News

I found out that hubby and I are expecting our 4th child. I should be due any where from July or August, but I am thinking more along the lines of August 21-23, and my birthday is the 26. lol. You never know. I have a journal blog to chart my pregnancy, and I will update it as soon as anything new or exciting happens. Here is the link, and I will also make a link on the left hand side.

I'm" due Tuesday, August 21, 2007 - Visit My Babies Online Pregnancy Journal

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Let us not forget the true meaning of today. Lots of people this time of year are often very rude. Fighting each other over the last toy for their child, becoming impatient when the line is long and the have to wait a little longer before they can head to their cars. Let the light of Christ shine through you even more this time of year than any other. Don't get all caught up in the hustle and bustle of buying the biggest and most expensive gift. Or even worrying about whether or not you will receive the gift you were hoping for. Let your heart focus on the Lord, and why he was sent here to earth... for us... for our sins... so we can be saved. Imagine that little baby, born in a manger, among the cows, and sheep... among the animals, and the stink of their waste. Think of Mary, giving birth to her baby in those conditions. Try to imagine that beautiful little baby having to be wrapped in simple cloths, and sleeping in a manger of hay that the animals ate and slept on... that beautiful little face, would soon grow into a Man that would give his life for me and you. That's what Christmas is all about... Please don't forget that.

I hope that you and your family have a wonderful and safe Christmas...

GOD BLESS YOU ALL.

P.S. I found out a few days ago, that my husband and I are expecting another baby. This baby should be due around August 23, my birthday is August 26.. so we will see if I have this little one on my birthday.

I'm a messie... here's me cleaning up my mess!

O.K. I have decided to declutter certain areas of my home. Even when my home.. to me.. is clean, I don't think it is ever really clean. I have come to understand that I am what is called a messie... I tend to place things here and there "out of the way" and forget about them. They become part of the room, and I no longer notice these items.. like an extension of the walls. What I did was take pictures of my living room, every wall. After looking at the pictures.. I see what other people would see when they come over. I don't know why taking a picture of your home makes you see things you don't notice by just looking at the room itself.

I noticed that every little free corner here and there, every free small space.. I have stuff crammed and packed in. Probably because I don't have room for these things anywhere else. Well, today I am off to clean these spaces.. I will show you before and after pictures. I will try to get all of this done before tomorrow. I have to be at my sons school at 1 today, for a meeting. We had a fund raiser, and we have to see how much money each person raised. Two years ago I raised almost 500 dollars for my daughter, this year.. I have only raised 200 for my son. The main reason.. when my daughter was in school.. I was a SAHM, now I am going back to school myself and don't have as much free time to work on selling items, or asking for donations.

O.K., O.K., back to the mess. I guess I need to do this in every room. I will set my timer for 15 minutes.. that seems to be what almost every site I visit asks you to do. It's amazing what you can accomplish in just 15 minutes. lol. So.. I think I can get all the spaces cleared out, thrown away, and at least have a mental idea of what I want to do with what's left over afterwards, in the 15 minutes. I will even see if I can get my children to clean up around the rest of the house while I do that.. tell them that they have to make room for all the new toys and clothes that they will get for Christmas.

I hope I soon overcome my messiness. I guess every day I will have to go around my home and take pictures with my digital camera, load the pictures into the computer, and find all those little items that are invisible to me otherwise.
hhhhhum, I don't know.. I have been praying for God to delivery me from my messiness. It's not that I am lazy... I do clean.. I just don't see things like other people see them I guess. That and the fact that growing up, I never had anyone show me how to clean. When my grandmother finally got us kids, she kept her home clean, but we never actually seen her cleaning, and she never required us to do anything to help her out.. which in the long run, hurt me (I was the oldest and only girl). When I got on my own.. I didn't know you had to clean a toilet. lol.. I know sad huh, I didn't know that you had to actually wipe down the sink and mop and sweep as much as you have to. The clothes were just magically in my drawer every day, the bed was magically made. I wish my home ran as smoothly as hers does. I wish my home ran smoothly period.

Well..... I am off to tacle the mess.... I will try to post pictures tomorrow. I have to charge my camera again before I can use it. lol. May God bless each and every one of you and keep you safe today.

This is me

I just wanted to post, to let you guys see the person behind the writings. lol.



This is a picture of my husband and I.... before we were married. It is the best picture I have of the both of us together (in my opinion). It was taken a while ago though... it's hard to believe almost 7 years ago already. I was 17 in this picture. lol. I still look the same, I straighten my hair now, instead of letting it curl. At the moment, I also have highlights, hubby wanted to see them in my hair, and now he has. lol

Here are a couple of pictures taken a couple of months ago... I think, not that long ago anyway. I had just cut my hair... I think I will let it grow back out long... I just hate taking care of it. The first time I ever cut my hair, it was down to my waist. Well... this is me... I don't really like posting pictures of my kids, but I might figure out something later on.





