Saturday, May 15, 2010

Potatoes

Yesterday I bought 50 lbs. of potatoes. I have been washing and peeling and baking and boiling and mashing potatoes for the last 3-4 hours. I am tired of potatoes, and I still have more to go. Throughout the week I plan to work on some twice baked potatoes and some potato skins, maybe even some soups. It is tiring now, but I know it will be such a relief when I can come home from a busy day, pull a meatloaf, some mashed potatoes and rolls out of the freezer, pop 'em in the oven and heat up a veggie. I am looking forward to all the times things will be easier because of the work I am putting in now. Isn't that what keeps us all working away? What's the point of busting our buns if there is no goal in mind? I've been thinking a lot about goals lately. There are so many things I would like to do or have happen, but I think it is high time for me to figure out which of those are most important and how to accomplish them. Well, it's midnight and I'm rather tired, so maybe I'll think more on it tomorrow. God bless you! Have a great Sunday.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Exhaustion

Today I woke up exhausted. There has just been so much going on in my life lately I have avoided sleep. That and I haven't been feeling great so even when I made time for sleep it didn't work out so well for me. Therefore, today I sat around in my jammies, played with my kids and napped with my kids. I didn't get around for the day until 5 o'clock this evening, and only then because I needed to take the kids for the last day of the children's meetings at church for the year. Tomorrow I have an appointment with a chiropractor though, so I'm hoping to be feeling better after that. I hate that I didn't get anything done today, but everyone survived a day with a lazy momma. I guess as long as it's a really rare occasion it won't hurt anyone for Mom to take a day off. :) Well, I've been to tired to think of anything deep or insightful to say tonight but I hope that when you need to take time and recuperate you are unafraid to, and may you enjoy all the Lord's blessings upon your day.

Celebrating. . .kind of.

The past three days have been a lot of fun. Things haven't gone the way I'd planned or hoped for, but I have really enjoyed my family. I took Sunday off. I didn't do anything that wasn't urgent. My husband and children hooked me up with some very nice cards and a plant with pretty flowers. Then we found out they chose a toxic plant, so I'm not sure what we are going to do with it. It was a sweet gesture though.
Yesterday I spent trying to get things ready for my husband's birthday celebration today. His birthday is later in the week but he will be at work then so we celebrated today. I took about an hours drive to try to pick up his best childhood friend. I had talked to the friend a couple of weeks ago and he seemed excited to come but when I got there today no one answered the door. I was really bummed out since this was the main part of my husbands birthday gift, but there was nothing I could do about it. I left feeling very disappointed, but about halfway home I asked myself why I was so disappointed. I realized then that I was more disappointed that I didn't have this surprise to present to my husband which he would be grateful to me for than I was that he wouldn't get that day with his friend. I wished he had gotten to spend the day with his friend, but it was more important to me that I be recognized for thinking of such a great gift. It is all too easy for me to live as though I think I should hold a lot more gravitational pull than I do. It wasn't my birthday, but even in the midst of trying to do something nice my focus was on me. I pray that some day I will be able to be able to do something nice for someone because it is what I want to do instead of due to the way I think it will make them feel about me. I'm getting there, I know. It's taking a lot of baby steps, but I know this never would have occurred to me before so at least I was able to catch it fairly early and try to shift my focus. May God bless you and keep you and may you take time to notice.

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Meatloaf

Well, yesterday I made nine meatloaves and several batches of rolls to stick in the freezer. It was a lot of fun. Especially seeing the whole counter lined with food. After everything was in the freezer though, I decided to just relax for a while. I logged on to facebook, which until recently has been a rare occasion for me. It just doesn't usually hold much interest for me. I enjoy seeing what's going on in the lives of my friends, but so much of it is something about an imaginary farm or mall or mafia or vampire. I want to know how my friends are really doing, not how they may fare in a video game. The last two weeks or so, however, I have actually taken the time to search for friends instead of just accepting the one's who added me. That has been a lot of fun. I was able to get a better insight into some of my current acquaintances and find some friends I haven't talked to in ages. I even looked up some of the people I went to elementary school with before I moved in 6th grade. I have come across profiles of people who had a profound impact on my life for the better, and people who have caused me great struggles or heartache (Needless to say I didn't add those ones). It has been a very interesting time for this as I have begun working on my inventory for CR. There are so many people and so many events which have had a major impact in who I am today. Things that have contributed to my greatest insecurities, and people who have built me up and helped me get going back in the right direction when the chaos of my own poor choices left me dizzy. It is so easy to believe that the past is in the past and we should, "Suck it up and drive on." (a famous quote from my family of origin.) The things that happened in my past though, have had a great deal more impact on the way I handle today than I ever realized. So, for the sake of learning to take care of me, I'm going to clean those wounds even though it will hurt. And I'm going to embrace the things that have influenced me for good, even if I didn't at the time. May God bless you greatly, and may you appreciate His blessings even when they sting for a moment.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Ok, I played around here a little bit and think I figured out how to get the right time at the bottom. Let's see if it worked.

