The Thousand Word Project – An Autumn View from My Front Door

 

Taken 2012.

Things Your Parents Told You

 

Here’s a rather long list of things parents say to their kids, but it is nowhere near exhaustive!  It’s good for a few flash backs, that’s for sure! :-)

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- I don't care who has one. You're not getting one.

- Because I love you, that's why.

- You learned that from your father/mother.

- You've pulled on that shirt so much it looks like a dress!

- You found a mud puddle didn't you?

Continue Reading.

Thought Provoking - Is that Funny?

 

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world is going to hell.

Funny how we believe what the news web sites say, but question what the Bible says.

Funny how everyone wants to go to heaven provided they do not have to believe, think, say, or do anything the Bible says.

Or is it scary?

Funny how someone can say "I believe in God" but still follow Satan who, by the way, also "believes" in God.

Funny how  you can post a thousand 'jokes' through social media and they spread like wildfire, but when you start posting messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing.

Funny how the lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene pass freely through cyber space, but the public discussion of Jesus is suppressed in the school and workplace.

FUNNY ISN'T IT?

Funny how someone can be so fired up for Christ on Sunday, but be an invisible Christian the rest of the week.

Are you laughing?

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

Are you thinking?

- copied (altered)

Creatures Great and Small – Cottontail Tale

 

Quick Meals – Hearty Pizza Quesadillas

 

Here is a simple and quick meal to make.  If you make your own tortillas and meat fillings you will need to have them cooked ahead of time.  If you store pre-cooked meat or tortillas in the freezer you need to have them thawed as well.

First heat the tortilla in a frying pan with a little oil or butter.  Spread some Italian/pizza sauce on the top.  (This is our homemade sauce, by the way.) :-)

To one half of the tortilla add some grated mozzarella, your favorite fully cooked pizza meat, and sliced black olive and mushrooms if desired.  Fold the tortilla over on the fillings and cook, turning once, till the cheese is melted and the other ingredients are hot.  That’s it!  Serve with a salad if desired.

Creatures Great and Small – Camouflage

 

Daily Planner Review

 

Earlier this year Sue Hooley offered to send me two free copies of her daily planner – one for this year and one for next year – for me to review here (and/or on The Home Maker’s Corner).  I told her I wasn’t sure at all that I’d use it as I’d seen different ones and hadn’t been interested.  I’m a list person myself, but I can get quite frustrated with them with a tendency to abandon them entirely for periods of time.  Sue still wanted to send the 2013 edition for me to try out and I agreed.  I started using it in late May or early June.

The planner is divided into a number of sections which you can see here.  The sections serve various purposes and are explained as needed in the front of the planner – calendars of different sorts, shopping lists, weekly planning areas. etc.  Some of them might be quite handy to other people, but for me most were not.  I keep my shopping lists on my cell phone and only used one in the planner so far.  I used a few pages of the “Projects” section in a limited way.  I keep my important dates on a specific calendar, and I didn’t plan any big events thus far which needed a list of addresses.  So most of the sections got minimal to no use.

The only section I have really utilized is the weekly planner, and that has been great – or it has been since I adjusted my thinking towards it.

As you can see it has a Task List for the week to start off with.  Then there are sections for all seven days, including the menu section so that you can plan your meals ahead.

First of all, the Task List section has been useful for things I needed to remember in a given week, but were not specific to one day – I could work them in any time, but didn’t want to forget them.

Mrs. Hooley recommends using a pencil so that you can erase things and move them around as needed.  At first I didn’t follow this advice, but I found out quickly that it was very helpful!  I prefer a pen and so I’ve been using one of my new erasable ink Frixion pens.  (Hopefully more later on those for quilting/sewing.)  This makes it easy to erase something that didn’t get done or finished and move it to another day.  It also makes it easy to change the menu if necessary. :-)

I have not been much a menu planner, and still am not, but it is helpful to lay out some idea of what the main meat for dinner will be each day, or to note if leftovers need to be used.

