I don’t know about you but ’round here…summer is synonymous with
“I’m huuuuuuuuuungry”
or
“Can we have a snaaaaaaaack?”
I had to think of something…..fast…..before insanity overthrew sanity.
I made a schedule. I have discovered I like schedules. No, they aren’t for everyone (Hubby is not a schedule-y person. He will learn to love it….9 years and counting but I am sure….soooooon….he’s gonna love them ;)) but try it….you may like it.
I made a snack option for 10am and 2 pm. They can switch them if they want.
My snack suggestions are:
Grapes and cheese
Pretzels with or without a fruit
Frozen yogurt (get greek yogurt tubes and freeze)
Peppers and hummus
Hummus and pretzels
Carrots and hummus
Celery and PB
Fruit leather or fruit rope
Apples and PB
Popcorn (love love love the Nearly Naked brand…it’s just coconut oil and sea salt!)
I got colored baggies (Walmart) and bagged everything up for 2 weeks and put them in baskets in the pantry or a drawer in the fridge.
I love the Rubbermaid Lunch Boxes that you can click together and keep “dippies” separate.
I always keep carrots, clementines, bananas and apples around so they can grab one in between if they are staaaaaaaarving 😉
Couple things I have learned already:
1. My kids are, in fact, not hungry nearly as often as they say they are….
2. When it isn’t a free for all….turns out…they don’t really want to eat….
3. Snacks should give you healthy energy to tide you over until the next meal
4. Treats, on the other hand, can be used as…well….treats…
5. and just. like. that. they don’t bug me for snacks anymore….
6. This totally helps me control portions and stay on my grocery budget!!
My kids devour them and Mike always says “you should put this on the menu every week. I could never get sick of this!”
The thing that I love most is that it literally takes 10 min. but also….once you buy the soy sauce and the rice vinegar and sesame oil…you can make this about 3 times before you have to buy it again!
Get a sirloin steak. But if that is not in your budget…this is faaaaaaaaantastic just noodles alone! Ha…if steak is not in your budget…who am I talking to? Steak is not in mine 🙂 anywhooooooo…..
Grill the steak on high (5 min. both sides…ish)
While that is doing its thang….
Boil some water and cook 12oz. of angel hair pasta or rice noodles (for a more authentic and gluten-free option)
Get a dish and mix the following:
1/2 cup soy sauce (gluten free soy sold in many natural grocers)
2 tablespoons sugar
4 garlic cloves minced. I scoop that right out of my Costco jar 🙂
2 Tablespoons rice vinegar (with Asian foods at the store)
3 Tablespoons sesame oil (with the Asian foods)
4 Tablespoons oil (I use rice bran because I love it. You can use vegetable, canola, etc. something light)
________________________________
Slice your steak against the “grain”
Drain your noodles
Toss it all together with the sauce
Garnish with green onion and crushed red pepper (I omit for the kids)
Voila-tasty tasty in 10 min!
*This is my adaptation of The Pioneer Woman’s Simple Sesame Noodles recipe.
So I read this article the other day and as I read it…there was stuff I agreed with-but something just didn’t sit well with me. I figured it was just the fact that I have some innate desire to challenge anything everything 🙂
But the more I thought about it the more I really disagreed with it.
Here’s why:
As a Christian I know that everything belongs to God. Everything. Even my kids. But also everything else (1 Corinthians 10:26, Psalm 24:1)
And if I am going to teach this to my children I need to show them that we are to be good stewards with what He has entrusted to us
and in order to do that we are called to :
Love one another
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. Philippians 2:3-4
That we are to treat others better than ourselves
That people are more important than things
We are not to store up our treasures here where moths, thieves, rust can destroy (Matthew 6:19) but rather set our affections on things above
The Bible reminds us over and over again that it is better to give than receive (Acts 20:35)
“give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” Luke 6:38
“Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.” Luke 6:30
“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.” Luke 16:10
I don’t need to look very far to see just how far we have come from this. I read the article above and it doesn’t surprise me that people trample one another to death over the latest Blue Light Special on Black Friday. Every day…everywhere…I witness examples of selfishness.
Don’t get me wrong…I don’t think a child (or anyone) should be “forced” to give up anything or share anything. I want to guide my child’s heart to a willingness to share; finding true joy in sharing.
The one thing in the article I do agree with is that my children will most certainly face disappointment in this life. They will most definitely not get everything they want but I have never found disappointment in following God’s word and trusting that He alone…not money…not toys or trinkets….He alone works all things for my good and His glory and when it’s all said and done I just want to hear “well done good and faithful one” and if teaching my child to share a swing shares a glimpse of God’s love I will simply trust Him with the rest…but I certainly won’t fear that my kid will grow up to embody the qualities the article speaks of.
