How did I miss Monday?

I've been floundering for the past few days without a plan. Here's what we've eaten the past few days and what the rest of the week looks like.

Monday - Ham and Cheese Risotto - Spinach Salad (with cranberries, feta cheese and pecans)

Tuesday - Easy Ravioli Bake - Broccoli - Green Salad

Wednesday - BBQ Chicken Chili - Cornbread

Thursday - Crockpot Chicken with Stuffing - Green Beans

Friday - Fish and a Movie Night

Saturday - Surferman's Pizza Night

My Commitment to Loveliness wasn't much of a commitment last week.

I'm back with the same tasks this week.
1. Clean out and organize the drawers on Grom's bed.
4. Spiff up guest bathroom.
7. Have a tea party with Grom and Gigi.
8. Pack Surferman's lunch 3 times this week - add love notes.
9. Organize Gigi's bathroom drawers.


And then there's my 101 list... I've noticed a few others making their lists - Javamama and Sarah. Do you have a list too? I'm down to 814 days. I should get to checking some things off.

Here's one I'll work on this week - 3. Memorize Psalm 8

Any interest in posting weekly about our adventures with our lists? We can root each other on.

Works for Me Wednesday - Storing Comforters

We love down comforters. They are the greatest. We can turn the heat way down in the winter and still stay toasty warm. My favorite comforters come from The Company Store. (I should've posted this tip back in August because that is when they have their annual comforter sale). Sorry.

During the winter, Surferman and I each have our own comforters and then we put one of my quilts on top to seal out the cold air. Separate quilts remove the problem of air gaps created by strong broad shoulders (Surferman's, not mine).

We have gathered quite a collection of comforters in different sizes and weights - twin, twin x long, queen, warm, warmer, warmest. Storage was a problem. They were always a mess and Surferman was always pulling out the wrong comforter.

Here's the tip. Roll the comforter like a sleeping bag and then tie it together with a piece of riboon. On the tail of the ribbon, write the size and weight of the comforter. Voila! Organized.

Have a great week! Get more tips at Shannon's.

Easy M&M Costume and How To Use Halloween to Spread the Gospel

I know that there a hundred different ways to celebrate, ignore, deal with Halloween as a Christian. Here's what we're doing / have done this year.

For the past few years we have attended a Harvest Costume Party with some other families from church. It's always great fun. Surferman gets into it and loves to wear a costume with Grom. This year we were M&M's. It was an easy costume, comfortable and well received.

Here are our shirts. I found a font that looked the M&M's "m" and expanded it to full size for Surferman and mine's shirts. For Grom, I made the m fill half a page. I printed them out and then cut them out of adhesive backed felt. The felt was less than $1.50/ sheet. We used shirts that we already had. The adhesive on the felt held well and the m can be pulled off when costume season is over.

We have Calvary Kids Club on Wednesday night. Grom is supposed to dress up as a Bible character. I'm going to make him a coat of many colors and he'll be Joseph.

At home we'll be passing out these to any kids who stop by. It's a poem with the Gospel. Redeem the day. Don't let Satan blow out your light - even for just a day.

Marvelous Monday

I have a couple of things that I post on Mondays so I thought I'd combine them together.

First the menu...

Monday - Zucchini Soup - Croutons - Salad (Chicken Nuggets for Grom)

Tuesday - Bread Soup (we will eat it this week!) - Salad

Wednesday - cKc and Bible Study - BBQ Chicken Sandwiches - Cucumber Salad

Thursday - Chicken Olive Soup (I'm making this one up as I go - using up leftovers) - Spinach Salad

Friday - Fish and a Movie Night if we're alone.
Chicken Tacos if guests come.

Saturday - Harvest Party - Macaroni and Cheese
Surferman will make pizza that night.

Sunday - My folks are cooking "Sunday Family Dinner"

A Commitment to Loveliness is about increasing feminity and beauty in our lives. I think of it as a way to make my life more pleasant and prettier. My number is from when I started a few weeks ago.

