May. 19, 2007
May 2007 Sweet Monday -- Tea Party Themes

Tea Party Themes

(with ideas from “Let’s Have a Tea Party” by Emilie Barnes)

Garden Tea Party:

·      Invitations:  Use flowered or garden themed invitations, or make your own.  Be sure to let guest know it’s an outdoor celebration.

·      Decorations: Use an outdoor patio or other table, or do an old-fashioned picnic with a tablecloth on the ground.  For centerpiece, use a water can or flower pot and fill with flowers from your garden.  If using a patio table with an umbrella, decorate its edges and pole with ivy/garland.

·      Food: Garden Patch Cupcakes with chocolate frosting, decorated with crushed chocolate cookies for dirt; cut drinking straw into 2-3” pieces and stand one in the middle of each cupcake.  Then place a real or artificial flower, stem down, into each straw.  Use mint leaves to create “leaves” of flower and hide straw.  BugBites are round cookies (sugar or gingersnaps) for the bug bodies, decorated with icing, red hots or mini-M&M’s, along with licorice or fruit-flavored candy strings for legs, antennae, etc . To made Flower Power, cut petals and around center out of bread.  Add cream cheese to petals and add a top.  Put center in middle of serving plate, adding cream cheese and raisins.  Arrange “petals” around center.  Keebler has also come out with new graham crackers called BugBites.

Musical Tea Party:

·      Invitations:  Perhaps have this theme to celebrate a composer’s birthday, a piano recital, or the symphony coming to town.  Look on the internet for the score with a music sheet/staff as your invitation or see if you can find some at your local store.

·      Decorations: If you have an instrument, use that as part of your centerpiece.  For placemats, use plain white paper placemats and draw a large musical staff (5 horizontal and parallel lines) on each.  Then set each guest’s name to music.

·      Food: Piano Key Sandwiches are made from pumpernickel & white bread.  Cut the crusts from the white bread and cut into 4 pieces.  Spread with cream cheese.  Then cut pumpernickel into 3-4 pieces and spread with cream cheese.  Arrange on tray so the look like black & white keys on a piano.  Make Flute Cookies from long, type-shaped cookies decorated with icing for the finger holes.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Anti-Tea Party:

I thought this one up to give the boys in our lives a fun way to get in on a tea party and not have them feel it’s too “girly.”  Have them dress up as Indians and read them the story of the Boston Tea Party.  They can even act it out by dumping instant tea into a wading pool filled with water and make boats out of newspaper to float in their very own “Boston Harbor.”  For the food, you could have Boston-type foods like a Boston Cream Pie, Boston Brown Bread, or even Boston Baked Beans!  And of course, since the colonies boycotted tea, they can drink another favorite drink, or use their ships to pretend they are smuggling tax-free tea to our shores.

Mar. 13, 2007
Sweet Monday for March 2007 -- Quick & Creative Cards

This month, we just did a simply menu of foods we would snack on while we worked.  Popcorn, knock-off Girl Scout cookies from Dollar General for $1.50, mints, and the candy for the month was Baskins Robbins 31 Flavors hard candy in Mint Chocolate Chip flavor in honor of St. Patricks Day. 

For the devotional, I shared with the ladies how a friend always puts a pre-printed little slip of paper in her notes with a quote/scripture that she find interesting or powerful. (She just types them up, prints them off, and has them with her writing supplies.)   I encouraged the ladies to start doing that when they write notes (we all agreed we LOVE quotes), as we never know how God will use it to encourage the reciever.  I shared with them how that little paper from my friend was something I really clung to and meditated on for many months (see the first part of the blog entry, Why "Whirlwind.")

For the program, I shared many saving paper-craft tips (see below) and we made cards at our dining room table.  I explained that since I now have busy kids and a busier life, I tend to come up with a design and then "assembly-line" it and make a lot all at one time.  For birthdays, all the kids get the same card design, and the adults ladies another, and then the guys another.  That way, I have them all made up for the year and put into my card album by who-to-send-what-to-which-month, and I don't accidently end-up sending a "repeat" card to someone the following year.

I also send them home with a copy of "Money Saving Tips" and card sketches I found at http://www.memorycreators.com/sketches.htm

Creative Paper Craft Money Saving Tips:
(or how to not go broke with a hobby)

The idea behind making your own cards, etc is to create something handmade and being wise with your funds – store-bought cards can be well over $3.00 at least!   While getting your stash of supplies to get started could be pricey, learn to be wise and you’ll be able to do it quite reasonably.


