Four of my five children are at summer camp for the week. The only one home is my oldest, who will be at work most days. So my project for the week is to attack ... my bedroom!
I am naturally a packrat and a sentimental saver. I am also NOT naturally organized, and I have a hard time envisioning a neat and efficient way to store things in my home. So my bedroom has become a catch-all. When I don't know what to do with something, it usually ends up in a pile in my room. There is a table piled with photos, scrapbooking materials, concert programs and field trip brochures and award certificates ~ and I haven't touched any of it in, oh, a year or more. There are bags of outgrown clothes waiting to go to Goodwill. There are sleeping bags, boxes of seasonal decorations, rolls of gift wrap, art supplies, an old computer that we no longer use. It has become overwhelming to the point that I avoid doing anything in there at all. Except sleep. Fortunately ( or unfortunately ) my husband is a also a "messie", with clothes piled next to his side of the bed and a dresser top piled high with papers, tools, assorted containers, loose change, etc. He never mentions the condition of the room, although I bet he would appreciate a room that was comfortable and attractive and in order, even if he doesn't realize it!
My heart's desire is for our bedroom to be a sanctuary, a peaceful refuge, an attractive and comfortable place of rest and romance. This is a huge challenge! My friend, Eileen, suggested that I just bag up EVERYTHING in plastic trash bags~ clear out the whole room and dust and vaccuum and clean and paint ~ then begin going through the contents of the bags one at a time and only returning those things that I really need or want. The rest stays out. I think I need to do that with furniture too. There is a desk in there that is too big and bulky and I really should get rid of it. I'd like to find a smaller computer desk and set up a corner "office" for my husband for when he needs to work from home... now he has no "place" to do that, and either sits on the bed with his laptop on his lap or even sits on the floor. And there is a plastic bookshelf that is rather ugly. And my dresser is missing a drawer because it fell apart.
My big motivation is a quilt that my mom is making for my 25th wedding anniversary, which is this summer. It is gorgeous, and will be the centerpiece of my "new" bedroom. I just need to get things ready. Eileen has promised to help. She is the opposite of me! She is a neatnik, a clean freak, a natural at organizing and decorating. Her house is beautiful and warm and welcoming. Of course, I can't let her step foot in my room the way it is right now! I'd appreciate any and all prayers in regards to this endeavor. I feel like I'm getting ready for battle...

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"She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes."

Proverbs 31:24

The girls and I opened an online shop at etsy.com today.  It is a place for buying and selling handmade items, and I first heard about it from my friend, Lea, at www.homeschoolblogger.com/endoftheroad.  She has a shop on etsy too, selling soaps and crocheted dishcloths and assorted other cute items.  You can visit her at www.minwifeof4boys.etsy.com. Our shop is called Cinnamon Hearts . Right now we have several fun print pillowcases, made of 100% cotton,which kids love to have on their beds and to take on sleepovers, etc.  

We'll be adding more items as time goes by.  This will give us a good reason to get out the sewing machine and craft supplies more often!  

www.cinnamonhearts.etsy.com

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I've started to get serious about saving money on my grocery bill again, and I just have to tell you about my trip to the grocery store this week.  Lowes Foods had a coupon in the Sunday paper for Triple Coupons on Sun. - Tues. of this week.  You had to spend at least $35, and they would triple 20 coupons of 99 cents or less, and double any over the limit of 20. 

I spent about an hour going through the store sales flyer and pulling coupons from my file, and then headed to the store on Monday morning.  The total bill before Rewards Card and coupon savings was $109.99, and I spent $42.55. Woo hoo!    

I started to declutter my kitchen this week.  This is a MAJOR area of ..... shall we say... challenge?... for me.  I am a pack rat.  So I started with my tupperware cabinet ( actually 2 cabinets ) and pulled everything out.  There was so much stuff crammed in there that it was hard to find things and to put things away neatly.  So I decided that for everthing I put back into the cabinet, I would put one thing in the Give Away bag.  I started by putting away the " I love this and use it all the time" pieces, and got rid of the " I can't remember the last time I used this" ones. It got harder with pieces that were " I sometimes use these".  But how many storage containers do I really need?  Or how many mixing bowls?  I filled 2 whole tall kitchen garbage bags with plastic ware that I will take to Goodwill. And the cabinets look so much better. I can actually get to the things I want and things don't fall out every time I open the door.  Ahhhh

I'll let you know what I tackle tomorrow ( I haven't decided yet).