So I ask my kids the question:
If we regard others as more important than ourselves…what does that look like in this situation.
Often times it looks like them giving up the (fill in the blank) but they do it with a real joy.
Other times it looks like one saying “You can have it as soon as I finish this (turn, picture, etc.) and then they finish in a pace that would be treating the other how they want to be treated.
Oh wait! Let me interject here….because I HAVE to say this is NOT how it always goes 😉 some days it’s a bloody war ’round here! But we keep pressin’ on.
And seriously….a TON of times…the one will “regard the other as more important” and the other (SERIOUSLY) says “No-I want you to have it!” and then the other says “No…you” and then I end up yelling at one of them to friggin’ take the toy! 😉
But no doubt (by God’s grace) I am teaching them that it truly is better to give than receive.
Here are a few suggestions to celebrate Easter with your children while pointing to the true meaning and why we celebrate it.
1. Make your own resurrection eggs to share the true meaning of Easter (or buy them)
Or you can dye (or buy) eggs and have each color symbolize part of the story:
Green symbolizes the palm leaves waved by the crowds as Jesus rode into Jerusalem. Red, the symbol of blood and pain. His sacrifice.
Shades of purple are draped around crosses during Lent. Purple is the symbol of royalty and suffering. On Good Friday, the purple cloth is replaced with black. The symbol of sin, death and darkness, black tells us that there is an end to life.
White (representing purity) transforms the cross on Easter morning. The black color of sin is replaced by the bright color of white, signifying the passage from darkness to light.
Gold is symbolic of majesty
Yellow stands for light and renewal.
2. Read books about the true meaning of Easter like Benjamin’s Box
3. Make Resurrection cookies the night before or Resurrection Rolls on Easter. In both, when you break them open-it is hallow…empty…to represent the tomb on Easter.
Here are some pics from last year. In short, you beat nuts to represent the beating Christ endured, you taste vinegar to show what Christ was given on the cross when he was thirsty, etc. you add all the necessary ingredients and put them in the oven, seal it (as in the tomb) but when you open it on Easter morning and crack open a cookie…it is….empty…
You can see Jackson wasn’t exactly “getting it” as he joyfully took advantage of any opportunity to whack something…
and when it came to tasting the vinegar…well, you can see by his face he’s thinking “Go ahead, sis…I dare you!”
But they totally got into their roles as guards of the “tomb”…
4. Make hot cross buns on Good Friday and discuss the crucifixion.
5. Make an Easter basket. Here are some suggestions that point to the true meaning:
Cross-shaped chocolate (I found these at the Dollar Tree)
Bible related coloring or activity book (at the Dollar Tree)
6. Get beads to make this Story of Jesus Bracelet:
A star charm with three beads represents the bethlehem star and the three wise men, three colored beads represent their three gifts, a pearl bead represents the Christ Child. The wood bead represents Jesus as carpenter, a fish symbol represents making fishers of men, and twelve blue beads represent the apostles, and the white bead represents the Word of God. The black beads and cross symbolize His passion. A red bead represents his precious blood while a white bead represents his tears. He now resides in heaven with the Father and the Holy Spirt, the blue beads. And he lived his whole life because of his great love, represented by the heart bead.
7. Act it out or draw out the story
I drew out the story showing how our sin separated us from God but he loves us so much that he sent his Son to take the punishment
He sealed the tomb…
and after we “opened” the tomb and Jesus ascended to Heaven…he did this to the Cross…
because Jesus did this for us… he crossed out sin and I gave him an eraser
To show him that Easter is about this…
Come now, and let us reason together, Says the Lord, though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool. -Isaiah 1:18
Okay, so I am going to mention another topic that makes a lot of us cringe: Meal Planning.
There are a lot of amazing tips and suggestions to conquer this on Pinterest but in this arena…I find the simpler…the better.
Sorta like a budget-doing it this way gives me freedom. I know what I’m workin’ with.
I write down 7-10 dinners that we are going to eat. A few staples are always included (for us, those include spaghetti, and pesto pasta sausage (recipe follows) mainly because they are easy and Mike and I both know how to make them so if he needs to cook dinner, he can…easily)
Then I make my shopping list based off of this.
You can flip through ads or coupons to get your ideas for the week, too! Regardless of your method…be sure to look and see what you already have and use it up!
We eat the same things for the most part for breakfast, lunch and snacks so I add those to the list and voila. List: done.