Home Improvement Stores, Here We Come!
• Buy a rolling tool chest (about $25 at Wal-Mart) instead of a pricey traveling caddy to store items in.
• Look for fishing tackle kits or hardware-supply storage items to store things in.
• Left-over paint chip samples are a neat way to coordinate colors and get free “cardstock.”  The “window” kind can give you great spaces to stamp, put words, stickers, etc.

What’s Around the House?
• Use film canisters, Altoid tins, or other small containers to store eyelets, brads and other small embellishments.
• Shoeboxes and other boxes are great to store pre-folded cards, envelopes, pre-made phrases & quotes, etc.
• Like the look of sewing and embroidery?  Here are 2 ideas.  Use embroidery floss instead of pricey fibers.  Just thread some big needles and start hand-sewing through the paper.  Your regular sewing machine is also just itching to be used to create borders, add detail, or even to bind a mini album together.  You can also use ribbons and embroider on your paper, just as you would fabric.
• Mail, Magazines & Catalogs:  You’d be amazed at some of the hidden treasures that find your way into your mailbox.  Look for junk mail ads with pretty backgrounds – use the nice side, cut to the size you need and use as you would decorative paper.  Look for interesting stamps.  Use layouts of articles and ads to “scraplift.”  Glean ideas!
• Use a small, cheap plastic cutting board to protect your work surface when setting eyelets.
• Don’t want to spend a lot of money on pricey eyelet setting tools?  You don’t have to.
     1) Use an exact-o knife to make a small “x” where you want to put your eyelet.
     2) Push your eyelet through, turn over paper to the back.
     3) Find a Phillips head screwdriver that just the tip, but not the rest of the screwdriver part, fits in the eyelet hole.
     4) Use a regular hammer, or a lightweight hammer (you can smaller light hammers for .99/$1 at dollar places) to hit top of screwdriver to set the eyelet.
     5) If only part of the eyelet set, take screwdriver out and reinsert it so the outer edges of the screwdriver bit goes against the sides that have not set yet. Hit it. Take screwdriver out and hit the eyelet itself a few times....works like a charm!

Stores:
• Look for coupons.  Buy things on sale (but only what you truly need).  Bulk papers are always cheaper than single sheets.  They also come coordinated, which make putting your project together a lot easier.
• Dollar Stores are carrying lots of card and scrapbook items now.  Browse through their aisles and see what you can incorporate.  They have paper, stickers, brads, and more!
• Buy envelopes in bulk.  Look in the office supply aisle – you’ll find all sizes and white/assorted colors.
• Use 12x18 construction paper for the base of your cards – you’ll get a lot of cards for your cash.

Your Computer:
• Search for ideas on the internet – there are tons of sites out there with free projects, etc.  My favorite is www.papercraftsmag.com.  You can also find free graphics, digital downloads, etc.
• Play around with your Word program to create cards for almost free.  Type phrases, quotes, etc with different fonts and print them out.  Paste in clipart, etc you find from the web and use instead of store-bought stickers.  You can even print them out on sticker paper that you can find at office stores or WalMart to save the step of gluing.

March 13, 2007    Quick  & Creative Card Making

Join us as we create cards for all occasions!

Feb. 17, 2007
Sweet Monday for February 2007

 Feb. 12, 2007   Money and More

Now that we’re “healthy” in body from our meeting in January, let’s try to do the same with our pocketbooks as we get our budgets and finances in order.

For this month, I invited a woman on staff at our church who helps with their finances and biblical stewardship to speak with us.  She shared her honest testimony of how she had degrees in business, finance, etc, and "of all people, you would think she would of had handling her family's money down quite well."  But that was not the case and one day she had to confess to her husband that they were lacking.  She said, "Now ladies, this is definately a time when I will tell you to 'do as I say and not as I do.' "

How gracious her testimony was and inspiring to us all.  They are now out of debt and she is able to share with others how to be wise biblical stewards of the money God blesses them with. 

She share with us principles from Crown Financial Ministries and especially recommends the book "Personal Finances" by Larry Burkett.   She used it as the base of her talk, which focused around planning and budgeting (she said long-term planning was the thrid component and it would be best to talk to someone with greater expertise).

She gave us great resources to use, including the suggested percentages per category.  A helpful tool to use to do this can be found at http://www.crown.org/Tools/budgetguide.asp?aid.  You can input your own income, etc and it will create a suggested budget for you.  (note: it is suggested only and you may find you need to re-adjust suggested percentages based on your needs, etc.)

Now & Later Devotion

As I thought about which candy to get this month, the package of “Now & Later” seemed to jump out at me.  While is has nothing to do with the topic of money from all outside appearances, the reason I bought it is because it made me think of the commercials that say, “Buy now and pay later!” 