Spelling

I don't have time to write much tonight. In fact, even if I had the time I don't think I would be able to focus enough to say anything worth reading. It has been a good week so far, but I have a terrible headache tonight and am being kind of a pansy after my gardening yesterday. :p I just wanted to apologize for all my misspelled words and randomly placed apostrophes. I read over some of my posts earlier and those kind of things drive me crazy when I'm reading. I type these so fast though, because the thoughts running through my brain may not be there in a few minutes, and it is usually fairly late at night. (They never have the right time at the bottom of my posts. They must be in a different time zone.) So, I have tried to edit these things, but sometimes the things I thought I noticed reading through were impossible to find when I went to edit them. So, if you happen to be of the same strange sort as me, and get driven crazy by things like this, I'm sorry. May you thoroughly enjoy God's blessings today.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

My Garden

Today I was finally ready to start planting the big portion of my garden. Some dear friends came yesterday and tilled it. Then, I spent the evening trying to rake out all the hunks of grass. So today I put 70-some tomato plants in the ground, planted a patch of carrots, one of basil and another of spinach. I got one row of green beans in when I realized time had gotten away from me and I should probably go in and shower before church. My children have been helping a lot in the garden. It was my oldest daughter who initiated the garden and we all have a blast with it. The kids being age 5 and under, though, there are just times when it is easier (and certainly more therapeutic) to work alone. This afternoon when the last child finally gave in to nap time I made a mad dash for the garden. I let the girls help plant seeds when they woke up, but I wanted to get the tomato plants in myself. I started these tomatoes in the house a long time ago and they have come to be an important part of my day. I wanted them to be treated with care as they were moved to their new home. As I pulled them out of the little "indoor greenhouse" thing I planted them in I discovered they were all stuck together. They had their own little pods they were supposed to be growing in, but their roots had grown through them and into the neighboring pods. I knew they had been starting to look a little sad, that's why I was in such a hurry to get them in the ground. It occurred to me that they weren't getting enough of what they needed in their own little space, so they were trying to get it from one another. The thing is the others didn't have anything to spare either and that's why they all looked so rough. It was all too familiar to me. Not the tomatoes themselves, but trying to get what I need from people who don't have it to give. Time and again I've sought love from people who've never learned how to love. I've caught myself looking for emotional support from people who've learned not to feel. I try to get people to give me hope when they saw the circumstances as hopeless. It is my firm belief that our relationships with other people are of extreme importance. Lately, though, I have come to see that when we seek from other people what we can only get from God we not only are left sorely disappointed, but we drain the people we love of what "nutrients" they may have and need for themselves.
Tomorrow I hope to finish planting the green beans. Then Friday I intend to make about 10 meatloaves and several dozen rolls to get in the freezer. I certainly don't anticipate any boredom. I'll let you know how it goes. May God supply you all the "nutrients" you need and may you always remember to look to Him first.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Insanity

Well, I'd say that about wraps it up. Insanity. This week has not gone as I'd hoped. Routine has become my friend but it seemed to abandon me this last week. The baby was sick and the three year old cut her hair. To top that off, they all feasted on honey in the wee hours of the morning yesterday, just like Winnie the Pooh, so I awoke to a very sticky crowd. I haven't gotten their room taken care of since that. That being said, they went to Grandma's for the afternoon yesterday. Thank God for grandmas, I tell you what if they're any good at their jobs they are a lifesaver for these kids. I say for the kids, because without them the children would certainly endure a great deal more of Mom's anger. Anyway, since I've had time too cool down now they are to be cleaning their rooms today (though I know it won't get done 'till I'm up there). I am also going to be tilling up the rest of our garden and hopefully getting things planted either today or tomorrow. It should be interesting. Then, with any luck, our routine will befriend us again in the morning. May God bless you and may you recognize and enjoy the blessings He sends today.

Friday, April 30, 2010

Routine

Ok, I know yesterday I said I had intended to talk about organization. I misspoke, I'm sorry. I am definitely not the person to talk about organization. It was late and my brain just wasn't functioning. Anyway, my hope was to talk about some of the things I hope will help me cut time in keeping my home and family together while I go back to school. I mentioned freezing meals ahead of time, which I am very excited. In addition to that I got a dishwasher!! WoooHooo! I am very excited about that. The first night we had it I taught my children to load their own dishes into it. It has been a process but I believe by the time school starts in the fall they will be fairly well trained in this regard. I am also looking into other options that may help me save time without costing too much. For example, maybe I will try to get some of the little blue things you put in your toilets tank to keep it clean for a couple of weeks instead of having to scrub it several times in that period to keep it from smelling. I've never looked into the automatic shower cleaners, but maybe I should?? I don't know. At this point I am still in the brainstorming stage. I also think I may try to set up a place to have people take their shoes off. I know a lot of people always do this anyway but my family never has because I can't do anything if I'm not wearing shoes. I just can't get motivated. Maybe I should get a pair of shoes just for wearing in the house to cut down on sweeping and vacuuming. Just some thoughts I've had. We'll see how they work as the time draws nearer.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Diamonds

I had planned on talking about organization today, but God has led my thoughts in a different direction. So, tonight I want to talk to you about diamonds. Do you have any diamonds? I have the one in my wedding rings and a pair of earings. They seem to be of great value in our culture. People will pay a pretty penny for them, often in spite of the fact they can't afford it. Then there are those of us who opt to get the same look with a $20 CZ from Wal-Mart. Most people can't tell a difference at a glance and I don't know anyone rude enough to really try to examine someone else's jewelry that closely to determine its monetary value. The fact is, in circles like the ones I run in most of us assume that most of the jewelry we wear contain the cheaper immitation stones. That being said, if someone gives me a necklace and I assume the stone in the pendant is a CZ, I could be wrong. It might be a diamond even though I don't recognize it as such.
People are like that. So often we feel that we are only worth as much as someone else (our spouse, our parents, our friends, our pastor or his wife, a perfect stranger, our children, the list goes on) thinks we are. As common as this way of thinking is it simply isn't true. We are diamonds regardless of whether anyone ever recognizes us as such or not. We have value because God gave us value and no one else's appraisal of us can affect our true worth. I would encourage you to take some time to look at what God's word say's about who you are. Write down some of the characteristics you have trouble believing about yourself and read them often. Know that God's word is true regardless of how we feel. Begin to talk to yourself in a way that is in line with what God says about you instead of going over your negative emotions and insecurities. You are a diamond because God says you are. May God bless you and may you take the time to enjoy His blessings every day.