In The Refiner's Fire

I have a lot of goals this year. A LOT of goals. This is the second year now that John and I actually have a written list of goals for our family. About mid-way through the year we started writing the baby steps that get to the big goals. We kind of fell off the bandwagon at one point but we actually did accomplish a few of them! For this year, I'm posting my top 10 goals here for all to see (and in my side bar). What are they? Here they are! 1. Finish my PhD. I've been working toward this degree in one way or another since I was 16 years old. Got side-tracked a few times, shuffled off to a parallel field, worked half, full or 3/4 time during the process, had paperwork get lost (three times now!), had the world's worst advisor (not where I'm currently at!), and took 6 years off to work and have my kids in the middle. I went back when my kids were a year old. And I'm SOOOOOOO close now. I have my list of to-dos in my side bar so you can follow along. I had really hop...

Well, I'll be achieving the BIG goal of getting this thing public this week (Wednesday! whoo hoo!), so I thought I'd tackle some real blogging goals for this year: Follow a topic schedule. I'm realizing that my main purpose in this blog is not being followed very well - more random-ish (thoughts, happenings, etc.) postings - so I need some structure. (Yes, I do have a purpose in mind for this blog!) I love structure - I find my life just runs more smoothly when I have structure. So here's my structure for this year: Sunday: These are a few of my favorite things; Monday: Menu Plan Monday and Goals; Tuesday: Healthy Habits in 2010; Wednesday: Work, Home and Family; Thursday: In the Refiner's Fire (My Faith and Health Story); Friday: Frugal Friday; Saturday: Super Savings Saturday. I posted this in my side bar to keep myself accountable. I do reserve the right to add posts as I'd like though! :) Monetize this thing! This is something I'll do eventually but I ne...

I learned something about myself today. That something is that I can handle only so much cleaning out before I start to really need a break. You see, we're one of those families. You know, the ones with things looking pretty good around the house but... ...there are piles of magazine or books or newspapers or letters in the corners... ...there are a couple of rooms or parts of rooms that become catch-alls for random things... ...there are closets and drawers that are crammed to the hilt. Our bedroom had become one of those places - my dresser and the cedar chest being the main depository areas. UGH. It was truly ugly. I had tackled the cedar chest and everything around it on Friday. Lovely. Clean. Uncluttered. Ahhhh..... Today, it was the dresser's turn. Either it was more stuff to clean off and/or sort through or it was too many different categories of stuff or something. I'm not exactly sure. But I found out that I can only take about 2 hours of it before I start goi...

Happy 2010! Can you believe it's the new year already? I don't think I was ready for this... It has been a good and busy new year so far. Rang in Friday with homemade cinnamon rolls and fruit and the Rose Parade on TV. Afternoon was a nap for John and the kids and an hour and a half Jazzercise class for me (my abs are still sore!). I also spent an hour cleaning out the 'catch all' corner in our bedroom. It looks great - like I told John "Look at my cedar chest! Doesn't it look good? No, no don't look at the rest of the room. Just look at the cedar chest!" :) Friday night they had free babysitting at church and John and I had a really nice dinner out (ran into two different sets of friends there too!). Saturday began with with Bible Study for me and for John (he can take the kids with him to his!). Then home and a trip to the indoor park in the next suburb over for 2 1/2 hours of play. John and I worked on our family goals for the year while the kids p...

I can't believe that 2009 has already gone. It just doesn't seem possible. I had so many BIG plans for this year. Some have come to fruition and some haven't. The one's that have: A half bath added in our finished basement. A major redo of our main (and only other) bath completed (the studs and the original cast iron tub are all that's left from before!). My sinus problem diagnosed, treated and finally taken care of through surgery. The one's that didn't: Finishing my PhD - I WILL finish it in 2010 (even if I have to follow a certain committee member around daily!) Cleaning out all the extra stuff in my house. Finishing off our hardwood floors and doors and getting new trim for our main floor. Finishing all the half-finished projects I have started that are lurking in my sewing/craft area. I've made progress on cleaning out the stuff and the projects and am determined to get those and the PhD done in 2010. John and I are going to take some time after the...

Okay, I've said I'd post this stuff for a while but, well, I've been too busy enjoying my family and Christmas and all that stuff! I love, love, LOVE decorating for Christmas! I grew up with a Mom who literally decorated every room in the house except the ugly concrete utility room - even the laundry room got decorated! And it was a big deal. We had a special day for the Christmas Tree and the Nativity with music, cookies, cocoa and lots of exclaiming over the ornaments. The rest of the house was no different - a couple boxes each Saturday starting after Thanksgiving. Exclaiming and excitement. Since I'm in school and the kids are little, we don't do as much as my Mom did (plus I need a few more years to acquire all the "stuff" that she has!). I also try to make the transition from fall to winter fairly easy since I don't have much time. So what did we do? Here's my sofa end tables: Fall: Potpourri and cinnamon scented pine cones. Christmas: Pin...

Uff da! Mom and I inventoried my deep freeze downstairs and I inventoried my pantry, kitchen cupboards, and my fridge/freezer. Nothing really exciting, surprising or shocking except the Tupperware container full of rhubarb sauce with a sticker on it from 1995 that I inherited from my Aunt when she moved west. I think I stuck it in the freezer so that it wouldn't stink up my garbage until it was taken outside. And it got buried. More than once. (Note: my Aunt moved west in 2005, so she'd had it in HER freezer for 10 years first - I was just playing copycat! :) ) Possible Challenges? 26 10oz steaks from our 1/4 cow. What on earth was I thinking when I got that many? 7 sticks of unsalted butter, supposedly for baking, but I'm not sure. 4 1/2 lbs of Chicken Leg Quarters that need to be used somehow. 1 ham bone that I'd saved to make split pea with ham soup for my folks but didn't this time around (John doesn't like that so I can't make it for us) and I sho...