When Mom is Sick, What Now?

 

Being a mom, and a homeschooling mom, it can be pretty tough when our kiddos are sick. But, what about when you're the one who's sick? I was "privileged" these past couple of days to receive the "gift" of my son's winter cold being passed on to me. It's a good thing I love that boy! Having Multiple Sclerosis and being a Type II Diabetic, whatever I catch usually comes on worse and lasts a lot longer than normal.

With a fever raging, my middle son recovering, and my youngest deciding to join the coughing fun, it was looking pretty rough. I found myself looking in distress at my freshly fixed up, first week of the year planner spread. Pick up the house. School. Declutter the dining room. Menu plan. As my brain told me to get the list started, my increasing chills fought to put me to bed. "This Mom doesn't have time to be sick!" And then, I realized something. I had a stern talk with myself, and I'm repeating it to you.

Go Easy on Yourself, Mama!

It's okay to set the list aside and get the rest you need! In fact, it can be detrimental if you force yourself to work when your body is demanding rest. Guess what? The housework is still going to be there when you're feeling better. The kids are not going to be scarred for life if Mom takes a day off. If your kiddos are old enough and not sick themselves, put them to work! If you homeschool, you can give them some reading to do on their own, or have them read to each other. Or give them a fun project they can do on their own. My kids actually enjoy playing board and card games together, and they recently got into Mad-Libs. Any of those things can keep them occupied for hours!

If your kiddos are younger, lay on the couch so you can be close to them while they watch a movie. It can be educational if you prefer, but it's okay to just choose something fun for the day, too. Or, if you're up for it, teach them an easy board game or card game. If your throat isn't sore, read them a few books. It's not always easy staying in "rest mode" with the younger kids all day. But do what you can, and give yourself (and them!) grace. When Mom is sick, it's a good time for them to learn sympathy and self-entertainment.

Take Care of Yourself, Mama!

While our focus as wives and moms is usually to take care of our husband and kids, we need to make sure we're taking care of ourselves, too. We can't take care of others if we're down and out ourselves. Eat healthy and make sure you're getting enough exercise to stay strong to the tasks at hand. But, we can still get sick. And when we do, it's okay to set aside that to-do list and give our body the rest it needs to get better. Our families need us, Mamas! So, focus on rest, not stress.

Is the Wonder of a New Year Already Wearing Off?

 

January 2nd. The day after New Year's Day. Now what? For most people, it means going back to the old grind, kids going back to school, or mothers trying to coral their kids back into a homeschool routine. People are going back to work. The mess from the last 2 weeks is getting packed up and cleaned up. Already, many of those resolutions we were so excited about yesterday may be fading away.

Life must go on, so how do we stay on track with the goals we've made for ourselves? This is why I dislike the word "resolutions." When I make a resolution for a new year, I feel like I have to go all in right away. Then, if I don't bring that resolution to completion by the end of the year, I feel like a failure. I find that trying to make huge changes in order to make sure a resolution is brought to fruition, is just setting myself up for failure.

Baby Steps

Taking baby steps, as small as you need, to work toward a goal is a much better long-term solution. Let's say one of your resolutions is to lose weight and get healthy. You excitedly go out and buy a bunch of strange-to-you ingredients the very first day and drink shakes every morning that make you have to hold your nose...well, that's not very realistic. Then, tack on the resolve to go to the gym and work out for an hour every day 6 days a week. Can you say "Crash and burn?" A more sustainable approach would be to maybe make sure you track everything you eat, and drink more water the first week. Baby steps! Once you get that down, maybe you feel ready to cut out soda. Don't add another baby step until you're confident in the one you're on.

Make a List

I am a person who loves making lists. Now, keep in mind that I'm not telling you to make a huge list of all your resolutions. That can be overwhelming! Pick one or two goals to work on. Put each goal at the top of a piece of paper. You don't have to make it fancy. But, if that's your thing and you know it will motivate you, go for it! Under the goal, list out every single little baby step that you foresee needing to do to accomplish that goal. Don't worry about how long you think this will take. Moving forward is moving forward. No need to put extra pressure on yourself by setting a deadline!

Track Your Progress

After your list is made, make sure you always keep it where you can see it. Then, you can often look at your current baby step and make sure you're working that into each day, whatever that looks like. When you have conquered that baby step and made it into a habit, that's exciting progress! Cross it off, check it off, give yourself a gold star. Have a mini celebration! Afterwards, look at the next baby step and get excited to get started on it! You are forming sustainable habits, rather than the crash-and-burn mentality that will make you forget about your resolutions. Until next year, that is. Feel good about the progress you are making, no matter how small.

No matter what goals you have for this year, it's important, first, to make sure you have a plan. Then, take a little time in the beginning to make a list of baby steps. Lastly, make sure you're working a little bit each day toward that goal. If it starts to feel overwhelming, you may need to cut back and make those steps even smaller. And that's okay. Forward is forward.

