Declutter With Me: Dining Room

 

One of my goals in the coming year is to declutter our home. My favorite method to accomplish this is with Flylady. She concentrates on a different zone of your home each week of the month. You may not finish that area in one week. That's okay! You'll work on it again next month. See the Flylady site I linked above for more details of how it works. This week, the zones are the living room just for today, then the front porch, entrance, and dining room for the rest of the week.

Personally, I'm going to be concentrating my attention on the dining room, which also doubles as the school room in our home. We don't have a front porch, and both the entrance and living room are for the most part decluttered and only need straightening up. As we go about our school days, our dining room definitely gets cluttered up and things get put away haphazardly. It's been awhile since I did a good purging in there, so this is long overdue.

Now, the picture above doesn't look so bad, right? Well, you can't see all the shelves! It's really starting to feel claustrophobic in there. I'm really excited to declutter this room. School will go smoother. And, eating our meals will be so much more pleasant!

So, who wants to join me and declutter their homes this year? Do you use Flylady? Or is there another method you love? Let me know what kind of projects you have planned for your home this year.

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My Goals for the New Year: 2019 Edition

 

I always like to say, I never make New Year's resolutions. Resolution. That word makes me want to go at whatever I "resolved" with gusto, then of course, crash and burn before the end of January is even in sight. I still do, however, relish the thought of a clean slate that each new year seems to bring. I like to make goals. Which are probably the same as resolutions, but whatever! The word "goals" makes me think of something that needs to be worked on or worked toward over a period of time. I may not see the end product by the end of the year, but usually I tend to consistently keep working on whatever it is when I call it a goal. Instead of a resolution.

I have 3 main goals I want to work on in 2019. Actually, I've already been working on them, but I'm bringing them front and center. Being more intentional about them.

1. Declutter my home.
2. Declutter my health.
3. Declutter our finances.

My Home

A couple of years ago, I went through much of my home and did a pretty good surface declutter. This past year, I intended to go through again but deeper. Our family had a pretty emotionally stressful year, and my heart wasn't in it. I was in survival mode a lot of the time. With the fresh start of a new year, I think I'm ready to dig in and get a lot of clutter out of our home!

My Health

On top of the Multiple Sclerosis I've already had for 13 years, I found out about two-thirds of the way through this year that I have a few other things on my plate concerning my health. Nothing that can't be fixed or at least controlled with a bit of hard work and diligence. I'm thankful to have good doctors! I'm also thankful that around 6-ish years ago, I found an eating plan called Trim Healthy Mama. Now, if I would have been more consistent with that than I was, these other issues wouldn't have come up. But, I digress. I've been consistent since this past September and things are speeding in the right direction! I'm praising God for that! With His strength, I will persevere and say good-bye to these issues.

Finances

This year, I really want to refocus on being intentional about our finances. Hubby and I have been following Dave Ramsey's plan and doing really well. With some of the stresses of the past year, we've slacked a little on being as diligent. We're not even near talking disaster here, we're still moving in the right direction. It's just time to buckle down and speed up again. I'm going to be diligent in sticking to my grocery budget, as that's one area where I haven't been great. We'll go back to tracking everything we spend for awhile. We also sometimes do what we call a "spending fast," where we pick a certain amount of time and only buy what is absolutely necessary. Between the fast and tracking, we will be able to nix all the little frivolities that have crept in.

Those are my general goals for the New Year. Do you make any goals at the beginning of each year? Or resolutions? Do you have any other special ways to acknowledge the fresh start of another year beginning? Let me know your thoughts!

Have a great New Year everyone!

Recipe Roundup: Healthy NYE Food

Spicy Chicken Wings p164 Trim Healthy Mama cookbook

 

With New Year's Eve coming up tomorrow, I thought I'd put together a list of appetizers and snacks that would be good to have on hand for those of us who don't want to put on more weight! Don't worry, I have not made all these in one day, but these are various foods that I have tried throughout my years as a Trim Healthy Mama that myself and my family have enjoyed. There will definitely be some in our family NYE spread tomorrow evening!

For some of these, you will have to have the Trim Healthy Mama cookbooks that I reference, as I am not able to share those. But, I also have links to recipes that have been created by THM bloggers, or recipes that are THM-friendly.

From the Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook

Nacho Stuffed Peppers p142
Sausage Balls p159
Bangin' Ranch Drums p162
Peanut Popper Chicken p164
Spicy Chicken Wings p164 (I like these with either Rhonda's Ranch dressing on p471, or for store-bought, Ken's Chunky Blue Cheese Dressing is a good choice)
Super Salmon Patties p177 (also good with Rhonda's Ranch dressing)
Cry-No-More Brownies p314

From the Trim Healthy Table Cookbook

Queso Chicken Bake p123
Fifteen-Minute Focaccia Bread p247
Green Fries p262
Magic Salted Caramel Cupcakes p379
Soft Double Chocolate Chip Cookies p400
Brownie Batter in a Mug p405 (single recipe)
Two-Minute Truffles p422 (single recipe)

Links to recipes by other bloggers

Fried Cream Cheese and Berry Taco by Briana Thomas Burkholder (single recipe)
Sausage Cream Cheese Pinwheels by My Table of Three
Avocado Deviled Eggs by Caveman Gourmet
Bacon Wrapped Buffalo Cauliflower Bites by Nana's Little Kitchen
Snickerdoodle Skillet Cookie by All Day I Dream About Food
Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars also by All Day I Dream About Food
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough by My Montana Kitchen
3 Ingredient Stovetop Glazed Pecans by Joy Filled Eats
Healthy Peanut Butter Balls also by Joy Filled Eats

Bonus!