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Sunday I did my first real shopping using the list from The Grocery Game.   They have lists for 2 stores in my area, and since I am still in the $1 Trial Period, I have lists from both. (once you are past the trial period, you pay a fee for each store you want a list from; I'll have to see if it is worth paying for both )  I am fortunate (?)  to live within 5 miles of 6 major grocery stores or super discount stores. So I printed off the lists, pulled out the coupons that went with the lists, scanned the store flyers of the other stores nearby for great specials ( like .99/lb split chicken breasts at Kroger this week ) jotted down my own list for them, and went out.   I hit Harris Teeter ( double coupons), Kroger ( double coupons), WalMart, Food Lion, and Lowes Foods.  It took me about 3 hours.  I came home with $232.35 worth of groceries and paid $144.75.   Total savings of 38%.  

Part of the "game" is to stock up on things at their lowest prices, so that you don't need to buy them again later when the prices are high, so I stocked up on a couple of items, and bought a few "extra" things for Super Bowl snacking.  ( we don't really care about football at all, but the FOOD is the important part of the day!)

I was pleased, and hope to be able to increase that savings percentage as I go along. Hubby was very pleased  ~  groceries ( including paper products/ cleaning supplies/ personal hygiene )  is our #1 expense annually - more than our home mortgage!   So anything that reduces that cost is significant for our budget!  And with a second child entering college in the fall, pennies count.

If any of you decide to try The Grocery Game, do use me as a reference ( and I'll earn free weeks ).  cstonehs@juno.com

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I spend a huge sum of money on groceries, and am always looking for ways to help the budget.  Have any of you ever heard of The Grocery Game?  It is a website where you can get a weekly list of the best specials at your local grocery store as well as a list of the corresponding manufacturers coupons from the Sunday paper or store flyers.  This is the info. from the website:

What is The Grocery Game?
The Grocery Game is a fun, easy way to save hundreds of dollars on groceries each month. TERI'S LIST reveals the "rock bottom" prices on hundreds of products each week and matches them up with manufacturers' coupons for the best possible savings at your local supermarket. The Grocery Game has exclusive databases that track manufacturers' coupons along with weekly sales and specials, both advertised and UN-advertised. With TERI'S LIST, the days of time consuming work required for effective coupon-ing are over. The Grocery Game does all the hard work and research, presented in a quick reference format on the internet each week, as TERI'S LIST. Members log in, spend a few minutes with a pair of scissors, and they're off to win The Grocery Game!

One of the things that I think is cool is that their database can tell if a sale price is really a "best price" or just a "phantom sale", meaning a better price on that item will be coming later.  There is a place on the site to type in your zipcode and it tells you what grocery stores in your area they have lists available for.  Here in Wake Forest, they have lists for Harris Teeter and Food Lion. Plus there is a free list for Walgreens on the website.  So today I signed up for the $1 Four week Trail.  I took my Walgreens List, my coupon file, and picked up some things tonight at the new Walgreens down the road.  My bill was $52.  My savings were $34.  Not too bad.  Tomorrow I'm going to Harris Teeter.

Check it out at www.thegrocerygame.com

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Since this is the season of scratchy throats and sniffles, I thought y'all might want to try this very tasty and nutritious soup. I got the recipe from urbanhomemaker.com . The garlic, ginger, and cayenne are recommended for stimulating the immune system.

Old Fashioned Chicken Soup

6 c. chicken stock or broth

2 c. diced chicken or turkey

5 or more cloves fresh garlic, crushed

½ c. chopped onion

1" piece of fresh gingerroot, peeled and minced

 2 c. chopped carrots

1 c. chopped celery

2 c. leftover cooked brown rice or noodles

1 tsp. salt or to taste

1/8 tsp. cayenne ( optional )

1 tsp. thyme

1 tsp. savory

1 c. peas or beans

2 Tbls. olive oil

Saute the onion and celery in the olive oil until softened; add ginger and saute another 1-2 minutes. Add the stock or broth and the carrots and simmer until the carrots are tender - 15-20 minutes. Add salt and herbs. Mix 1/3 cup flour ( whole grain preferred ) with 1 c. cold water so there are no lumps.  Bring soup to a boil; slowly add the  water/flour mixture while stirring to lightly thicken the soup.  Add rice or noodles, and peas or beans, and adjust seasonings to taste. 

Enjoy!

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Here is the bread cornucopia my 17-y-o daughter made for our Thanksgiving gathering. Isn't it beautiful?! 

It is made from refrigerated bread stick dough wrapped around an aluminum foil cone and baked. We filled it with cut up veggies. Next to it is a hollowed out red cabbage filled with spinach dip. 

