TTAH Tuesday – Focus
My “Try This At Home” Tuesday tip today is straight from God’s word.
2 Chronicles 20:12
“…For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you.”
A couple of years ago I paraphrased this verse for myself…
God, I have no power to face the huge responsibility of raising and disciplining these children of mine today. I don’t know what to do, but my eyes are upon you.
Maybe you’re having a bad day (or week). Can you write this verse into your own situation today??
God, I have no power to face
this illness
this difficult relationship
this grief over the loss of a loved one
this financial hardship
I don’t know what to do, but my eyes are upon you.
If you don’t know what to do, it’s okay! Keep your eyes on the One who is all-knowing, all-powerful, and has an everlasting love for you! He will give you wisdom and point you in the right direction.
Psalm 119:105
Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path.
from the files of the totally ridiculous
Today I saw an advertisement in a magazine for a very peculiar item.
At least I thought so.
Personalized Playdate Cards.
Like business cards, only for the preschool set. You know, for when you’re at a swanky playground and your budding socialite 3-year old wants to invite a friend over.
It’s no longer necessary to strike up a conversation with the other mom, get to know her and her child, and then verbally invite them over for a playdate.
No, no. That would be old-school.
Now there are fancy playdate cards to pass out. Including name, mommy’s name, and phone number.
Only $30 for 20 cards! What a bargain!
Here’s the website so you can check it out:
http://www.felixdoolittle.com/web/product_pdc3.aspx
(my goodness. surely there are better ways to spend your money these days.)
TTAH Tuesday – Three Random Kitchen Tips
Hi everyone! The sun is shining and God is good!
Here are three random kitchen tips for you today. You may already know them, but if at least one is new to you, I promise you’ll be happy to have heard it!
- I was always frustrated by the fact that we could never eat all the bananas before they got too ripe. (I despise brownish bananas – I’d prefer to eat them slightly green!) But then my boss at the time told me that when they get too ripe, to just throw them in the freezer and then they can be used later for banana bread. I was so psyched – no more wasting bananas, and if I need to bake something for a meeting or a friend, I almost always have some frozen bananas to use! When they thaw, they are perfect for recipes that call for mashed bananas!
- Use a plastic knife to cut brownies. (I will admit I just learned this one last week). The knife just slides through the brownies cleanly without messing them up! So cool!
- Kids want to make cookies but you don’t really feel like standing in the kitchen for an hour plopping dough on cookie sheets and waiting for them to bake?? This is perfect for you, then. Make bar cookies. Use the same recipe, but instead of making individual cookies, put the dough in a 13 x 9 greased baking pan. Cook at the same temperature but cook longer… up to twice or even possibly three times the duration of the normal recipe (depends on the recipe – you’ll have to watch them closely the first time to make sure you don’t burn them). I love doing this because I don’t mind mixing up the cookies but baking all of them can sometimes be a drag! This way the kids are happy and so am I!
Got any busy mom kitchen tips you’d like to share?? Leave ‘em in the comments section!
Why are we moms always wishing the time away??
I was talking to some friends yesterday about kid’s milestones – and how we look forward to the next step so much. You know – crawling, walking, feeding themselves, talking, etcetera and etcetera.
It occurred to me that I spend a lot of time waiting for that next milestone… for my youngest right now it’s talking.
But I also realized, from being through this with two other kids, that once it happens, there will be times that I look back on “now” and wish we were here again.
I’ll give you an example… when my firstborn was about two months old, someone at church told me “these are the best times – enjoy them!” I thought this woman was crazy. I wasn’t getting any sleep! (and I likes me some sleep!) I was desperately wishing for my baby to sleep through the night!! But now I know exactly what that woman meant. When I look back on that time, it is so precious.
So why is it so hard to live in the present? To fully enjoy each day without wishing for the next?
I like to think I’m a little better at it with my third child than I was with the first. That perspective of knowing how fast 0 – 8 goes is priceless. But I still want to be better at living in the moment. Lord, help me!!
I’m going to try to use this verse – John 10:10 – to remind myself that Jesus intends us to live fully. Which I take to mean living fully in the “present” that He gives us.
John 10:10
“…I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
What about you… do you have any tips to help me live fully in the present?
TTAH Tuesday – Some Yummy Recipes
Just found this website and I’m loving it.