1. Clean out and organize the drawers on Grom's bed.
4. Spiff up guest bathroom.
7. Have a tea party with Grom and Gigi.
8. Pack Surferman's lunch 3 times this week - add love notes.
9. Organize Gigi's bathroom drawers.

I guess I need to introduce Gigi. Gigi is my 90 year old grandmother. She is a piece of bread if I'm of the Sandwich Generation. I feel blessed (usually) to be able to be her girl.

Corduroy

It's time to regroup and recommit to BFIAR. Our book this week is Corduroy. In addition to the ideas in the curriculum, I found these ideas.

Corduroy Craft

Teddy Bear Coloring Page

Counting with Gummy Bears - who doesn't like gummy bears?

Color Bear Concentration Game

Of course we also read A Pocket for Corduroy and Dandelion both also by Don Freeman. All three of the books had readalongs available at the library. Grom loves listening to his books in the car (uh, I mean airplane - but that's another post).

Another nice book from the library was The Button Box by Margarette S. Reid.

Hopsital

We have a large leather recliner that has become Dr. Grom's hopsital bed. (That's not a spelling error. It's the too cute way that Grom says hospital).

Lately he plays hopsital anytime he can find a willing patient.

Here are some things you need to know about being a willing patient...
1) You must moan and groan and act really sick.
2) Ask Dr Grom if he can help you.
3) Be willing to be reclined so far in a recliner that you feel like you'll slip off head first.
4) Quickly come up with a physical ailment that can be quickly cured with lots of shots.
5) Act very very brave when after your physical examination, Dr Grom pronounces you need shots to be cured. Bonus points for whimpering.
6) Suggest diagnostic procedures that Dr. Grom might have missed - don't let him forget to take you blood pressure.
7) Don't flinch when the "doctor" tools get combined with the "construction" tools and Dr Grom decides he has to saw off you foot because you need a transplant.
8) Make a speedy recovery when Dr Grom takes your temperature and it reads a happy face.
9) Ask how much you owe him just to hear him say, "It's free! I'm a humanitarian Doctor"

We're Going on a Bear Hunt

Bear Hunt Blog Post - some fun links

Bear Hunt Pattern - clip art pictures to make a lap book

Bear Hunt Video by the author - Grom and I watched this video today. He wanted to watch it 3 times and then declared that the author was too loud. The volume of the computer wasn't very loud, so I think he was referring to his expression which was exaggerated.

Photo Family Tree - I wish we had done this, but it just didn't happen. Maybe next time?

BFIAR has been really hard for me the past few weeks. I can get the go-along books and videos from the library, and make plans for activities, crafts, etc. but if I don't make a plan for each day of the week it's easy for nothing to happen.

I'm glad this is preschool. We both have a lot of learning to do.

edited to add...
Books and Music a Magical Mix - active activities for Bear Hunt as well as recipes for mud.

What's for Dinner - Week of October 15th

It's all about leftovers and cleaning out the freezer and pantry this week.

Monday - Leftovers : tri tip - chicken - beans - macaroni salad - garlic bread - fruit salad

Tuesday - Leftovers : bbq chicken sandwiches - salad

Wednesday - cKc : sausage and zucchini sandwiches - salad

Thursday - Tomato and Bread Soup (didn't get made last week) - spinach salad

Friday - fish and a movie night : salmon patties - rice - zucchini

Saturday - Surferman's Pizza - salad

Sunday - I'll figure it out when it gets closer

Loveliness #2

I enjoyed working on my commitment to loveliness last week. I didn't get everything I wanted to do done, but it was great to have the motivation of trying.

1. Clean out and organize the drawers on Grom's bed.
4. Spiff up guest bathroom.
6. Visit a friend who just placed her mother with Alzheimer's Disease.
7. Have a tea party with Grom and Gigi.

Check out more commitments at Charming the Birds from the Trees.

Works for Me Wednesday - Soothing Red Bums.

I have an announcment. One that Grom will probably hate me for when he's ever old enough to read Mommy's blog.