The picture above was taken by my 7 year old daughter... she likes taking pictures, her and my son... he's 5 and boy oh boy is he all boy.

Potato Casserole/Bread rolls recipe

O.K. here's the recipe for the bread rolls I made for the Christmas party last night. They had some compliments. They are the first rolls I have attempted to make.. so I don't really have any others to compare them to, but they were good, and really easy to make. The only thing I have to sort of complain about.... is that it took this dough a really long time to rise.. usually the dough I make shoots up... not this one. lol. I even heard someone say... "You can't even tell they were homemade, they taste just like if you would have bought them from the store" LOL, I know it was meant to be a compliment, but ummm, why spend all that time making the rolls, if you can just buy some from the store and they will taste the same? Well, above is a picture of them before they were cooked. I was running really behind on time, and forgot to take a picture of them after they were done. They looked the same, just a little bigger, and slightly browned on the top. lol. I know they are not all the same size.. but hey... they are homemade... not perfect. below is the recipe... like you couldn't figure that one out on your own. lol. I think next time I will try one of the other recipes.. just to compare. I got this recipe here http://www.americanprofile.com/article/244.html

Buttery Light Dinner Rolls

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup scalded milk
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1/3 cup warm water
• 1 egg, beaten
• About 4 1/2 to 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons melted butter (glaze dough before baking)

Stir sugar, salt, and butter into milk/ cool to lukewarm. Place warm water in a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle with yeast and stir to dissolve. Add warm milk mixture and egg; blend well. Stir in 2 to 3 cups flour and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth. Mix in additional flour about 1/2 cup at a time until a soft dough forms. The dough should be soft and sticky but not stick to the sides of the bowl. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes.

Place dough in a large greased bowl, turning to cover dough with grease. Cover with damp towel and let rise in a warm, draft-free area until doubled in bulk (I usually place in oven) takes about 45 to 60 minutes. Punch down dough, Shape into rolls (1 1/2 inch balls) and place in two greased 8 or 9 inch cake pans or on a large baking sheet about 1/2 inch apart. Cover with damp towel. Let rise until doubled in bulk, about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brush rolls with melted butter and bake 15 minutes or until tops are golden brown. Serve hot. Makes about 24 rolls.

Now... here's the winner... always is, every time. Sorry guys, I also forgot to take a picture of this before I brought it over to the Christmas party... this was all that was left of it when I got home.. and there weren't that many people. lol. At least they had this much left.

Sweet Potato Casserole(or crunch)

• 2 Large cans of sweet potato's
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup of milk
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• (I add a dash of cinnamon, but it's not in the recipe)

Topping

• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
• 1 cup flour
• 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

1. Mix everything in the first list of ingredients together, make sure you mash up the sweet potato's. After you make the mix, place it into a baking dish.
2. Next mix together all of the topping mix. Sometimes the topping will come out too sticky, in that case... add more flour and see if that helps.. or you can just add a little butter at a time until you get it the right consistency. You should be able to "sprinkle" the mixture. If you can't get it that consistency... and I never can.. it comes out sooooooo good anyway, don't worry about it.
3. Sprinkle flour mix over op of Potato mixture.
4. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes...... That's it.

Enjoy.... Like I said, this recipe is asked for at every event... I have even started printing out the recipe and placing it on the lid of the dish, because I know I will be asked for it several times that evening. I hope you try it... if you do.. let me know how it came out, and if you liked it.

Christmas is starting!!!

Well girls, Christmas starts today for us. No not really, well, sort of. My father-in-law works off shore, and he will be gone for Christmas.. is usually gone most Christmas's. Anyway, because he will be gone, my mother-in-law is having her Christmas tonight. I am going to attempt to make some homemade rolls for the dinner, and a sweet-potato crunch. The sweet potato crunch is my grandmothers recipe, everyone always asks me to make it. The rolls however, hhhummm, I had sent a loaf of homemade bread for my mother and father-in-law to try, the really liked it, and asked me to make the rolls for the dinner... now, I have only made a few loaves of bread, and have never attempted the rolls before. I printed out a few roll recipes last night, but haven't figured out which one I will make. They all sound good with names like.. Light and Buttery Rolls.... Melt in your mouth buttery rolls....and New Century Rolls, which is a recipe from the 1900's, bound to be good.. lol. I also found a recipe for some sticky rolls.... ooohhhh they sound so good.. I will have to make them soon. My mother-in-law bought for everyone on her list except me.. so she wants me to go to the store today and pick up something for myself. lol. I don't even know what to get myself. I may just pick up some measuring cups and spoons. I can never seem to keep track of mine, they always get separated and lost somehow. We also need some more glasses.. the set I have now, I bought myself last Christmas, and I only have, maybe, 5 left in the whole 12 set. lol.