After using the book for a short time I actually got quite frustrated with it.  I wasn’t sure I wanted to keep on with it because I was using it as a whip to make myself perform instead of a reminder and helpful guide.  Once I gave myself permission not to follow each day’s proposed agenda – to erase things and move them, or just drop them entirely – I was able to use it with a lot more comfort. 

The book has, in fact, become quite a useful tool for me and a good reminder.  I even include things like naps and exercise just to try to help myself keep up good habits of rest and physical activity.  And, yes, I do still write things down after the fact and then cross them off just to have the satisfaction of seeing what I got done. :-)  I found it especially useful in preparing for company or small events where I needed to get certain things done ahead of time.

However, there are a few drawbacks.  One is that the Saturday and Sunday sections are much smaller than the other days of the week.  Sunday is fine for me since we don’t do much that day as far as chores are concerned.  But, Saturday is a bit of a problem to me.  Perhaps the Hooleys observe the Sabbath, I don’t know.  But, we rest on the Lord’s Day, the first day of the week.  Saturday is the only day of the week that my husband has for home chores, so sometimes it can be quite busy and I need more room to write that day.  (I include some things he needs to do so I can remind him, or things that I need to help him with).

Another drawback that affects me personally is that somehow writing my daily chores and things in the planner has made it harder for me to keep up my little calendar where I write the day’s events/activities.  I’m sorry to stop that because it is a very abbreviated diary of sorts and sometimes it is helpful to know exactly when something happened.  I could do both, but somehow it seems to not happen, and what goes in the planner is not necessarily what would be written in the record calendar.

Will I buy one for next year?  I haven’t decided yet.  It might be worth the price to me because of it’s usefulness, but since I haven’t yet utilized a majority of the book I’m not sure.  Of course, anything that helps me to get more accomplished probably is worth the price!  So, I might make the investment.

For other ladies I’d say that if you like to be organized and you are not already using some other plan that you like, this is definitely worth trying. [Also available through Amazon.]  I have also seen some planners that look extremely complicated to me.  Some ladies I’m sure need that, especially home schooling moms.  But, if you are getting overwhelmed by your complicated planner, this might be a good alternative.  It is not overly complicated in my opinion.

I’ve tried to give an honest review here.  Most of the drawbacks for me were in regards to areas I don’t use, and this is completely due to my method of organization which included other options in some of those areas.  If I use the planner another year I might possibly rearrange some of those things to better utilize the planner.  The only real drawback that limited my use of the planner was the short Saturday section.  Otherwise it mostly met the demands I placed upon it.

I Could Not Do Without Thee – A Poem and Song by Frances Havergal

 

This is one of my favorite poems and songs.  I hope it encourages you too. :-)

I could not do without Thee,
O Saviour of the lost,
Whose precious blood redeemed me
At such tremendous cost:
Thy righteousness, Thy pardon,
Thy sacrifice, must be
My only hope and comfort,
My glory and my plea.

Continue reading.

The music – Listen.

Philippians 1:21  For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Thousand Word Project – Yellow

 

Random Acts of Blogging – (Sort of) Food Related Links

 

Here is a very interesting food chart that shows which herbs and spices go best with various foods, such as breads, poultry, vegetable, pasta, sauces, etc.  It looks like a good place to start for anyone wanting to add more herbs and spices to their cooking but who isn’t sure what to use with which foods.  Herbs and spices have many and varied health benefits.

Do you have a lot of trouble with stomach bugs?  Milk fat may be your best solution!  Yes, there’s a good reason why God refers to milk as good food for humans – including butter!  Isaiah 7:14-15  Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.  Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.

And, in case you decided not to use paper coffee filters any more and don’t know what to do with all the leftovers – here’s an easy craft project to do with kids:  Coffee Filter Flowers.

You can do a lot with mason jars.  I still think the best use for them is to fill them with tasty, homegrown goodness. :-)