There's not a whole lot of pre-made, store-bought meals out there that I can eat on plan, but I make an exception with this one. There's really not a lot of off-plan ingredients in this that has made any impact on me, so I eat it occasionally as a personal choice. If you have a Costco near you and you love shrimp, give it a try!
Costco's Cilantro Lime Shrimp

So there you go. I hope you try some of these and find something you enjoy. And definitely peruse other recipes on the sites of the bloggers I listed! There are so many wonderful recipes out there to choose from if you're a Trim Healthy Mama! Are there any foods that are a tradition for you on New Year's Eve? If you're a Trim Healthy Mama, a low-carber, or on Keto, what are some favorite NYE foods you have discovered? Let me know in the comments, I would love to hear from you.

Have a safe New Year's Eve everyone!

Digging Into the Word: Proverbs 1:1-7

This past summer, I decided to really dig in to the book of Proverbs. Reading small sections at a time, I would write that section into my journal, read commentary if I felt I needed to, and then write my own thoughts in my journal. As usual, life got busy and I left off doing that for a time, but I think I'm ready to jump back in! I thought a good way to restart would be to review what I've done so far and perhaps share some of my thoughts here.

There is so much wisdom in Proverbs, and I usually tend to breeze through it too fast. It's so good to slow down, really read it, write it down, pray about it, and really think about what it means.

"The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: 

To know wisdom and instruction,

To perceive the words of understanding,

To receive the instruction of wisdom,

justice, judgement, and equity;

To give prudence to the simple,

To the young man knowledge and

discretion--

A wise man will hear and increase learning,

And a man of understanding will attain wise counsel,

To understand a proverb and an enigma,

The words of the wise and their riddles.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,

But fools despise wisdom and instruction."

~Proverbs 1:1-7

This is an introduction of the book of Proverbs. It lays out the purpose of studying this book: to gain wisdom, instruction, understanding, justice, judgement, equity, prudence, and discretion. Notice, it all starts on a foundation of a healthy fear of the Lord.

Book Review: Bartholomew's Passage

Today we wrapped up our Advent reading of a book called Bartholomew's Passage, written by Arnold Ytreeide. I know, it's a little late, but with how busy we were the few days before Christmas, we didn't get to finish it on time. I read this aloud with my younger 2 boys, ages 13 and 10, and we all absolutely loved it!

This was a wonderful book that kept us on the edge of our seats and wanting to read more when each day was finished. This is fictional, but has many historical components to it. The story takes place in Israel around the time of the birth of Jesus, and follows a boy whose life was changed when Roman soldiers invaded his town. He was separated from the rest of his family and sold as a slave in another town.

There is one chapter to read for each day of Advent. At the end of each day's reading, there is a short reflection that ties the story to God's Word, and it helps you to think about how to apply that thought in your own life.

When we got to the end of the book, my 13-year-old sighed and said, "I don't think I will ever forget this story because it was just so good!" That about sums up my thoughts as well.

Arnold Ytreeide has quite a few other Advent stories that are similar. Last year for Advent, we read Jotham's Journey, which was also quite memorable. In fact, we found out in Bartholomew's Passage that some of the characters cross paths from book to book! We're really looking forward to reading another Ytreeide story for Advent next year. I highly recommend these books for a great Advent family read-aloud!

Here We Go!

 

Hello and welcome to my blog! I just wanted to jump in with my first post, as I'm excited to get this blog rolled out! In looking for a name for my little corner of the internet, a friend suggested the name MamaWit. It incorporates part of my name and the fact that, well, I'm a mama! I added Haven for 3 reasons. 1) One of my main missions in life is to make our home a haven for my family, and it is a constant journey. 2) I love to write, and I'm hoping this blog will be a haven for my creativity. 3) I hope that eventually, this blog will be a haven for my readers. 

If you click and read the About Me link above, you will see the main gist of what this blog is all about. For now, I'm keeping the formatting and all those "behind-the-scenes" details simple. I'm sure once I get a better grasp on what I'm doing, my design will evolve. But seriously, I just want to write!

Thank you so much for visiting! I hope what I have to say is helpful to some of you and that you will visit again. If you would like to receive notifications via email when I put up new posts, I would love for you to subscribe! Just enter your email up in the sidebar and click "subscribe." I also would love your comments and feedback as I enjoy interacting with others and exchanging ideas, but please do be kind. I will delete comments that I deem inappropriate. My blog, my rules. I will say that I am definitely open to constructive criticism. If there’s something you would like to see me blog about or review, or if there’s something that doesn’t look right that could be fixed, please let me know! I’m all about improving. I just ask that you not be mean or rude, to me or to my other readers. If you want to debate my beliefs, this Mama just does not have time for that! If you find yourself strongly disagreeing with much of what I write and only want to argue for the sake of arguing, I kindly suggest that you move on and use your time for things that help and not hurt.

Have a great day, everyone, and thanks again for reading!