Well... after I make the rolls, I will take pictures of them.. oh.. and the sweet potato crunch also. If the rolls come out good, I will post pictures, and the recipes on here tonight or tomorrow.

Now.. there is something else I want to write about. I was laying in bed last night with my husband, trying to sleep, when he came up close to me and put his arm around me.
I was thinking about Christmas, and how he never gets me anything. Instead of enjoying my husband close to me... I was thinking about how he better get me something this year because I have already spent over 200 on him. Then I stopped myself, or God did... and told me to shut up.. Christmas isn't about getting anything.. and you know, I don't worry about getting from anyone else, just my husband.. the one person who does for me all year long, who is faithful to me, who loves me, who treats me so good.
When it comes to anyone else.. I hate getting gifts.. I much rather give than to get, but no, not with him. I love to give to my husband, but I also long to get from him.
Well, I prayed to God, and asked him to take those feelings out of my heart. I have been corrupted, listening to women who feel if their husbands love them, they will buy them nice expensive things. I don't want to be like that. I want to feel like it's enough for my husband to just be there for me, loving me. I took a deep breath, let it out, and snuggled in closer to my husband... I am such a lucky.. rich woman.

Homemade Bread

I have started to make homemade bread for my family. I found a few recipes from the Internet, and so far, this one is my favorite. I don't remember where I found it at though.

Ingredients

• 2 (.25 ounces) packages active dry yeast
• 2 cups warm water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 eggs beaten
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast, sugar and water until yeast is proven.
2. Add salt, eggs, oil and 3 cups of flour; beat until smooth.
3. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.
4. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes.
5. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warmer place until doubled, about 1 hour.
6. Punch dough down. Divide in half and shape into loaves.
7. Place in two greased loaf pans, cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
8. Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.
9. Remove from pans to cool and enjoy.

My Housekeeping Binder

O.K. Here is my binder, finally. Below is the cover of my binder, I named it the Blessing My Home binder. I also put a little scripture on the bottom of the cover.


This is the side of my binder, it is a picture of a victorian era lady and gentleman walking together.


And.... here is the back of my binder. There are two pictures, a lady with her son, and a lady with her daughter. There are inspirational scriptures on the back of my binder also.


This is the first page in my binder, it is an overview of all the things to be done, cleaned, picked up, cooked, etc. for the day. I usually write this out the night before, look through my journal and fill out a quick summary of things to be done. All of the pages in my binder are in page protectors, or plastic sleaves. That away I can mark, check off, line through items that are listed with a dry erase marker, and them just wipe them clean when I need to. This also saves computer ink and paper.


The second part of my binder, I have Candy's Rules for the Wife at Home, my Master schedule, then my Morning, Afternoon, and Night Routines, for the days that you just seem to be getting far behind.


The second part of my binder, I have my Weekday Routines.
Example... Monday clean kitchen and wash pants and Daniels clothes. Tuesday clean bedrooms and wash whites and little Daniels clothes. Wednesday clean livingroom and wash uniforms and my clothes. Thursday clean bathrooms and wash colors and Destiny's clothes. Friday speed clean the whole house, and wash towels and Angelina's clothes.


Then there is my Monthly to do list, or projects as some call it. It says Master To-Do list, but that's the only print out I could find that I could use. lol. Mine looks like this.
1st-7th of the month I will spot clean the walls in the house
8th-14th I will declutter bedrooms
15th-21st I will declutter kitchen
22nd-28th I will declutter livingroom
29th I will steam clean carpet and furniture
30th I will declutter laundry room


Then I have my Chrisis/Quick clean lists. Here, I have Candy's Emergency Quick Clean in Nine SImple Steps. I also have FlyLady's Chrisis Cleaning, and a detailed 15 minute cleanup list for each room in my home.



Next I have a detailed cleaning section. Which is just that. There are the rooms in my home, with the day of the week I clean that room at the top in order Moday-Friday. There is a detailed cleaning list for each room, specific to my home.
Monday's looks like this. Monday/ Kitchen. Start at doorway, working around the room from top to bottom.
Clean off little freezer
wipe down plant table
take out ALL trash
wipe down counter
clean stove
clean counter
clean sink
clear table/wipe down
clean counter
clean icebox
clean microwave
clean shelves
sweep
mop


Then there is my Menu section. I have a square for each day of the week as my first page, large enough to write in them what will be cooked each day. Then I have my shopping list. On the shopping list is everything I usually keep for cooking in my home, next to each item is a little check box. Whenever I need to pick up a certain item next time I go to the store all I need to do is put a mark next to the item in the list and I won't forget about it.


Now we come to the Kids' Chores section. The first page there is Candy's Rules for the Mother at Home in Training Her Children. After that there is a page for each of my children. On their page is a list of daily routines as well as weekly routines.


