Saturday, April 19, 2008

natural remedy for pesky ants

I'd had this pesky ant problem last year and wish I'd found Martha's recipe for the ants.Turn away pesky ants for days on end with this nontoxic repellent. Pour equal amounts of water and white vinegar into a spray bottle, and shake to mix. Then spritz the solution in water-resistant areas where ants are common, such as kitchen floors or the crevices in painted baseboards from which the pests often enter. You can also use the repellent outside, spraying patios, porches, and picnic tables before family and friends gather

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natural pest repellent for the garden

I'd been looking for the recipe for a natural pest repellant and just found it at Martha's. Garden Guy's beautiful Roma tomatoe plants have got the disease - curled leaf tomatoes. We're bummed. All three plants were pulled today and dumped in the garbage. This natural pest repellant can work on the other plants that have some little pests taking nibbles.

Recipe: Place one peeled onion, two peeled garlic cloves, and one teaspoon cayenne pepper in the jar of a blender. Add three cups of water, and blend until smooth. Let the mixture sit overnight, strain the liquid into a spray bottle, and coat plants generously. The solution will keep, refrigerated in the bottle, for up to one week. Thanks Martha for the recipe!



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Friday, April 18, 2008

sweet pretties over at the marketplace

I'm so excited to platform two new Lylah Blog Marketplace sponsors - Stila & Smashbox Cosmetics.

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Thursday, April 17, 2008

organized bathroom ideas


I just found these great ideas here at Home Made Simple and just had to post them here.


Organization for Large Bathrooms
Move a bookshelf into your bathroom to allow extra room for mixing decorative bath items with everyday, useful items.

Take an old wooden ladder, tip it against the bathroom wall and attach with brackets. Add wider pieces of wood to the steps for additional shelf space or for displaying decorative items.

The addition of a travel chest or trunk to the bathroom can be a wonderful accent piece and a very useful place to store spare towels or linens.

If your space allows it, consider incorporating a cushioned bench with storage inside for added comfort and space.

Repurpose a nightstand with drawers for additional storage space. Assign a drawer to each family member so they can easily store their bathroom-related belongings. You can dress up the drawers by adding personalized monograms or a picture of each person.

Organization for Small Bathrooms
Create one basket that contains items you use every day that can be stored away in a linen closet or under the sink for easy access.

Hang a mirror on the back of the bathroom door or the inside of the medicine cabinet to create an additional space for more than one person in the bathroom at a time.

Over-the-commode shelving is a great space saver and beautiful, inexpensive shelving options are widely available for purchase. Or you can try this idea:
Inexpensive L-brackets with pieces of wood/press board cut to custom size for your space. Wood/press board can even be covered in fabric or contact paper to accent your décor.

For a sink with no cabinetry underneath, attach a strip or hook and loop tape to the underside of the sink. Affix the matching piece of tape to a piece of fabric chosen to accent your décor and cut to size. Fabric will create the look of a skirt around the sink and provide space to arrange baskets for cleaning supplies, extra rolls of toilet paper or a small trash can.

Organization for All Spaces
Use apothecary or similar glass jars to store cotton products. It’s a decorative and less cumbersome solution that lets you know when you’re getting low on supplies. Your guests will also know exactly where to find these items.

Organize towels by color, size and type. If you’re crunched for space, try storing extra or seldom-used towels in a guest room closet or on a shelf in the mudroom.

If you have an especially busy bathroom, create a family bathroom schedule so everyone can use the bathroom in (relative) harmony.

Make the Most of Personal Care Products
When you organize or clean your bathroom, take some time to thoroughly go through your products. Discard your makeup and medications that has expired or is no longer needed.

All products have a lifetime of use that allows them to be most effective. Once this period of time is up, they may not work properly, but most importantly can become contaminated. To avoid complications, follow these tips to make sure what you’re storing and using is safe.

General Rule: all makeup and hair products should be used within three years of leaving the factory. Normally, the back of the product is labeled with a coded date or you can label your products with a permanent marker (so it won’t rinse off) when you purchase items with a “safety” 18 months from the purchase date. Label this directly onto the back of the bottle or container, so you can easily tell when it’s time to toss.

Natural or organic products: These typically have a shorter life, because they do not contain preservatives. Try using these products within 3-12 months.

Makeup brushes: Keep them clean by periodically washing in warm, soapy water. Let air dry on a towel and they will fluff up like new!

Keep it cool: All makeup, hair products and medicines should be stored in a cool, dry and dark place away from sunlight, humidity and heat. Try using colored, dark plastic bins or decorative baskets that keep direct sunlight from getting into the bottles.

Bathroom Cleaning Tips
For a great springtime clean all the time, try these tips for keeping your bathroom fresh.
As a general rule, start with the top and work your way down—for example start with the shower walls and work down to the tub.

The sink should be the very last thing to be cleaned, because you will use it throughout the cleaning process.

Try keeping a bath caddy of every item you need to clean your bathroom under the sink. That way everything is right there when you need it, and it’s easy to do a quick touch up for unexpected guests.