I hope this post motivated you to work toward your goals in a realistic way. I am by no means an expert. In fact, I am writing this to myself as much as all of you. But hopefully, I gave you some ideas. Thank you so much for reading!

Trim Healthy Mama Roundup: Getting Started on THM

 

Are you thinking about starting up Trim Healthy Mama this year? Or perhaps you started, fell off the wagon, and are struggling to get back on plan? Either way, there is a good possibility that you're wondering exactly how to get started. Or re-started. Especially this time of the year. Who doesn't like a fresh start?

First, I encourage you to read the Plan book! That is the first thing you need to do if you want to learn the Trim Healthy Mama lifestyle. Now, while the plan is very well laid out in the book, there is a bit of a learning curve when you're getting started. For some of us, just knowing how to start can be overwhelming. That's why I've put together this list for you. When I first started, some of these articles were so helpful!

So, yes, you definitely need to get the plan book. Buy it, borrow it from a friend, or even check it out of the library. Set aside some time and start reading. And while you're doing that, visit some of these THM bloggers. They have worked hard to put together these guides to get you started.

Trim Healthy Mama Quick Start Guide by Gwen's Nest
RunAmok Mama's THM Made Easy by RunAmok Mama
Starting THM and Dos and Don'ts From a THM Veteran by Briana Thomas Burkholder
Getting Started with Trim Healthy Mama and Starting Trim Healthy Mama for Only $8 by The Well Planned Kitchen (The Well Planned Kitchen also has many wonderful resources for menu planning, so check out her site!)
Dear Trim Healthy Mama Newbie: Tips for the New and Overwhelmed by Grace-Filled Homemaking

There you have it! So, read the THM Plan book and follow the guides and tips of these wonderful ladies. If you stick to it, you will find your groove and be a Trim Healthy Mama, too!

Homeschool: Our Curriculum and What We Do

 

Happy New Year everyone! Today is a day of celebration and relaxation in our home. Plans include relaxing, maybe some shopping (thrift store, yay!), and card and board games. Tomorrow, since we were able to wrap our Advent activities, we will ease back into our homeschool routine.

I should also mention here, I am currently only homeschooling my 2 younger boys. My oldest is pretty much done and just waiting to test out for his diploma. So the curriculum and routines I talk about are with my 13-year-old and 10-year-old.

Our Curriculum

For most of our school work, we use a curriculum called My Father's World. This covers Bible, History, Science, Art, Music, and Read-Aloud. Right now, we are studying the time period of Rome to the Reformation. So, our history revolves around that. Actually, it all starts with the Bible, which ties a lot of our subjects together. I really like that about My Father's World! We have used this homeschool curriculum ever since our oldest started with it in Kindergarten. So, that will put 12 years of homeschooling under this Mama's belt! My Father's World has been such a blessing to us over the years, and if you are thinking of homeschooling or switching up your curriculum, go at least give them a look!

Our General Daily Routine

First, we start our day with chores and breakfast. Once that's all done, we go into our Bible reading. I will have one of the kids read the passage for the day and then we will have a short discussion, and I will try to answer any questions they may have. Plus, the kids have verses they have to memorize weekly.

Next, we work on English. My Father's World does have recommendations for each grade's English, and we do follow them. We have 2 Latin root words we learn every week by making flashcards. Then we do spelling, grammar, and I add in typing. Then, the 13-year-old will read an article from the World Teen news website to himself and discuss it with us. The 10-year-old does the same, but he goes to the World Kids news website.

After we're done with all of our English subjects, we move on to History. This includes reading from various books. Then, we move on to what's called Book Basket. This is 30 minutes of quiet, free reading from books I have selected from the library that go with what we're studying that week. By the time we're done with Book Basket, we're usually ready to break for lunch.

When lunch and cleanup are through, we get out the science and math books. This year in science, we are first learning about human anatomy, then astronomy in the second half of the year. Math is where I deviated from the My Father's World recommendations. We were using Singapore, which worked well for our oldest. Our middle son was really struggling though, so after some research, we switched over to Life of Fred. This math has been really wonderful, teaching math as you read through the story about Fred. I plan to do separate posts sometime, going into more detail about our various subjects, so I won't get too much into our math at this point. Check out the Life of Fred link above if you want to learn more about that wonderful curriculum.

Lastly, the end of our day is pretty relaxed. Each of the boys has a grade level-appropriate chapter book that they spend 30 minutes reading each day. These books usually take them 2-3 weeks to finish. After they are done reading each day, they need to summarize to me what they read. Then, we have either music or art, foreign language, and read-aloud. Currently, we are reading Bronze Bow, and I will do a review of that on this blog when we finish.

And there you have a typical homeschool day in our home! In writing this post, I realized I wanted to go into more detail, but I also realized it was getting a bit long. While we do have our rough days, I truly love to homeschool, and I love to talk about it! So, I am planning on doing a series sometime to cover more thoroughly what we do and use for each of the main subjects. 

Thank you so much for reading!

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!