Second to last (as of right now) We have our own "phone book". We have a page for important numbers, then we have a "family yellow page" followed by a Restaurant and take out directory... maybe next time me and husband want to go and eat out, we can look on here and see that NOTHING is opened on a Sunday night. lol


Then... I have my recipe section. No pictures of that though. I will be posting later on pictures of my homemade bread, and breadsticks. Other homemade meals as I cook them, and remember to take pictures. I have a few posted now you can click on the links to be taken straight there if you want to check them out. homemade bread , homemade bread rolls & Sweet Potato Casserolle.

Now, if you need some guidance, or more idea's for your binder, you can go to Candy's site at www.keepingthehome.com . She also has an e-book for sale with step by step instructions on how to create your binder. Alot of my binder pages came from her e-book. The rest of them I either made myself on my computer, or I printed off of www.organizedhome.com . You can find lots of neat ideas on there. Try it, and see how much it helps you out every day.

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED!!!

Our date!

o.k. I did take picture of my binder today. However, I now have a new delima. I can't figure out how to get the pictures onto the blog. I will try to place the pictures into photobucket, then put them into the blog tomorrow if I can find the time to. Tonight.. I have made a date with my husband. We are going to go and eat out somewhere. He is hunting right now, so as soon he gets home, I will have some bath water ready for him, the house tidied up, and his clothes laid out for him. Hopefully that will set him in a "dateing" mood.

I have been asking him out on a date for over three weeks now, but something else always came up. I have a baby sitter ready tonight.. my mother in law.. and hopefully, nothing else will come up, and we can actually go out, and have a nice time without having to worry about anything.. kids included. Don't get me wrong.. I love my children, but sometimes it's nice to get out and actually hold an unenterupted conversation with your husband. I don't ever want to get to the point where my husband and I just pass each other in the kitchen every now and then, not giving each other a second glance.

Now.. even after eight years of being together.. I still love my husband deeply.. it's just a different stage of love. It's not that new, and exciting, head over heals feeling you get when you first start dating. It's a warm, comfortable, safe feeling. Knowing that he will always be there when I need him, that he will not harm me in any way shape or form, but will comfort me. I love that I am comfortable with my husband. I just don't want to ever take him for granted. I want there to always be a spark between us, and sometimes.. you do have to work to keep that spark there. Especially at stressful times, or when the both of you are going through a lot.


Update: I didn't think about the fact that it was Sunday, we went all over, and all of our favorite places were closed, we wound up eating at Pizza Hut. lol. But it was just the two of us, and it was still nice.

I have been making my own bread, and made some homemade breadsticks last night.. they came out so good, my husband is very picky, and he just raved about the breadsticks. I will post the ingredients and pictures later on, if I can ever figure out how to post pictures.

no binder pictures yet.

I am so sorry I didn't post pictures of my binder yet. I did try... I took out my camera, placed the binder in front of me... pushed the button.. and... the batteries were dead. So I still need to charge them... hopefully by tomorrow I will have my binder up for all to see.

I am finished with school until next semester. I am so glad that I get a break from it for a while. I can spend time at home.. getting everything straightened up. I can catch up on sewing projects, maybe try and make some homemade bread. I really want to try and make some. I think the kids and hubby would love it.
I also want to try and find some nice patterns for modest skirts. I tried to do that also yesterday.. I picked out a pattern, in sort of a hurry, one that I thought was pretty. I also bought some material. When I got home.. I realized that I bought a pattern WAY to big for me. So now, I have to go back and see what else I can find since that one pattern was on sale, and the last one like it.

I thought it was pretty.

Last Final of the Semester!

Good morning all. I want to try and take pictures of my Home Management Binder today if I have time. I still have to get ready to go to school to take my LAST FINAL! Woo Hoo. When I get back home I need to clean the living room and my bathrooms. I was suppsed to clean the living room yesterday but didn't have time to after all the running around my darling husband asked me to do.
I have had my morning time with God today, I ead my children their devotional stories. Well, I will write more after I get home from school today... I really would like to post my binder.

Night

I didn't get all of my chores done today. But I did have to go to school, head to the doctors office, to my oldest's school, to the store, back home... lol. I did have a busy day. My living room is a mess, but I will get to that soon. One more final tomorrow, then I am done until next semester. I will write more tomorrow if I have the time. Thank's for reading.

December 6, 2006 - First morning with my home management binder

This morning was a good morning. I woke up at 6:00, got dressed, tidied up the bathroom, started a pot of coffee for my dear husband, and opened up my newly created home management binder. After reminding myself what I needed to do for the day, I fixed myself a cup of coffee, then sat down at the computer to check my emails, and have my morning bible time. I then got the Kiddo's up and dressed for school and read them their morning daily devotions (stories written for children.) After sending them off to school, little one stayed with dad today, I headed out to school myself to take a final.