Grom officially has POTTY POWER!
No more diapers for us!

So in celebration I offer a product review that got us through those seemingly unending diaper days.

Burt's Bees Diaper Ointment.
It smells great.
It works fast.
It cleans up easy.
Ok for cloth diapers (at least I didn't have any problems).
One tube lasts a really long time.

No diapered bottom should be without it.

We Can Both Be Winners!

Crystal at Biblical Woman has been given 10 copies of Passionate Housewives: Desperate for God.

I've heard good things about this book. And given the choice of being describes as passionate or desperate. Who wouldn't choose passionate? Go now.

Smart Habit Saturday

So it's not Saturday... I should get points (whatever they're good for) for picking myself up and getting back to them.

I was a lot of talk and not much action last week. Please pray for me. I want to be disciplined and diligent, but I get distracted so easy.

Habit 7 - Wear earrings daily - HABIT!

Habit 6 - Lotion feet nightly - My feet are so calloused and dry that I probably don't need shoes.

Habit 5 - Write down all food eaten and post on the refrigerator. Evaluate food list for healthier choices in the future and ways to avoid problem eating.- Umm... yeah, this needs work.

Habit 4 - Daily, early morning devotion time. I want to be out of bed at 5:45 am every morning for 45 minutes with my Lord for reading of the Word, prayer and book study. - I've been better this week. I'm making it up early about 5 out of 7 days. I have 36 days to catch up with my Daily Bible Reading Plan for the year.

Habit 3 - Lights out by 11 pm nightly. - See habit #4

Habit 2 - Drink 3 qts of water daily. Back to baby stepping - goal is 2 qts this week.

Habit 1 - Wash my face every night. I'm amazed at how fast this habit feel off. And my skin shows it.

My plan for this week is to regroup and work on these habits FOR REAL. If you want to be inspired by the great job gals are doing with their habits, go check Smart Habit Saturdays hosted by Lara the Lazy Organizer.

What's for Dinner - Week of October 8th

It looks like we are getting rid of the freezer and the fridge in our utility room and replacing it with one fridge/freezer combination. I'm going to be losing some storage, but I store too much food. This will be a good thing. For now, I'm working on eating up our stockpile.

Here's what we're eating for dinner this week...

Monday - Tomato and Bread Soup - Spinach Salad

Tuesday - From the Freezer Leftover Soup (Turkey Taco Meat, Mexican Rice, Bean Broth, Pork Broth, and ???) - Green Salad

Wednesday - cKc and Bible Study - Turkey Cheddar Panini - Tomato Soup

Thursday - Farmer's Market. We skipped it last week.

Friday - Fish and a Movie Night - last week we bought salmon patties from Trader Joe's. They were delicious.

Saturday - Surferman, Grom and I are serving at my parents 10th annual golf tournament. We'll work for food.

Sunday - Dinner with my folks

Check out the other menu planners at Organizing Junkie

Loveliness

I've been following Emma's Commitment to Loveliness for a couple of weeks and have decided to give it a whirl this week.

From Emma... This is a fun way to increase femininity and beauty in our lives each week without even trying! All you have to do is choose five things that you would like to work on or do during the week that will increase the loveliness in your life!

Here's my list for this week...

1. Clean out and organize the drawers on Grom's bed.
2. Re pot African Violets.
3. Pair up socks from the loose sock bins.
4. Spiff up guest bathroom.
   
5. Clear out and off cabinet in bedroom.

Check out more commitments at Charming the Birds from the Trees.

(Need something to) Work for Me Wednesday - Earrings

One of my Smart Habits has been to wear earrings daily. I've been doing a good job and have even purchased a few new pairs.

But they are a mess of tangled stuff in a little box.

My organized mind can't handle it.

Help!

I don't really want them on display but I'd like to be able to see them all and get to them easily.

How do you keep your earrings organized? Do you have a great jewelry box that you recommend? Or something you've recycled? Let's hear some ideas...