Directions for the cornucopia are at allrecipes.com

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Food for thought from Home-Making , by J.R. Miller :

( remember, this was originally published in 1882 )

 p 11    "Homes are the springs among the hills, whose many streamlets, uniting, form like great rivers society, the community, the nation, the Church. If the springs run low the rivers waste; if they pour out bounteous currents the rivers are full. If the springs are pure the rivers are clear like crystal; if they are foul the rivers are defiled."

p. 22  " Coleridge says, ' The happiness of life is made up of minute fractions, the little soon-forgotten charities of a smile, a kind look, a heartfelt compliment, and the countless infinitesimals of pleasurable thought and genial feeling.' These may seem trifles, and the omission of them may be deemed unworthy of thought; but they are the daily bread of love, and hearts go hungry when they are omitted."

p.58  "The true wife needs to be no mere poet's dream, no artist's picture, no ethereal lady too little for use, but a woman healthful, strong, practical, industrious, with a hand for life's common duties, yet crowned with that beauty which a high and noble purpose gives to the soul."

p.79  " How can she make sure that her influence over her husband will be for the good, that he will be a better man, more successful in his career, and more happy, because she is his wife? ....

She will make him not what she tells him he ought to be, but like what she herself is."

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Here is my lasagna recipe, adapted from my mother-in-law's yellowed, clipped-out-of-the-newspaper, family favorite recipe!  It can be put together in under an hour, if you use bottled spaghetti sauce.

 Beth's Lasagna

Sauce: 

1lb. Italian turkey sausage (casing removed ) or lean ground beef

1 clove garlic, minced

1 T. oregano

1 T. basil

1 ½ tsp. salt

1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes

1 8-oz. can tomato paste

( or substitute 2 jars Newman's Own Marinara sauce for all but the meat )

1 pkg. lasagna noodles

3 c. part-skim ricotta cheese

2 beaten eggs

2 tsp. salt

½ tsp. pepper

2 T. parsley flakes

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Brown meat slowly; drain off excess fat. Add next 6 ingredients ( or bottled sauce ), simmer uncovered until sauce is thick, 45 -60 minutes, stirring occasionally.

( you only need to heat through if using bottled sauce )

Cook noodles in boiling water until tender; drain. Rinse in cold water. Meanwhile, combine ricotta cheese with eggs, seasonings, and Parmesan. Place half of cooked noodles in 13  x 9 - inch baking dish. Spread with half of the ricotta cheese mixture, half the shredded mozzarella, and half the meat sauce.  Repeat layers. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.  Let stand 15 minutes before cutting.

Serves 12

Serve with good, crusty Italian bread and salad ( Italian mixed greens, black olives, chopped plum tomatoes, slivers of red & yellow sweet pepper, herbed croutons.... drizzled with  your favorite Italian dressing )

Mangia!

Several years ago, at a homeschool conference, I heard a woman speak on Setting Priorities, and what she said helped me a great deal.  She made two lists - Things I Do and Things I Don't Do.  These are deliberate choices we make for our lives, based on what is most important to us, what season of life we are in, what God has called us to.   For every thing on the first list, there should be something on the second.  Time given to one activity means no time for something else.

For instance, my lists look something like this:

THINGS I DO:                                                THINGS I DON'T DO:

Homeschool my children                              Work outside the home  

Teach art in the homeschool co-op             Teach Sunday School

Serve weekly in the church nursery              Serve in AWANAs

Support group leadership                             Women's Ministry leadership

Volunteer 3 hrs/mo.at church                        

     Food Pantry             

Mom-daughter Keepers at Home club/       AnchorSoul (huge church

   Yearbook advisor/ Gen.Science co-op        drama / sing in choir / help 

                                                                             with Boy Scout troop

Blog, yahoogroups, computer                      Watch TV       

Walk for exercise (usually with hubby)         Aerobics class

Morning  Quiet Time                                      Ladies' Bible Study                                    

There's more, but you get the idea.  It is a challenge for me, because there are really more things on my DO side than DON'T DO side.  I am one to live by the maxim "If you want to get something done, you just have to do it yourself".  Not necessarily BY yourself, but diving in there, rolling up the sleeves, getting involved...  So I often suffer from being overextended and tired.  I have to be very careful not to neglect my dear husband, who works 60+ hoursa week but likes my attention when he is home.   And I constantly battle at keeping the house looking respectable.

 But having a list written down definitely helps me to say "I'm sorry, I can't" when I am asked to do something on my DON'T DO list, or when I start to feel guilty about not participating in some area.

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