If you have a small space and no place to keep a bath caddy, consider a caddy placed somewhere else which contains all products you use to clean the entire house. To keep cleaning tools separate, only use one color of sponge for the bathroom and label gloves for the bathroom with the letter “B.”

And remember, cleaning as you go is the key for keeping your bathroom clean and tidy! Always put your bathroom items back where they came from after each use and encourage your family to do the same. Then, do a quick once a week clean up to save yourself from long cleaning routines.

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mom's love the spa


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Top Tips to Avoid Identity Theft


Identity theft is something we must all take seriously. Dan Reilly wrote this post and I don't want to benefit from these top tips to avoid identity theft.

1. Shred everything
Anything with an account number, signature, social security number or any personal information can be used against you, and since most people throw this stuff in the trash, it's readily available for dumpster-diving thieves. Shredding your bills, ATM and credit card receipts, pay stubs, back statements and anything else with confidential info is a much safer alternative. If the paper shredder you use cuts horizontally and vertically across the paper, that's even better, since it makes taping the paper back together difficult. Likewise, any digital data on hard drives, CDs, or DVDs should also be fully wiped or physically destroyed. On the plus side, shredding is kind of fun.

2. Watch your back
While many identity thefts take place anonymously via the Internet and the phone, sometimes the crimes are committed by people standing right behind you. Whenever you're entering private information, such as account or PIN numbers, make sure that nobody else is watching. You might feel rude doing so, but you're better safe than sorry.

3. Keep Track Of Your Documents
Unless you absolutely have to, don't walk around in public with your social security card, passport, birth certificate, or extra bank cards. You'll rarely need them, and you can be in big trouble if they get lost. On that note, if you lose your wallet or even a single bank card, make sure to cancel it immediately, even if you think you'll find it soon. Credit cards only hold you liable for $50 charged on your card before you report it missing, but debit cards can hold you liable for up to $500 if you wait more than two days to report it missing.

4. Check your statements, bills, and credit reports
Whenever you receive a bill or bank statement in the mail, check it in a timely fashion for any bizarre charges or activity. If you see a bunch of charges you never made, it's possible that someone got a hold of more than just your credit card number. If you see anything, report it immediately to prevent any further harm. Also, get a yearly credit report to see if there's anything amiss, which can be done for free at sites like annualcreditreport.com. Even thought it might make you cringe to look at it, at least you know you're not being harmed.

5. Protect your mail
Stolen mail is one of the easiest ways a thief can find and use your identity. Although it makes up a small percentage of overall identity crimes – only 4% as of 2005 – it still affects hundreds of thousands of Americans each year, which is why you should take steps to physically protect your mail. If you can, purchase a lockable mailbox or a mail slot for your door. When sending mail, put it in a secure U.S. Post Office collection bin rather than leave it in your mailbox. If you're going to be away, even for short periods of time, have your mail held at the post office. Finally, put as little personal info – as in, never account or social security numbers – on the outside of envelopes.

6. Protect your computer
There are many suckers on the Internet, and many more smart people who don't adequately protect their computers. Regularly updating your computer's spyware and virus protection software can prevent criminals from gaining access to accounts and credit cards, so keep your safeguards current. Also, make sure you know who you're dealing with online – buy products and download files only from trusted sites and beware of phishing scams. Finally, just as when you're dealing with telemarketers, never give out personal information unless you're the one who made contact first.

7. Avoid pre-approved credit card offers
Credit card offers that you receive in the mail are an easy way for scammers to set up accounts in your name. Rather than throwing them away in the trash, shred or destroy them to make sure nobody can get to them. Then, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recommends you call 1-888-5-OPTOUT or visit optoutprescreen.com to take you off the lists for receiving pre-approved credit and insurance offers from the major companies. It's quick to do and you'll feel better, and as a bonus, your junk mail will be cut down.

8. Work on your passwords
Sure, it's a pain to have to remember a bunch of different passwords, but compared to losing your savings, it's a piece of cake. Choosing obscure words, capitalizing certain letters and inserting numbers and symbols are all easy ways to prevent someone from being able to guess your password. Changing them on a monthly basis and using different passwords for different access points will also guard your privacy. Finally, even though it seems obvious, don't share any of your passwords with anybody.

9. Protect your checks
Keep your checks as secure as possible, given that the information regularly printed on them – name, address, and bank account number – can pretty much give the keys to your life to any common ID thief. If you live anywhere where others have access, like a dorm, then be sure to hide your checkbook or keep it locked away. Don't print your driver's license, social security, or credit card numbers on the checks themselves if you don't have to, and shred any canceled checks with vital information on them. Another option is to have your first initial instead of your full first name printed on the check, so even if a thief gets a hold of one, he or she won't have your full name. Finally, when ordering new checks, pick them up from your bank instead of getting them mailed to you.

