In The Refiner's Fire

One of the things I did last fall to combat the financial bummers blues was to "Shop My Own Closet". I decided that since I had this closet full of clothes, I probably really did have something to wear and needed to take stock and see what I had that I liked, and fit and that I could mix and match with other things for a fun, relatively fashionable and pleasant to wear wardrobe. Let me tell you, I have never ever been so thankful that my mother taught me to never buy a top without having at least 3 bottoms in my closet that I could wear it with. Ditto for bottoms - never buy a bottom that you don't have at least 3 tops to wear with. I do own jeans and two denim skirts, so that makes things easier. So, how do you shop your closet? It goes something like this: Step 1: Pick out a bottom. Here's one of mine: Step 2: Go through your closet and drawers and pick out anything that you think might work. My haul: 2 t-shirts, a sweater, and 5 blouses (2 of them white). Step 3: E...

Last week I wrote about priorities and how having a "top 10" list plus a mission statement has helped me in setting up my new schedule. But what good are priorities if we don't take the time to act on them? That has been a continual struggle for me my entire life and I assume it will continue to be for at least quite a while yet, if not for the rest of my life. There are so many things that I would like to do, so many things that would be nice to do, and so many things that seem urgent that need to be done. If I do those things, instead of what really is important, then I lose the time for what is important. Last year at a Scrapbook retreat, I had someone wonder if I ever slept since I made my own bread instead of buying it at the store. Then someone else chimed in and asked if there was anything I don't do. Yes, I do sleep. :) And Yes, there are a LOT of things I don't do. What are some of those things I don't do? I rarely go out with anyone except my h...

This last week was the 3rd week that I'd made it to 3 workouts a week! Whoo hoo! Never mind that they weren't consecutive weeks. At least I had 3 weeks! this year! :) What's different this week? I'm feeling the difference that cutting back on snack food and upping that workout time has made. I don't think I've lost any inches or weight since last week (and yes, I'm too chicken to find out!), but I feel better. I have more energy. My muscles are sorer than they have been for a while. I was able to use my 5lb hand weights longer during class than I have for quite a while. I like all of that! Now - I just need to get the pounds and inches budging.... BUT, in the meantime, I'll take what I can get. More energy is good - I can definitely live with that! How are you doing with your healthy habits? Care to share?

It seems to be hard for me to post on Mondays, so I definitely need to tweak the schedule a little to make sure I get that in! That's what this last week and this week is about - making those little scheduling tweaks that make the schedule "golden". So how did last week go? Did I get everything accomplished that I wanted to? Um, of course not. :) Even with the shortened list and the schedule. What did I get done? * 1 1/2 papers written for school * 1/2 book read for school * Some filing done * Two letters written * My Valentine's decorations up * Seminar attended * My daily household chores and the kids chores done * To bed and up on time * 1/2 of the library book read What didn't I get done? * 1/2 the 2nd paper for school written * The rest of that first book and half of another read for school * One interview transcribed *The rest of the filing *That baby quilt! (UGH) *A date with John (our sitter got sick and then he got called in) * All the pictures develope...

We start out the week with Valentine's Day - what a day to start with! We're continuing the 'eating from the pantry' so I made up this menu at the end of January from mostly pantry items. We do have one new recipe to try this week and we'll see what we think of it. We've had a couple of new recipes this last week. One was a hit (Easy Tomato Basil Soup) and one that we decided would be better as a chip dip than as dinner (Southwest Veggie Couscous). Both are keepers! Hopefully this week's new recipe will be too. Sunday, February 14 (Valentine's Day): Brunch: Baked Eggs, Hashed Brown Potatoes, Oatmeal Muffins, Strawberries and Melon Dinner: Steaks, Baked Potatoes, Green Beans, Melon-Pineapple-Orange Salad Desert: Homemade Red Velvet Cake with white frosting Monday, February 15: Breakfast: Oatmeal Dinner: Swedish Meatballs, Noodles, Steamed Corn, Orange Wedges Tuesday, February 16: Breakfast: Oatmeal Dinner: Baked Salmon, Rice, Steamed Carrots, Melon-Pineap...

