Today Thoughts....

So I didn't get up at 5:00 this morning to meet with my King, which put me in an imediate grumpy mood, just ask Expresso. I had to within the first few minutes of my morning push the roof off and pull the walls down, which simply means had to ask God to forgive me (roof off) for my sinful behavior and my husband(walls down). I even went to bed at an early hour of 9:30. Mornings are always hard no matter what time I go to bed, I just personally hate them! I wish they would leave me alone, but I know that is impossible and must learn to love them, just like those difficult people in my life. Nancy Leigh Demoss expresses my thoughts exactly:

I battle my flesh, which loves to sleep, is easily distracted, and does not like to sit still and be quiet. I battle my schedule with its never-ending "to do" list. I battle interruptions-many of my own making. There are many mornings when I allow my pillow, the phone, or piles of office work to win out, and have ended up spending only a few hurried moments with Him.

A few hurried moments describes my devotional time this morning... that darn pillow! Maybe I should get a rock to sleep on, that would be less tempting to go back to sleep on.

Later in my morning I got a call from my friend who had to cancel our evening dinner plans due to sickness. I can't tell you how much I was looking forward to our fellowship with my friend, I have been looking forward to it since last Thursday but quickly got over it realizing that there is a reason for everything.

I do have some good news though... I made my own homemade babyfood last night saving a good bit of money. It was fun! I made green beans and blueberries. This morning I used the blueberry juice leftover from the food for her cereal, she loved it. I still have some breads to make today.

Also, I only spent 78.76 yesterday at the grocery store! But it isn't going to stay that way if I don't get busy baking some snacks and bread. That is good, but not good enough. There is still more room for improvement. Today I am going to print out my price book pages and record my prices from yesterday.

Meandering and Menu Monday

Tiany, an amazing encourager to all woman in their holy callings has a wonderful weekly accountability meme (or whatever those things are called!). I have seen the little lady hanging her clothes on her clothes line for several weeks now and have had it on my mind to do. Visit Less of Me, More of Him to find out more.

Here are the 5 areas:

1. Bible Study/Devotions
2. Must Do's
3. Zone/Cleaning
4. Train Them Up
5. Menu Planning

Here are my personal goals in each one:

1. Bible Study/Devotions

This week I am going to be working on getting to know my King in a much deeper and more intimate relationship as I devote each morning to Him. This means getting up early. 5:00 to be exact. Here are more of the details:

Pray over His word, dive in His word, worship and praise Him with music, reflect on memory verse for the week and any other verses.

My bible reading is loosely based on this reading plan but I am not bound to it. I am trying to catch up to where I should be but am not going to do it at the expense of making my reading time a duty instead of a delight. Know what I mean?

Each evening instead of turing on the tv, the computer or my mouth :0) I am going to be in the word some more to reflect on some more of His wisdom and read from my current book by Nancy Leigh Demoss, A Place of Quiet Rest. (GREAT book so far!!)


2. "Must Do's"

Let's see here...

1. Call for insurance for Superman and T-Rex
2. Call, again, to put my loan from college on hold
3. Look over budget to see where some changes can be made
4. Send care package to family member
5. Write 2 letters to friends/family
6. Call a friend or person in need... to encourage
7. Make a nursery list of workers for this month and then make calls to them
8. Make a price book
9. Enjoy my family and relax in the love of the Lord...

3. Zone/Cleaning

Okay this week I am really just going to be working on being disciplined in my cleaning routine. I feel like I say this way to many times! I am back to room cleaning... task cleaning just didn't work for me. Here is my schedule:

Monday: Kitchen
Tuesday: Bathroom
Wednesday: Bedrooms
Thursday: Livingroom
Friday: Playroom
Saturday: Outside/Cars

4. Train them Up

I have posted on my fridge right now Wise Words for Mom and a Behavior Chart. This week I am going to be loosely Tomato Staking and watching my boys very closely as they go through each day and will be taking notes, litterally. I have a piece of paper on my table to jot down their behaviors through out each day putting a + or - next to the description so that I can evaluate it at the end of the week. I am praying that this will allow me to "see" a little more clearly the sin that is in their hearts and that God wants me to replace with His words of wisdom. Spanking will be few and there will be a lot more training rather than discipline.

Something else I want to do this week is to have them repeat a certain verse that pertains to the sin that is causing their bad behavior at the very moment of it's appearance.

5. Menu Planning




Monday: Chicken and Rice with Peas
Tuesday: Out to eat and felloship with friends
Wednesday: Black Bean soup with Cornbread
Thursday: Brocolli Spaghetti with homemade bread
Friday: Baked Potato and Brocolli with rolls

This week I am really going to try and be healthy. For snacks we will have homemade breads, granola, peanuts, fruit, cut veges, yogurt, smoothies and water will be our main drink. I am hoping to get to Central Market to buy some wheat to make bread with, mmm but don't know if that is going to happen or not.

None of this above is going to be possible with out God and so it is vital that I stay focused on His will for my life and to take joy in it, to take each moment and use it for His glory. Have a great day.

Food is Consuming our Money!

A closer look at our current food spending has me convicted to make some changes. Let me first share an example of our 1 week grocery spending with you:

Milk 3.50

Eggs (18) 2.38

Yogurt 1.98 (2)

Cool Whip 1.87

Sour Cream 1.18

Carrots 1.68

Hamburger Meat 2.13 (2)

Chicken 6.97

Lettuc 1.50

Cheese 5.96

Turkey 3.58

Bacon 2.63

Pinapple .94

applesauce 1.96

Bannanas .75

Celery 1.34

Bell Pepper .78 (2)

Tomato .73

Cucumbers .74

Corn 1.32

Apples 1.89

Onion .79

Tortillas 1.48

Miracle Whip 3.64 last the month

Creamer 1.48

Peanunt Butter 2.64

Salso 2.08

Cornbread Mix .56

SS Morsel 4.46

Syrup 1.56

Quick Oats 2.98

Veg Oil 1.88

Pam Spray 2.44

Pinto Beans .56

Pumpkin 1.13

Kernal Corn .66

Peach Tea 1.76

Canned Fruit .78 (4)

Tomato Sauce .32

Cream Chicken .98 (2)

Enchilada Sauce .96

Graham Crackers 1.18

Vanilla .98

Fruit Snacks 3.74

Flour 1.74

Potatoes 2.98

Sugar 1.68

Chips 2.50

Mac cheese .60

Baby Food .98 (7)

This is roughly a little over 100 dollars a week. Weekly my reciept is usually 115-125 which for me is HIGH and I am moving to LOWER it, how low? As LOW as I can GO. We are a family of 5, 3 of us being boys that can eat all day long!

Something that I have heard is a good thing to do and have wanted to do for quite some time now is a price book. I simply have not done this because I am lazy. I am going to start a price book as soon as I collect all of the information on exactly how to. It is going to take some extra energy and time on my part but I know that it is going to pay off in the end.

A few months ago I began making my own detergent and house cleaning products and made a significant difference in our budget. It only makes sense to begin to do the same in some areas of my food preperation as well. Baby food, bread, certain mixes and other items. I have done these but am very inconsistent and not reliable at all. I have hopes to commit to a day and time to spend on making these for each week, I know that it is going to be a huge challenge for me just because it will take discipline... something I don't have much of.

I know that there are many other things that I can work on but for now this is it. I know better than to overload myself with to much... walk... don't run. Oh how I want to run and jump right in!

Having any thoughts that you would like to share with me? Please leave it in my comments, I am SO open for suggestions and advice.