The End

After experiencing what it was like to be a mom for three full months, I remember asking a mother of two, "What was it that I did all day before my son came along?  Was I lazy?"
She wisely said that it's not that you were lazy, but that your priorities have changed.  The time you spent doing one thing gets dropped and moved to your new activity, in my case, being a mom.  When something as important as being a mom comes along, you may not even miss all the things that that activity replaced. 

As time has gone on, I've become more and more busy.  I'm finding myself choosing between activites, and "changing my priorities."  (This whole week I was watching two extra children.  Phew.  That made for some major rearranging.)

I've long been considering the idea of "dropping" my blog.  I think it is something that must be.  I've become busy enough living life that writing about it has become less of a priority.  I have enjoyed blogging, but unfortunately it has become more of a "to do" on the great big list of daily tasks.  I plan to leave my site up, for at least a little while. 

I will not competely drop off the blogosphere, however.  I plan on reading and haunting my favorite authors with my comments (hopefully more often than when I was having to spend time writing posts myself), and I will be keeping my personal blog about my family: Satopia.  This blog is just the small things that happen in our lives being retold for the benefit of family members far away (particularly my parents).  I admit they are not always the most entertaining of posts, but my parents adore them so I enjoy them too.  If you have followed this site you are more than welcome to follow that one as well, since that is the one I will keep writing.  
There's so much I wanted to say in this post, but that kind of defeats the purpose of my decision. :)  For now, I have laundry calling my name.
Thanks for reading.  :)
~Anna

Meditation: A Joyful Heart is Good Medicine

A joyful heart is good medicine,
          but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
                 Proverbs 17:22

Recently I've been working on not complaining.  I feel like I've come some distance when it comes to keeping my mouth from complaining about the things around me that I consider "bad." 

But in the past couple days I've been learning that my mouth hasn't been sinning through complaining as much as it used to, but my heart has been sinning just as much, if not more.

My heart is the real battle zone.  Before I was guarding my lips, but the sin of complaining was still destroying me from the inside out.  My attitude has been "drying up [my] bones."  I feel tired and overworked regularly.  After reading this verse I believe I am to blame for my fatigue.  I've told myself over and over that my circumstances are terrible, that I have to do more work than I deserve, etc.  If I'm telling myself this all the time, it's no wonder that I feel worn out and depressed. 

In the past couple days the Lord has been teaching me that I am to praise Him at all times.  He is sovereign.  He gives the good and the "bad."  Who are we to question Him?  Especially since He brings about good from the bad (Rom. 8:28).  If we take this perspective and look at things from God's point of view, we will have joyful hearts and that joyful heart will spread to every circumstance. 

What can I be joyful about?  God and His mercy. God and His promises. God and His blessings.  What is there not to be joyful about?

Forgive me God for complaining against You.  Give me a joyful heart that will be good medicine for myself and for others.  Amen. 

Television Worth Watching?

Recently I've been sucked into a tv show.  And!  I'm convinced that this tv show is actually beneficial for me to be watching.  How can that be possible?  It's a tv show about a Christian, homeschooling family. 

So far I've seen two seasons of the show 17 Kids and Counting.  Well, the first season is 17 and the second season is 18.  I know that there are 4 seasons now and that the last one is 19 Kids and Counting.  It is a show on the The Learning Channel, but I don't have cable so I've been able to watch it on Netflix.  I'm still waiting for the second two seasons to come to Netflix.

I'm hooked.  Have you ever seen a tv show, never mind a reality tv show, where a family or group of people are actually nice to each other?  This is it.

Many people have heard of the Duggar family.  They have 19 children.  Most people look down on them and talk discouragingly about them and their large family, but after watching this show I am convinced that the Duggars are very much trying to honor the Lord with their lives.  I know people talk discouragingly about them because every time I say I watch or like this show someone always says something against them, even Christians.  It's unfortunate for them because they are missing out on watching an edifying show and they are missing out on an opportunity to support Christians and Christian television. 

The Duggars talk encouragingly to each other and are never angry (in the seasons I've seen).  They quote scripture and show the cameramen how they raise their children in the fear of the Lord.  I've been highly encouraged when watching this show because I can see a family that can serve as a role model for me and my family. 

I don't agree with several of the Duggar's beliefs, but I do believe that it is far better to have too much fear of the Lord than not enough.  For example, it's better to live a life without any dancing than to have dancing lead you into temptation and sin.  It's better to be too modest than not modest enough.  Etc. 