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone! The kids had their Valentine's Day party at Pre-school Friday and they enthusiastically wrote their names on all their Valentine's to take to school! Here they are writing - I'm adding the pencils that came with the Valentine's! I have such good memories of Valentine's Day from when I was a kid - I'm glad they have those kinds of memories too. John was on call - and of course, got called in right when we were supposed to have our at-home Valentine's date - so we will postpone our "Valentine's Date" until next weekend, when we have an actual babysitter and no call scheduled! I hope you have a wonderful day and are able to do something nice for your sweetie, your kids or someone who just needs an extra boost. God Bless You All!

John and I used to go out quite regularly - we had symphony tickets, and we went out a few other times a month as well. Then, I went back to school and we had to re-evaluate. The symphony tickets lapsed, paying for a babysitter meant paying for someone to watch the kids the one day a week John had to work late and I had class, and our one family we swapped babysitting with didn't need to do that anymore. So, what do we do? At home date night! Sometimes it hasn't been that simple to 'turn off' all the 'stuff' that needs to get done at home. Sometimes we've both been so tired that opting for an early bedtime was far more appealing than a date - even one at home. Sometimes we just had too much other stuff going on to take the time - though we really tried to take at least an hour for each other in spite of that. We decided this year that we'd really like to have symphony tickets again, so that's on the savings list for this year. And our church has begu...

We're still eating from the pantry and our grocery list is getting shorter this month - whoo hoo! Love that! My list had the following on it before I sat down with the sale flier this morning to make out my list: milk, fruit, butter, lemonade mix, baking powder and wheat flour. The lemonade mix and wheat flour are optional unless there's a sale, so really it just had milk, fruit, butter, and baking powder. Fruit on sale this week is pineapple, apples, pears and oranges. Since we still have oranges, a melon and apples from last week, I purchased a pineapple and bananas. I did get a couple of other sale items as well. So here's what we got: Two Gallons of Milk Two 64oz Apple Juice (BOGO) Two containers of mushrooms (BOGO) 10 ct Tortillas 8 oz sour cream Baking Powder 1 16 oz can diced tomatoes 5 ct plain bagels (for John for breakfast at work) 1 Pineapple 3 lbs Bananas (we had yellow ones at home, so these are for later in the week) Total: $17.76 I totally forgot to buy th...

One of the hardest things about being a working outside of the home mom is making room for all of the things I have to, want to and need to do in my life. Working on my schedule this last week and a half has just confirmed for me that priorities are a necessity. John and I have been working on our budget priorities but that was shelved to make room for the schedule. Just like having priorities in a budget is necessary, so is having priorities in life. I carry a home-made day planner with me almost everywhere I go. It's a 1-inch 3-ring binder with the clear pocket on the front. I personalized it with some clip-art graphics and the label "Lea's Schedule" printed on a piece of paper and put into the pocket. In it I carry monthly and weekly calendars, my weekly to-do list (I'll write more about that another week), Bible verses I'd like to memorize, my Bible reading plan checklist, a list of prayers that I like to reference regularly, a list of little ways to ...

Well, it's been over a month since I started this and I'm honestly not making much progress. The problem areas? Getting in those third and fourth workout seems to be the biggie. I also haven't lost an ounce or an inch. **Sigh** Then my pedometer started acting weird and then died. No, it wasn't the battery. I'm not sure what it was, but it's not working at all. I figured out with putting together my new schedule that having four out-of-the-house workouts just won't work with John's schedule, my schedule and the kids' schedule if we're not going to have to pay for additional baby sitters and actually see each other once in a while! :) I figured out how to fit in 3 workouts, but not four. What I wanted? No. Can I live with it? Yes. I did buy a new pedometer and my new "goal" is to take a walk at lunch time for about 15-20 minutes. When the weather gets nicer I'm going to walk a path I've walked before that takes about that mu...

