Our Christmas Menu

We are back to hosting Christmas again! Yay! I think this is the first time hosting Christmas that we are actually running on schedule. LOL! It is also our first time hosting Christmas in this house, so HOPEFULLY, the weather (and/or the road crews) will cooperate so everyone can get here safe and sound. I am praying for all those who are traveling right now, the weather is awful in most places.

I thought I would share this year's Christmas menu. :)

Appetizers: Mexican meatballs, Lil' smokies in bbq sauce, tortilla wraps, chips & dips (including Velveeta & salsa), crackers, bread & spinach dip, and deviled eggs.

Beverages: Coffee, pop, punch, and egg nog.

Main meal: Turkey with wild rice stuffing, mashed potatoes & gravy, candied sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberries, condiment tray (with baby dills, black olives, and pickled beets), and rolls.

Desserts: Pumpkin pie, butterscotch pie, peppermint pie, and apple upside-down gingerbread.

Goodies & treats (these are all done and baked): Sugar cookies, spumoni, Mexican wedding cakes, peanut butter blossoms, ginger cookies, chocolate and peanut butter bars, brickle, chocolate peanut butter bark, holiday bark, mint meringues, candy cane pretzel rods, and pumpkin bread.

The goodies & treats list is actually about half what it has been in the past. Hubby requested that I scale back this year, as due to all the illnesses in the last few months, I didn't get quite the head start I usually do. He knows me too well, and didn't want me to stress myself out trying to "stick to the list." :)

After the New Year, I plan on picking my blogging back up a little more again, starting with getting back to the Proverbs 31 study. :)

Merry CHRISTMAS, everyone!!! Have a blessed and safe time.

Lisa

Proverbs 31 Review 1

¹¹The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.
¹²She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.
¹³She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.
¹⁴She is like the merchants' ships; she bringeth her food from afar.
¹⁵She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.
Proverbs 31:11-15

The above verses are the characteristics of the Proverbs 31 woman that I have covered so far. Before I move on, I wanted to make sure I've got these down. :) I see one area in particular I've improved greatly in, and that's verse 14. With a little help, of course. Things have been so busy around here lately, I decided to subscribe to Saving Dinner, a menu service I have used before that my family has been very happy with. It has been working swimmingly! In the last month and a half, the only times we've gone out to eat is when we've *wanted* to, as a treat. The meals from these menus are always healthy (they use a ton of fresh produce, and they have kosher options for those of us who don't eat pork or shrimp), and our grocery spending has not changed from before. Plus the meals are GOOD! There was only one I can remember that no one really liked, and that was the next day as leftovers, it was good right after I made it. :) Oh, and they're usually easy to make, and they don't use foods that are too "convenience-y," either. Needless to say, the hubby has been pretty happy with how our meals have been going around here lately, and that's a big praise!

Now, I also see an area I still really need to work on, and that's verse 15. It is *hard* implementing a new sleep schedule! I really need to make this my top priority, as it really sets the whole tone for our day. I'm going to make a point tomorrow of getting the kids to bed on time and then taking a nap and setting the alarm for about 10 minutes before hubby gets home. That way, I can still get some rest, but hubby's not coming home to a drowsy-looking wife, either. :P

So, my Proverbs 31 "project" for this week will be working on a better sleep schedule. Next week, I will move on in the study.

Lisa

And yet a little while longer...

All I can say is, What a month! I really am going to commence posting soon...as soon as our routine is back to normal. Yikes, we've been going back and forth with illness in this house for about a month now, with it culminating last Thursday (after I had a Wednesday night fever of 106 YIKES!) with a trip to urgent care for our. whole. family. Yes, you heard that right, all five of us waited right on through dinner time for our turn. And then they couldn't take all five at once, so I went in with the baby and hubby went in with the other two boys. We left with hubby having a sinus infection and possible flu, myself having an ear infection (which has since turned double) and possible flu, Vinny our horse being perfectly fine, Andrew with the beginnings of an ear infection and possible flu, and the baby got away with an eye infection and a cold. So we headed on home with our 500 pound bag of prescriptions and are praying for TOTAL healing soon! I wonder how long it will be before we can laugh at this? I guess the fun side was that we were eating dinner when the youngers should have been in bed. Could you call that fun? I think the kids probably could. But I digress...

All that to say, I totally miss blogging and will be back soon, but as I'm getting better, my main priority is to make sure our home is CLEAN and that I'm getting back to cooking our meals. :) At least it will be a good time (at least for ME anyway!) to go back over what I've already worked on in Proverbs 31 and have a refresher week, and get myself back on track there. Although, hopefully, I think I can say besides being able to do meals, I haven't really gotten off track. :)

Anyways...