You know the ones that just seem like crazy deals such as: “0% down, pay nothing until January of 2037!!!!!” -- Those that make you turn to your husband and say, “Let’s go get what they are selling!” 

It may not matter that your TV is ok and you have more than enough channels to keep you entertained, that your couch may have a few more years of life in it, and that the car you bought a few years ago is still chugging away just fine.  I mean, hey! You better go and jump at what they are offering – after all, they tell us that this is a one-time-only deal, good only on this Saturday morning between the hours of 11:58 am and 12:02 pm. 

The world pulls at us to “buy more, have more, be more, do more.”  We want more now.  We want to have more later too.  We see what someone else has, and even though it never occurred to us a split second before that we had any lack, we suddenly need that latest and greatest gadget too.

The Bible contains roughly 2,300 verses concerning money -- about twice as many as faith and prayer combined.

*16 of the 38 parables dealt with money

*15% of everything Jesus said related to money and possessions.

*The only subject Jesus Christ spoke of more often is the Kingdom of God.

Why is this?  Well, the Scriptures make it clear that there is a fundamental connection between a person’s spiritual life and their attitudes and actions concerning money.

Matthew 6:19-21 says:  "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

So where my treasure is now, my heart is there now too.  And what I am focusing on NOW, will be what I reap LATER.

Money is not the root of all evil – the love of it is.  We need to have the mind-set that it’s God’s money NOW, and it will be God’s money LATER.  He is the One who blesses us with it as He sees fit.  We need to be good stewards of it and use it for His glory.  We need to have our greed be turned into generosity to honor Him and build His kingdom.

One day, all this world will pass away.  And what I’m doing with my life right NOW, will matter a whole lot – Both NOW … and LATER.

Feb. 17, 2007
Sweet Monday for January 2007

  Jan. 8, 2007   Healthy Eating 101

Here’s to your health!”  Sweet Jennifer teaches us how eat healthy to be healthy.

In January, we took a spin on the typical New Year's resolution to "eat better," etc by having a sweet gal from our church who attended classes with Hallelujah Acres to share with us about how to start on the journey to healthy eating.

We began the evening with homemade bread and fruit, and I used as "decorations" several books on health, herbs, nutrition, etc that were in our families bookcase.  For the devotional I shared bits from the introduction the book (which is the author's testimony) that got my husband and I first interested in health, back when we were dating in our final year of college.  It is titled "What the Bible Says About Healthy Living" and is still one of our all-time favorites.

(Since this Sweet Monday happened and me finally getting it typed up, I was searching for the book to link it and stubbled upon another homeschool blogger's site, "Growing in Truth," who has a wonderful entry about the book and how she incorporates it -- a definate must-read!)

To start the program, Jennifer gave us all a paper that had three un-named items that you can find in stores and their ingredient lists.  She encouraged us to try to figure out what they were and then asked which one we prefered to consume.  The first two items were full of names we couldn't pronounce, chemicals, etc. -- they ended up being coffee creamer and soda.  The third item had names we could all pronounce, which included spring water, fruit extracts, etc.  We all agreed we would rather consume that one -- which ended up being an all-natural hand-lotion from the health food store that she uses! 

She shared her own personal testimony of health -- from going up loving sweets and ice cream and how she felt tired and had head aches all the time, to finally figuring out that wasn't best for her body and learning how to best fuel it.  She also shared what foods most people are commonly allergic to, how sugar depletes our immune systems, and the best foods to fuel our body.

Dec. 20, 2006
Sweet Monday for December 2006

Dec. 11, 2006     Purse Swap and Cookie Exchange!
Bring an unwrapped “purse-you-can-part-with” from home and 2 dozen of your favorite Christmas Cookies — FUN, FUN, FUN!

This Sweet Monday, we all brought 2 dozen of our favorite cookies to exchange -- so we got a lot of different types to take home for our families without a lot of work.

The devotional was from Sweet Monday and was called "What's in Your Spritual Handbag?"

Then, for the purse swap, we put all the purses on my coffee table and each lady wrote down one thing on a 3x5 index card that was TRUE, but that the rest of us may not know about.  We mixed them up and read them one by one.  If someone guessed who it was, they got to chose a purse; if no one was able to guess it, the one who wrote it 'fessed up and got to chose.  It led to some really great stories and we got to know each other better. 

Dec. 20, 2006
Sweet Monday for November 2006

Nov. 13 -- Death by Chocolate

Indulge with us in chocolate, marvelous chocolate!

Program:  History of Chocolate & It’s Health Benefits

Devotional:  Have You Ever Fudged?