Well, I was MIA most of last week because of this new schedule thing - getting it put together, working out some of the 'kinks' and just plain getting my ducks in a row. Can I tell you how freeing it is to be able to look at my schedule and realize that I actually have everything I need to get done this week scheduled? I even have a couple of empty slots and an almost completely free Saturday afternoon to play 'catch up' with the inevitable things that get missed and problems that come up. It's so nice to get out the door in the morning with the house picked up, no one rushing and everything all set for when we get home in the evening. I like that. I like being able to look at my day and know I have time to work on things, make dinner, spend time with John and the kids and not be rushing from one thing to another and worried about getting things done. I had no idea how many things I had running around in the back of my mind until they were all down on paper. Or h...

We're continuing our eating from the pantry into February, and one of the things I did to facilitate this was make out a list of menus from our cupboards and freezer before February even started! So, throwing together this week's menu was a snap! Combining that with all the schedule planning and everything else we've been doing this last week, I feel ready to tackle the week and (God willing!) make some significant progress on things around here! After looking at my menu for this week, I needed to purchase 2 cans of diced tomatoes, milk, fruit and flour tortillas. One of this years I'll be brave enough to try to make my own tortillas but not right now! The kids and I are home together on Wednesday and Thursday and John is home with them on Friday, so I also have lunches planned even though they're not mentioned here. Sunday, February 7: Brunch: Leftovers Dinner: Super Bowl Party for Dad and Kids; Leftovers for Mom Monday, February 8: Breakfast: Oatmeal Muff...

On Wednesday night I have choir practice at church. We have re-arranged the schedule when our women's group practices as well (we only sing about 4 times a year) and I got home later than usual on Wednesday because of that. Buddy and Missy were in bed, so I went in to kiss them goodnight. Missy was still awake. And hugged and kissed me. Buddy looked like he was asleep. But he said "I love you, Mama" when I kissed him. I replied, "You're almost asleep, aren't you Buddy?" His answer: "No, Mom, I'm already asleep." :) Hoopa-Loops: Defn: a large ring, usually made of plastic, placed around a person's middle and kept there by 'wiggling the hips' while the ring spins in circles. (Typically known as "hula-hoops" to adults). (John had heaps of fun with that one - and I couldn't look at him or I'd really laugh!) Aren't kids fun? What more can I ask for?

I spent about $28 of our $80 last week to restock some things and buy a couple of treats - Breyer's Ice Cream was on sale so I bought 2. That was good because John's Bible Study at 1 carton on Tuesday night along with the apple/pear crisp I made for them (cookies had been on the menu but just plain didn't happen!). So, at least Buddy has his "Nilla" for the next week or two! :) Going to the store today was a pleasure - I needed milk, fruit, 2 cans of diced tomatoes, a bag of salad, and tortillas. I did get some other deals, so here's some of what we got: Goldfish crackers 3/$3 (store coupon) 3 Birds Eye Freshlike Frozen Vegetables 33 cents each after coupon and sales 8 oz Kraft Cheddar Cheese $1.50 after sale and coupons Store Brand Oyster Crackers: Free with purchase of 2 cans of diced tomatoes 2 Breyer's Ice Cream: $3.99 (BOGO with sale) Oranges 5# at 68 cents/lb Fresh Express Garden Salad 99 cents on sale Sorry - no photo. My camera is burried in the ba...

How's that for lumping it all together in one post? No, I'm not going to do that every week but for this week it seems appropriate. The reason I've been missing for the last two days is that John and I have been working hard at how we're going to balance my school and work, his school and work, the kids' school, play time and dance class, and all the other household and personal things we need to do. We're taking the bulk of our "free time" this week to put together a schedule that is actually implementable (is that a word?) and works well for us. It also needs to be easily adjusted because our schedules change with school semesters and our need for study time and our times of fixed classes/meetings/etc. changes. It's been such a blessing these last 2-3 days to sit down, re-evaluate the goals we made at the beginning of the year (is that really only a month ago?) and see what we need to do to get where we hope to be. We've always had a routin...