Lisa

Colds, apples, and paint, oh my!

Yikes, it's been awhile since I've blogged! I just wanted to let my readers know I'm still here and will be back to my regular blogging shortly. :) We've had a nasty cold sweep through our house (on top of that, the little one's been teething--BACK teeth, ugh!), so that's kept me "busy."

Today, we had our big apple harvest...I know, I know, ONE tree, but it's big for us! LOL! It is a VERY heavy producer, too. And, I found out what kind of apples we have...Haralsons. So, at the moment, I've got another crock pot full of applesauce going, and tomorrow I will be making apple butter. And now that the apples are bigger, the canned apple pie filling will be much easier. I may also try some apple-mint jelly if I can remember to get some pectin from the store.

We are also painting the master bedroom today! I just finished taping it up, and when hubby gets home, we will start painting. My dad helped us put a chair rail around the room, so we are doing two different colors for the bottom and top. I may do the bottom color before hubby gets home, but that's if I have time. My first order of business is to make sure the kids get a good dinner, that the house is in order, and that baths happen tonight, as we have church in the morning. :)

So, I will be back to posting the Proverbs 31 study this week as things wind down, but I will give you a hint and tell you that it will basically be a review of what's been covered so far before we move on. :)

Lisa

Menu Plans for the Week of 9/6/09

Sunday-usually, we just have leftovers for dinner, but we're having family over for lunch, so I'll post that menu. Chili and cornbread.
Monday-Swedish Meatballs, buttered noodles, cauliflower and cheese
Tuesday-Leftovers
Wednesday-Seven Layer Tortilla Pie (new recipe), Pineapple-Orange Ambrosia
Thursday-Leftovers
Friday-Grilled hot dogs, chips, baked beans
Saturday-Rarebit (Welsh rabbit), Curried mixed veggies, Pineapple upside-down cake

Lisa

On Becoming a Proverbs 31 Woman Part 4

She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens. Proverbs 31:15

Yikes, this is one I seriously need to work on! It is very rare that I'm up before everyone else, and this is something I want to change. The problem in our house is, is that the kids go to bed way before hubby and I do, because of hubby's work schedule. He gets home late, so I usually end up staying up until he goes to bed. We both hated it back when I was working, and I had to always be in bed before he got home from work. What I need to do is take a nap between the time the kids go to bed and the time he gets home. I think now, especially with cutting out my computer time, this will be entirely possible. I'm not usually tempted by housework that late, either. ;)

I love how the Proverbs 31 woman makes sure everyone is fed, including her servants. Now, I know that most of us these days don't have servants like people did back then, but, I do like to consider servants those appliances that make my job easier. :) Such as my washer, dryer, dishwasher, coffee pot, oven/stove etc. So my goal is to make sure I'm up early, preferably before everyone else, and get my servants "fed" and going. If I can do that, a lot of my basic housework will be in progress. Then I will sit down and spend some time in the Word. This is another thing I know I've been missing. I will usually read my bible at night before bed, which I love doing, but I also want to be giving God the very first part of my day as well. I've said it before, and I stick to it, that when I make sure I am in the Word right away in the morning, my day ALWAYS goes better. Then, once I've spent time with my Lord, I can get the kids up and get them breakfast. Because of hubby's work schedule, he prefers to sleep in, so the kids and I will get our day started while he does that. ;) That way, he can wake up to a house that's in order, and a wife and kids who have had a good breakfast and are in good spirits. :)

My goal is to start this coming Monday. So on Sunday, I will make sure I am getting enough sleep so that on Monday, I can "riseth while it is yet night," and give God and my family the best part of my day.

Lisa

Up to my ears in apples

When we moved into our new house last year, it came with an already mature apple tree in the back yard. Yay! While the apples are not necessarily completely ready to harvest, lots of perfectly good apples have fallen on the ground, and the boys are quick to pick them up. ;)

We already have counted over 100 just off the ground alone, so I decided I better get busy finding ways to use them. The other day, I made a big pan of apple crisp, and today I got to work looking for other ways to preserve them. I made a crock pot full of applesauce, which I am in the middle of getting canned right now. After the kids go to sleep, I will also be making apple pie filling to can, using this recipe. I will probably also be making apple butter soon, too.