Then-I write my “menu” on the chalkboard that hangs in my kitchen. I got it at Hobby Lobby for $12.00 but you could just write it on paper, too!
There. Now it’s done. I already know I have the ingredients for everything. Now, I just get to choose what I want to have that night. Like ordering off a menu…aw my glamourous life 🙂
Maybe I choose something simple because it’s gettin’ late. Maybe I choose a staple so Mike can cook it. Maybe it’s hectic and we won’t be home at all so I do the crock pot choice. You get the idea. Freedom.
I only shop for about 7 dinners because we inevitably have left overs or Mike flies one night so we eat pop tarts instead 🙂 and I don’t want the food to go bad.
Plain and simple….it makes one aspect of my life simpler. I hope this helps you, too!
Some of the greatest trials we endure are his mercies. Yet, it is our nature to want to be delivered from struggle, pain, affliction and sadness. At church, Paul Tripp proposed that “God’s not simply purposing to relieve us in our difficulties, but to redeem us through them. That he is going to take you where you never intended to go in order to produce in you what you couldn’t achieve on your own.”
The journey is long and hard and I have witnessed more loss, pain, sadness and tests of endurance in this past year than ever before and one thing I learned was that hurt is hurt. Pain…is pain. Struggle is struggle. Yours is not worse than mine. Mine no more deserving of grace than yours. Yours is no more deserving of sacrificial giving than mine, and mine no more deserving of sacrificial service than yours.
We are called to love one another. period. It is not our job to determine another’s worthiness. Worthiness of help. Worthiness of compassion. Worthiness of grace. Worthiness of forgiveness. not. our. job. period. We are called to love.
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves…
I heard this phrase awhile ago and it stuck:
“Hold space for me”
It resonated. It was so profound.
And along my own most recent trials I have witnessed so many others hurt and realized we all need space held.
I have come to learn that “holding space” for someone means:
When pain hurts so bad, or the struggle so hard or the journey so long and tiresome that you feel like the world should stop but it doesn’t …I will hold this space for you. When you’re ready…when your world begins to take its first teeny step forward…I held this space for you and I will start right there with you!
It means that we sit in the uncomfortable silence or listen to detail after detail or the same story over and over again so you can try to understand. And when you remember that God’s not simply purposing to relieve you in your difficulties, but to redeem you through them…you can look over and see the space I held for you.
It means that I will hear your hurt as your hurt. I won’t compare it to mine or anyone else’s. It belongs to you but you are not alone in it. I will hold that space.
It means that you can’t fall off the radar. Even though my life will move forward and the sun will rise and fall…I will hold this space for you until….
Norwex microfiber holds seven times its weight in gunk! And as you saw in the cross contamination video…it HOLDS it. The silver does not allow bacteria, fungus, mold, etc. to survive. However a build up of chemicals previously used, oils, grease, etc. will bind to the silver and inhibit its effectiveness. You may start to notice your cloth smells musty! The silver is inhibited…NOT the effectiveness of the microfiber…it’s not letting go!
But you will want to release all that stuff so the silver can continue doing its job!
Just fill a pot with hot water and a scoop of Ultra Power Plus laundry detergent and bring to a boil.
It begins releasing gunk almost immediatly!
And here’s my water (compared with a white piece of paper) after about 10 min of boiling! Gross!
Give the cloths a good rinse under running water and hang to dry like normal.
Now the cloths have been refreshed and renewed!
If ever you have any questions or concerns regarding the care of your cloths please do not hesitate to contact me. Your satisfaction is my utmost priority!
We have a major problem in this house and as I was looking for a solution…I decided to take you along as I work through several challenge areas in hopes of helping you and kick off Spring Cleaning!
So I am going to do a little series…not that I am an expert but just determined to figure it out…simplify this madness 🙂
Okay…so are you ready? Promise not to judge…
P.S. Excuse the crappy photos. I did not stage this for the blog. This is a typical day so I just grabbed my cell phone and started taking pictures.
Found one here:
A few got hung up here…
A couple of them tossed here:
Some kid ran from the tub to their room dropping one here…
And a couple more managed to get hung here…
another found here:
Seriously….
The kitchen table!!!!!! What?!?
But seriously this is how it is. Everyday.
I honestly can’t take it anymore.
Can you imagine the laundry?
No one remembers whose is whose.
No one knows if it’s clean or needs to be cleaned so they just toss it down the laundry chute.
My husband ALWAYS leaves his downstairs, on the back of a chair…but if I don’t bring it back up by the time he takes his next shower then he grabs another.