They are a homeschooling family and they share many great resources on their website. 

They have their house rules. 

A Character Sheet to help teach character traits in light of the scripture.  You can download the pdf file too.

They also share where they purchase many of the products that they use in their home for organization, education, etc. 

I hope other people can enjoy this show too and that more Christians will be able to come out and be better role models to the world. 

Spice Organization - Spice Mixes

Phew!  I've been helping out a lot of friends and family by watching extra children all this week and my goodness! am I worn out. 

I've been meaning to organize my spice cabinet lately and managed to come up with a simple system for certain meals.

Nice, small jars save lots of space and there's no fear of writing on them since they're re purposed.

Ok.  The picture isn't so great.  I had some extra baby food jars so I put some of my spice mixes inside them and then wrote the recipe for the mix on the back of the jar. 
No more searching for the recipe.  Just pre-mix the ingredients and have them on hand and ready to go for the next couple of meals and then mix up some more from the recipe on the back of the jar. 

You can always jazz it up later by printing out and/or decorating a label and gluing it on the bottle, but this is a fast and effective method for busy mamas.  (Can you believe that my husband does graphic design at work and this is what he comes home to? lol)

This weekend my husband is taking me to a garden show and I'm hoping to get some great tips and tricks for growing and preserving veggies!  I'll try to take notes and share anything useful. 

Monday Is Only Possible Because Of Sunday

Monday!  A dreaded day?  Not for me.  I love my job as homemaker, wife, and mama.  I love Monday.  It's a wonderful day to get back into the groove of things and to start fresh. 
I'm rejuvinated.
I'm motivated.
I'm ready!

Why?  Because Sunday is such a blessed day.  "O day of rest and gladness, O day of joy and light."  God knew what He was doing when He created a day of rest.  It is a wonderful thing to have a day to rest the body and the mind of the tasks that go on throughout the rest of the week.  On Sundays I may throw something together in the crockpot in the morning, but from then on I don't do any cooking, dishwashing, or anything else.  It's the best thing ever.  By the end of Sunday my house looks horrible.  But then Monday comes along and I have the renewed energy to work and not only get things back in order, but also to take on more challenges and tasks for the week. 

Most importantly, Sunday is a day of spiritual renewal for me.  I hear the beautiful words of the scripture preached and the encouragement of the pastor to keep on living a life for the Lord.  My battle with sin continues after a pep talk from the company leader.  I'm reminded of the life I strive for and the type of living we will experience in heaven with our almighty Father.  We will have perfect lives structured entirely around our purpose:  Worshipping and glorifying Him. 
After a Sunday like this, I'm ready to get back to my prayer journal, to avoid temptation, to try again to read from the word of God by myself, with my husband, and with my son.  Sunday reminds me that my sins are forgiven and that I need to work again to live a life of purity in speech, thoughts, and actions.  I'm renewed to spend more time thinking of my Lord. 

Sunday is my Monday motivation, my reminder of what is to come. 

Caring for Yourself - Part IV - Relaxation/Hobbies/Education

Relaxing
Taking a nice, hot shower is wonderful to me.  It helps improve my mood in ways I do not even comprehend.  It's like hitting the 'restart' button.  It's truly a blessing.

Maybe hot showers aren't your thing, but something else is.  My mom loves to have a cup of tea every night.  Other people read before falling asleep.  All kinds of things work for different people.  Find the things that rejuvenate you and make a list to fall back on when times are tough and/or plan to enjoy one at least once a day. 

Hobbies
Reading, sewing, crafts, cooking... you name it.  Having an activity all your own can give you energy and purpose that help revitalize a weary woman.  I've heard that hobbies can be defined as something you seek to learn more about and practice.  My mom said she didn't have any hobbies, but my dad said, after hearing this definition and watching her behaviors, that coffees and teas were her hobbies.  She learns about them, tries new ones, and just enjoys everything about them.  Cooking is most likely my biggest hobby.  I am constantly online learning about new recipes.  If we subscribed to the food channel I would probably be glued to it.  It's getting more and more difficult to squeeze the spices into my spice cabinet and I just can't think of which ones I would get rid of because I love them all!
Another hobby of mine is education.  I'm nerdy like that.  I love to plan lessons and think of books and things to teach my kids about.  I just get giddy and energetic thinking about it. 