Menu:  Chocolate Fountain w/ Mixed Fruit, Truffles, Assorted Dark Chocolates, Hot Chocolate, French Vanilla Coffee w/ Chocolate Mint Truffle Creamer, Assorted Teas

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For this Monday, we had a "delicious" time with delightful chocolate.  A friend had a chocolate fountain that she brought and we filled it with melted chocolate bark and used it to dip fruit and even make s'mores! 

For the history portion of the program, I used information I had gleaned from http://www.fieldmuseum.org/Chocolate/history.html.  To share about the health benefits, I used information from the Cleveland Clinic, a heart & vascular clinic. 

In my reading, I also found that women will have a low magnesium level, prior/during "that time of the month," as your progesterone levels decrease.  Our bodies crave that magnesium to rebalance -- and guess what has one of the highest levels of magnesium?   CHOCOLATE!!!  That sure made all of us ladies laugh and feel "normal" for craving chocolate so much.  We joked that for PMS, you need to take your Progesterone, Magnesium, and Seventy Percent Chocolate! 

To end the evening, I did a devotional called "So Where's the Fudge???" from Peggy's Place.  I added a line before the 2nd paragraph and told the ladies "Do you take "T" with your fudge?" and had a tea cup with 3 tea bags labeled "Time," "Truth," and "Trust" that I used as a visual while sharing.

Oct. 18, 2006
Sweet Monday for October 2006

Oct. 9, 2006  Marvelous Monthly Menu Management

Sweet Tabitha shows us how monthly menu planning saves us $ – and our sanity!

My sweet friend (who also was my partner in crime for Hair Do's and Doozies last year) did the Sweet Monday program for me this month, and did a FANTASTIC job!  She shared for the devotional portion how being organized in this area has blessed her family:

1) financially as they save money, (she has saved over $100 each time she has "stuck" to her meal plan and does not splurge on out-to-eat meals, ONLY if they are planned.)

2) physically as they eat healthier, and

3) spiritually and emotional as they sit down to a good meal and good conversation ,and also that she is able to focus on them and not wonder what to make for dinner an hour before they eat.

Here is what she shared with us...

1) Sit down with a calendar -- she uses a blank one printed off from the computer and saves her fridge calendar for scheduling.

2) Make a sit-down date with spouse and put your calendars together and look for hubbies late nights at the office, meetings, birthdays, date nights, etc.  Count the actual number of nights you need to cook.  Go ahead and fill in any givens on your calendar.  For example, Sunday nights at her house are always breakfast-type meals.  Fridays are kids' night so they help her with that night's menu.  Meals that aren't Dad's favorite, but Mom or the kids love are on the nights he won't be eating with them due to men's group, etc.

3) Gather all your favorite recipe books, etc.  With the number of nights you need to cook in mind, start looking through your cookbooks, recipes, writing down names of recipes you would like to try along with the page and book it is in.  Lay aside any loose recipes.  Have your "grocery list" page beside you so you can go ahead and write the ingredients you will need for each recipe.  Fill in your menu.  Make sure each night has been well thought out with the meal prep time for that day's activities. (May want to do crockpot meals for the days you will be gone, etc.)

4)  Then go through your grocery list and copy down:

     a.  All the DRY GOODS you need to get at the grocer.

     b.  Make a MEAT/FISH list -- a lots of us go to Sam's or Costo, etc to get large quanitities of this.  When you bring it home, divide it into freezer bags according to what recipe calls for.  May also want to pre-cook your meat after purchase (say on the weekend) so it's even faster to make up the meal.

     c.  Go weekly for FRESH FRUITS, VEGGIES & MILK.

5) Put menu calendar on fridge and your month is organized.  Sit back and enjoy -- your month is planned and your hubby will think you are divine!

Oct. 18, 2006
Sweet Monday For September 2006

(When freezing, don’t use mayo, tomatoes, egg salad, or salad veggies.)

Jun. 5, 2006
August 8th, 2005 -- Hairdos and Hairdoozies

August 8, 2005 --  Hairdos and Hairdoozies

Come on, ‘fess up…. We’ve all had some bad hairstyles.  Join us as we share some of our “hair raising” experiences with one another.  If you’re brave enough, you can even bring pictures that document your worst hair days.

This month was a hoot!!!!!  My good friend partnered up with me for this program and for our entertainment/devotional, we set up a "Hair Clinic" that we were doing up in the "Big City."  The following is the skit we did.  My DH was the "bald" hair model (a nylon on his still haired-head did the visual trick) and we pulled a few volunteers out our audience to show the ladies the hair styles of Eve, Samson and Absalom.