy, and peace, and comfort, and that, if we become better acquainted with God, they will be.”
After I had my first child, out of necessity I drew especially near to God - in a childlike way, I sought God–early each morning, in the middle of the night–the only times available to me to be truly alone with Him, which ultimately resulted in great intimacy with Him throughout the moments of every day. When hard times came (and when they come) I didn’t stuff things or complain to other people, I was/and am raw and real–entirely honest, with, and before, God. The difference was, and continually is, that only God has access to the *in*side of a heart and mind. Only God has unconditional love and understanding, and as the Bible says, His power is made perfect in *our weakness*–He is magnetically drawn to our need.
What I hope you see here in this blog, which is essentially a daily journal of windows into my life–which I believe in reality it is *far* more beautiful, than could possibly be conveyed in a series of short blog posts–is me having given God, moment-by-moment, day-by-day, over the years, all I am and am not (tired, brain-fogged, in pain, fearful, angry–whatever at any given time) and God taking what I give Him and in it’s place giving me, Himself.
THE SIMPLE WOMAN’S DAYBOOK 30 June, 2008
~ Please visit Peggy for all the links entered in this week’s Simple Woman’s Daybook~
FOR TODAY
Outside My Window…the sun is shining very bright and the bunnies are playing in the field.
I am thinking…of my dear husband who is away.
I am thankful for…quite moments spent reading at nite.
From the kitchen…dishes are waiting to be washed.
I am wearing…my nightgown
I am creating…a list for the commissary
I am going…to get my bedroom organized today.
I am reading…an article on simplifying.
I am hoping…for a good storm.
I am hearing…the children clean their rooms.
Around the house…there is much to do and many hands to do it if only everyone would get on-board!
One of my favorite things…watching a movie snuggled up in my bed wearing my favorite robe.
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: is to try and get all clutter cleaned out and get rid of many things that are causing anxiety.
Here is picture thought I am sharing…
~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