Here's the way I made the applesauce. I cored and quartered apples until they filled my crock pot. I added a cup of water and turned the crock pot on high until I could hear them boiling when I opened the lid. Then I turned them down to low and cooked them until they were very soft. I then ran the apples through my food mill to get rid of the peels and mush them into sauce. I put the sauce right back into the crock pot and added 1 cup of sugar and cooked it on low for about another hour. It turned out perfect!

Okay, my canner is boiling, so I better go take care of business. :)

Lisa

Proverbs 31 Offshoot 1

And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not. 1 Timothy 5:13

Today I posted on facebook that as of Friday morning, my account would be disabled. Why? I was reading in Created to Be His Helpmeet last night and was convicted. A section having to do with the above verse caught my attention and really convicted me. I may be at home, but by means of the internet, and especially facebook, I had been "wandering about from house to house" and using facebook "breaks" as a means to be a busybody. It had been taking up more and more of my time lately, and preventing me from being a good keeper of my home, mother to my children, and wife to my husband. And the most heartbreaking of all, the enemy had been using it to put more and more distance between myself and my Lord...and I was letting him do it. I was not really aware of it at the time, but still, I let him do it.

So, at that moment, I decided I was going to disable my account on facebook. And you know what? The Lord has already given me incredible peace about this and even excitement and relief. I will miss "being in the loop," but at the same time, it will be a relief not feeling "obligated" to keep up on things, and instead focus more on what I need to be doing in my OWN home. Yes, at the moment, my home is clean and the kids are behaving fairly well...but ever since I started getting more and more involved on facebook, things have ever so slowly been deteriorating around here. More and more I have felt myself struggle to do even the simple tasks I am supposed to be doing. More and more, I have felt myself become annoyed at being "bothered." Oy! Luckily, the Lord spoke to me and I responded before there were too many pieces to pick up, but there are, nonetheless, pieces to pick up. I almost feel like I have to start our routines all over again, and that is going to be HARD, but with the Lord's help, I will do it!

I am still keeping up my blog (I've been loving doing the Proverbs 31 study!), but my going around "visiting house to house" via *reading* blogs is going to be considerably lessened, if not stopped at least for a little while. I've noticed even that stresses me at times with thoughts of, "I wonder if I should be doing it that way, or that way, or that way..." which I have touched on before and have already significantly reduced the number of blogs I read. I have gone through my reader, and I now only have a select few blogs that I will keep on there. From my internet de-clutter before, I still only have one message board that I belong to, and have not joined any more, nor WILL I be joining anymore.

Ladies, PLEASE be careful out there. I strongly encourage you to not only *think* about the time you spend on the internet and how it affects your duties at home, but also to PRAY about it, and listen to what God is telling you! It is so convenient and easy (just a mouse click away!) to slip into the cares and worries of this world and let it take you away from what you are supposed to be doing. Let me leave you with another verse that is good to think on.

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Philippians 4:8

Lisa

On Becoming a Proverbs 31 Woman Part 3

She is like the merchants' ships; she bringeth her food from afar.
Proverbs 31:14

This verse didn't really click for me at first, so I did a little research. Here are a few good links I found:
Be Like Merchant Ships
The Proverbs 31 Woman
This is something I am constantly working on, and yes, even struggling with at times. Like I have stated before, making sure I have meals made instead of going out is a big deal around here, and a lot of times I have the very good excuse, "I just don't always have time." As I said, it's a very good excuse with everything else going on, between homeschooling, housework, and just plain spending time and being there for my family. Nonetheless, it is still an EXCUSE that I need to put a stop to. I need to manage my time better so as to *make* time to make good meals. Now, there are times when there's just nothing you can do about the schedule for a particular day, but if those times are not VERY rare, you are trying to do too much. Take some time to re-focus on your priorities and get rid of everything else. Even in those rare times when you may not have time to make dinner, there's no reason you can't be prepared with something perhaps you've made ahead of time and stuck in the freezer. For us, even having a simple soup and sandwich night is better than going out and buying fast food...it's just not worth the money!

So, I will leave you with the above links to read. There's a lot of good info in them and they have inspired me, and hopefully will do the same for you. :)

Lisa

Dinner menus for the week of 8/23/09

Sunday-keeping it simple with leftovers. :)
Monday-crock pot roast beef with carrots, onions, and new potatoes, dinner rolls
Tuesday-Husband's Delight Casserole, salad, bread
Wednesday-leftovers if available, or soup and sandwich night
Thursday-BBQ chicken pizza, salad, fruit
Friday-Burgers and steak on the grill, corn on the cob, baked beans, chips
Saturday-I usually leave this open as hubby's off...we will probably grill :)

Lisa