Education
Self improvement through learning.  You can learn about something you need to know, like to know, or something you are passionate about.  It can be encouraging to learn new things or it may enable you to do something better.  When I was working at schools I used to both love and hate when teachers would say that they wanted to inspire their students to be "lifelong learners."  I think I didn't like it because of the subjects they wanted students to learn about were not really worthy of learning.  However, learning is something we are meant to do all our lives.  The longer I live the more I want to know.  Reading, researching, and learning from more experienced people (maybe through relationships or even through taking classes) are great ways to grow and keep yourself motivated to continue giving to others. 

These are some of my goals and tricks for taking better care of myself in the new year so that I can give back to my family and others without suffering from burnout (Lord willing).  :)

Do you have tricks that help give you a kick start?

Puzzle Art

I recently started a new adventure of using puzzles as "art" in my home. I admire them in other homes but rarely find one I like enough to put up in my own home. Well, while living in California my husband and I were looking for a souvenir from Disneyland that didn't break the bank but was still a special memory. We found this puzzle for less than $10.

It's a map of the park we frequently visited when we had a pass. I'm hoping to finish it up, frame it, and put it up in our "fun" room (the current spare room of our home that houses our movies, games, etc.) While this adventure doesn't have anything to do with my new goal of putting up more scripture on my walls, it will be nice to have some memories of past adventures up in our house (living in the L.A. area was a big "adventure" to us).

I love the detail of this puzzle.

 

Join in new adventures at Alicia's Homemaking. 

2 Ways to Cut the Grocery Budget

 

One way I have recently been able to cut some money from our grocery budget is to buy whole chickens. 

 

I've always known that this was the cheapest way to buy chicken, but it is an intimidating process to the inexperienced (me). 

 

One way to make this step a little easier is to buy a cooked rotisserie chicken at the grocery store.  This has been a great transition step that has helped me jump into using a whole chicken.  Instead of having to start from scratch and cook a whole raw chicken, you have a fully cooked bird to start off using right away. 

How to do it:

• After taking the chicken home I can get at least two dinners out of a small rotisserie chicken by cutting it up and using the meat in different ways. 
• Then, I put the entirety of what is left in a stock pot, add a bunch of water, and boil it for a few hours.  All the liquid becomes chicken stock.  I pull out a colander and pour the liquid through it and allow all the chicken pieces to be sifted into the colander.  Save all your chicken stock for soups and recipes.  If you put it in the refrigerator a layer of fat solidifies on the top and you can skim off the extra fat before using up the stock.  (When I have stock int he fridge my husband always looks at it and asks if I am saving chicken fat in the fridge again.  I don't think he's ever called it chicken stock, only chicken fat.) 
•  The boiling process causes the rest of the meat on the chicken to practically fall off.  I take a bowl and put it next to my colander and pick through the skin, bones, etc. and find all the rest of the meat that I have missed.  Getting all the meat off this way is a lot easier and faster than I ever thought it would be.  (I have a very strange fear of eating things with bones in them.  Cutting into or biting into something with a bone is like nails on a chalkboard to me.  However, boiling off the meat makes it very easy to make sure you aren't getting any bones in your chicken.  I will often not work very hard at cutting up the chicken before boiling it because it's so much easier to get the meat once it's been boiled.)



Chicken pieces picked off after boiling the chicken

 To break down how I use one small chicken:

• Dinner one:  We usually cut up some of the meat and eat it with some yummy sides
• Dinner two:  Use smaller pieces of chicken in a dish that calls for cubed pieces, etc.  Usually this meal is a stir fry.
• Dinner three:  Use the chicken stock and any leftover chicken pieces to make a delicious soup.  The stock makes a wonderful and easy base. 

This cuts down on using expensive frozen chicken breasts.  I have been having a hard time finding good sales on chicken lately so the frozen breasts have been my "go to."  If you purchase chicken stock for recipes or for soups you'll never have to do that again.

Some more options:

• Freeze leftover chicken stock to use later.  (I haven't tried this yet, but will try it this week since I have a lot of chicken stock in my fridge right now). 
• Add extra veggies and other items (potatoes, onions, carrots, celery, etc.) to your chicken while you are boiling it to make a more complete chicken stock. 

Now that I feel comfortable with using a whole chicken I'm moving on to purchasing a raw chicken and cooking it myself. 
I got a lot of helpful info here:  Passionate Homemaking  (She uses a bigger chicken than I get so she is able to make it stretch much farther).

If you're a beginner like me, I hope this helps you cut your budget a little bit too. 
Do you have any tips for saving money at the grocery store?