My sister made the Layered Strawberry Cheesecake last week and it was delicious. She’s the one who told me about the Kraft Food & Family magazine. I didn’t want to subscribe to it, but fortunately for me, they have an on-line version.
Here’s the link…
http://www.kraftfoods.com/foodandfamily/home?cm_sp=CRM-_-DigiMag-_-Homepage#/home
The website is really slick and it has lots of beautiful photos of the prepared recipes. From perusing the recipes for a little while, they seem to be pretty family-friendly and not too complicated. (yay for me! and you!)
Hope you enjoy it!
i’ve been duped…
I mean doped. Up, that is.
Yep, that’s exactly what the doctor told me would happen for my procedure today. I’d be doped up. And I was.
In fact, I still feel a bit groggy. I’ve been instructed not to operate heavy machinery, drive, or make important decisions for 24 hours. So I’m blogging. (Hmmm, maybe not such a good idea.)
But it works out perfectly because I offered to guest-post on my friend Pamela’s blog. And I wisely wrote the post for her blog a couple of days ago, before being doped up for the big pro-ced-ure.
So hop on over there and check it out!
P.S. - my pro-ced-ure (it sounds so professional, doesn’t it?) was a follow-up to this incident, in case you were wondering. I may have more details about the results next Monday… so check back.
is it possible to be sentimental about clothes??
… and the answer is…
yes, yes, and yes again.
You probably guessed that already, because, why would I be posting about this otherwise? right?
I only realized it this week, but I am highly sentimental about clothes. Two days ago I got out a big rubbermaid container from the garage, filled with girl #1’s 2T clothing. Girl #2 is ready for them.
And what a trip down memory lane it is. Little undies with Bear (from the Big Blue House, of course) on them. Aaaw. A tiny rainjacket – purple with white polka dots. How Cute. An Easter dress. Adorable.
And all the thoughts & feelings that come with it… I can’t believe you ever fit into this … remember whens… and didn’t she look so cute when…?
This happens every time we drag out one of these containers. And what a blessing it is, really. Not only because it’s so practical and money-saving to re-use clothes, but because it offers me a chance to review my memory bank. To selectively look at the good, the fun, the sweet memories of those days. And some of those special, special clothes I’ve put in a box so the memories will never be lost.
All that got me thinking about other clothing I’m sentimental about:
- Last week I cleaned out one of Dave’s drawers and put a couple of golf shirts in the “giveaway bag”. Two were shirts I’d bought him for our honeymoon. I was a bit sentimental (but not enough to save them!).
- My boxed up wedding dress. Will my daughters ever want to play dress-up in it? (Will I let them?)
- A shirt from The Gap that my Dad bought & sent me in a box for Valentine’s Day when I was in college. (That shirt is, in fact, long gone. But I remember it.)
- An outfit my Mom bought me shortly before I got married. (A token of love.)
- A pair of size 10 pants I bought as a reward after losing nearly 40 pounds between child #2 and child #3. (By the way… these hang in my closet, because I WILL fit back into them at some point. Just sayin’.)
- My Clarkson volleyball jacket. (I can’t bear to part with it because I look back on that time in my life so fondly.)
- The suit I wore during my first job interview. It’s painfully dated, but again, I’m sentimental. What can I say?
- A plethora of T-shirts that document my past. Ones from Kodak, the University of Michigan, Clarkson, Jamaica, Dallas, OSHA. Somehow parting with these, even though I rarely wear t-shirts at all, is like severing that part of me that used to BE me.
But I guess after all, it’s the memories that are special that I want to keep, not the clothes. But sometimes those items evoke memories that my (busy) mind forgets about. And what a joy it is to be able to re-visit those memories every once in a while!
What about you… what are you sentimental about?
TTAH Tuesday – Just Say NO to Alligator Skin
Love. This. Lotion.
GOLD BOND ULTIMATE RESTORING LOTION
I have extremely dry skin… skin that spontaneously cracks frequently in the wintertime, and makes me shy away from all sorts of cozy winter fabrics because my skin is so dry it snags!
I had a free sample of this stuff and started using it last week. The difference in my skin is amazing.
If you have really dry skin, try this lotion!!
Click on the link above to get a free sample. You can also buy it at WalMart!
Happy Tuesday.
And Happy (Upcoming) Easter!