So we either have a lot of towels down the chute or a lot of towels hung up or a lot of towels on the floor.
Norwex microfiber-including their bath towels contain silver. So-they are self sanitizing and won’t get that musty smell. Bacteria, molds, fungi, etc. cannot survive in them. It will be a fresh towel, literally, at every use.
So I decided to give myself a gift. Quite possibly the best gift…ever.
Hubby got one color, I got another.
The baby got the hoodie/washcloth set
The big kids each got a towel, too.
The guest bath got a certain color hand towel and the kids’ bath got another color. The Master bath got the remaining color.
It is brilliant. 5 bath towels, 3 hand towels (I actually got 6 of these so there was one hanging while the other was washing)…all fresh and clean all the time and then once a week I grab ’em all up and throw them in the wash. One load. All clean. Hang them back up and d-o-n-e.
Done.
Can you imagine the floor cabinet space I just freed up?!? An entire shelf of my linen closet is empty!
I donated all the towels to the SAFE House.
Do it! Take the challenge to see how Norwex really can improve the quality of your life. As with all products there is a 60-day money back guarantee!
This idea was inspired by a real-life customer who gave herself this gift and did it for her family! Here’s what she wrote me: This is the first weekend in forever that I have not been washing, drying and folding a HUGE load of bath towels. We are loving our Norwex bath towels—means I have barely a load of towels to wash each week! And I just hang them up after each shower or after drying hands, and they dry quick as can be and stay smelling nice. Thanks, Rechel!-Heather B.
Follow me here on the blog and come along as I find more and more and more ways of simplifying the endless task of housework 🙂
Oh and to be perfectly honest….
In our review of the towels…Mike and I both felt like they were very grabby upon first use. In fact…I was not pleased and was not going to give them another try. But I did and I am so glad I did. After that very first use-they are great and super absorbent!
I homeschool two days a week and needed an inexpensive, large space to do school work. Maybe you need space for scrapbooking or crafts?
Thanks to Google…I discovered you can take 2 of these
Assemble and turn it on its side….Now you have a 24 1/2″H x 36″ W base
Go to a home improvement store and get one of these slab doors
Because….it is exactly 36″ perrrrrrrfect!! And the best part…it is EIGHTY inches long!!
Get a can of paint and paint the top of the door (we used a fun green on one side and chalkboard paint on the other)
and buy some of these…or something like it…
Oh…use some L-Brackets to screw the door on the cubbies (underneath) although mine is just sitting on it…sort of held down by the fish tank 🙂
and…
VOILA! A ginormous table (well…36″ x 80″ is big enough for us and 4 chairs!)
And another “best” part….if we keep this around long enough for the kids to grow out…we can flip it the other direction.
Or….if your kids, tweens or teens are already big enough…get the 9 cube cubby…
Okay so one more “best” part….you know those really little “kid” chairs that normally come with or accompany the kids tables …well…we have them…and they are not comfortable
Just to give us something to sit on…I lugged some IKEA chairs I had downstairs to see if they’d work and they are the PERFECT height for the kids to sit comfortably and I can even fit my legs under the table while still sitting on a human chair.
But basically any 35″ H chair or less…(you can totally use kid chairs) will do.
I found this set of 2 at Wally Mart for under $80
Okay and the final “best” part:
Stackable Cubbies $35 x2 = $70.00
Door $30.00 (although if you have an old door or counter top remnant…you can make it free-ninety-free!)
I bought 6 fabric storage cubbies @ $6.00 each = $36.00
Quart o’ paint…$15 ish?
About $150 bucks for a customized, HUGE, super cute table….
I have only been a Norwex representative for a couple months and we all have to start somewhere…
The day of my very first party, the hostess called and asked, “Do you have any Descaler to try out on my shower? It’s awful!”
Being new and all…I didn’t have a lot of supplies, nor had I had time to try all the products.
My Leader called and told me that she had a bottle of Descaler and I could pick it up ON MY WAY TO THE PARTY.
What?!? No time to try it first? Make sure it actually worked. Oh my….what if it doesn’t…right in front of everyone….the entire party will be a bust!
I had been on a quest forever to find something that worked on my own shower…I tried the Barkeepers Friend, the peroxide/baking soda/lemon juice claim…all. failed. Could this really work?
Wait, Rechel…calm down…everything has been amazing…this will be to. Let’s do it!
The directions say to squirt some on and wait 5-10 min. I squirt in on….but before we even left the room….
My hostess was thrilled and so was I!!!!! I heart you, Norwex.
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