10. Guard against RFID theft
As we've noted before, the amount of personal information transmitted by RFID, or radio frequency identification (the same technology used to collect money at highway toll plazas, for example) is increasing. Hackers can steal the information on your passport, credit cards, employee IDs -- all of which have RFID tags -- using only a laptop and an antenna, so protect yourself by purchasing a metal-lined wallet or keeping your documents wrapped in aluminum foil.

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Tuesday, April 15, 2008

thirst and pain

Who’s Gonna “Do” Your Thirst and Pain? God or you?
(repentance at a deeper level - the way to discover your DREAM)

God said, “My people have committed two sins; They have forsaken me, the Spring of Living Water, and have dug their own cisterns*, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” Jer. 2:13. (* a cistern is a man-made well. It has no underground source. You are it’s supplier).

Pride says - “I don’t want to drink at God’s Spring - for I would then have to be dependent on that Spring, and I’d have to live on His terms - serving Him, bowing to Him; I’d rather forsake that Spring and do my own wells - even if they can’t hold water - at least they’re my wells.” God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. We can sum up all sin in one word: ‘pride’, and in every decision of our lives, we make either a choice to trust, or a choice to reject Him and be proud.
The two areas in which I will either ‘trust’ God, or choose ‘pride’ are:
"MY THIRST"
1) Needs - basic needs, food and shelter (God promises to meet those needs - Matt. 6:11; 24-34)
2) Desires - emotional, sexual, social, or good health. Can you trust God w/these? (Ps. 34:7).
3) Purpose/DREAM - to have relational fullness w/God & others (Col. 2:2; Eph. 3:10); and have awesome impact (Jer.29:9-11), caring, discipling.

"MY PAIN".
1) Past pain - memories. He is the God who heals (Ps. 147:3)
2) Present pain - relational, emotional, physical; pains within and without - He's a present help in time of trouble - comforting us (Ps. 46:1; 2 Cor. 1:3-10);
3) Future pain - (i.e. `fear' - anticipated pain); fear of the future; of what `could' happen (Ps 41:10; 56:3,4)

The question is, have you dug out your own wells in order to do your thirst and pain, or have you been trusting Him to do your thirst and pain? Repentance is a recognition of doing my own thirst and/or pain and a decision to leave those wells and head back to the Spring of Living Water — and stay there! At this Spring, you may feel like you’re losing your life, but actually you’re finding it. Read John 12:25-26 and you’ll discover 3 awesome spiritual realities happening honoring us and; 3) we get to really find our life (i.e. discover and do our DREAM)!. Think about how you’re doing your thirst/pain. Are you living at His Spring or at your broken cisterns?

One can trace all sins back to pride - (or a combination of ignorance and pride) - and pride is nothing more or less than forsaking the Spring of Living Water and digging for ourselves wells that can’t hold water. We are responsible for both our ignorant and our deliberate sins. If we have ignorantly or deliberately made for ourselves these wells, repentance is necessary in the healing process.
To know what areas we are to repent of, we can trace our sin of pride to the areas of our thirst and/or pain - are we ‘doing’ our thirst/pain, or are we trusting Him with our thirst and/or pain?

Trusting God to do your thirst and pain is a lifelong journey and it’s the main way He is working pride out and building trust into our souls He knows those who live by the Stream and supports their DREAM (2 Chron 16:9).
One last note on the pain: God is always there for us in past, present and future pain, and God has given us His PEOPLE, His PRESENCE and His PROMISES to walk us through past pains, to help us overcome present pains and help us face our fears (future pains).
These areas of sin/pride - doing our own thirst and pain - are usually hidden areas of our soul - strongholds of darkness. That’s why we must honestly and radically deal with the darkness if we are to see His DREAM released in us.

Here are some good questions to discover who’s doing the thirst/pain in your life:

· Do I trust God to to provide for my needs/desires in His timing and in His way, or am I angry at Him at the way He’s doing it?

· Do I trust God to heal my pain in His timing and in His way or do I believe He’s not doing it quick enough so I must act now?

· Do I trust God to provide the opportunities for me to do my dream in His timing and in His way or have I buried my dream (which is a way I am doing my pain) - or perhaps I’m doing it at the neglect of other responsibilities He’s given me to do?

· If I’ve dug my own wells - to do my own thirst and pain, am I willing to leave them and go back to the Spring?


Pride is the link to a woman digging her own wells. The Bible says that those wells don’t hold water and they don’t satisfy. Jesus told the woman at the well in John 4 that if she drank from this Living Water, she would never be thirsty. He told her that the water that He gave would become a fountain of water springing up into eternal life for those who would drink from the water Jesus gives (John 4:9-29).

Until we stop doing our thirsts and pain OUR OWN WAY, we will never be able to do our DREAM HIS WAY! As I trust God to quench my thirst and to comfort me in my pain, He will, in His time do a much better job than I can do. And I must keep coming. All He expects is that when we drink, we give Him thanks and praise and worship Him - the Source of Living Water.

If I choose to ‘do’ my own thirst and/or pain from my own well that I dug myself, though there may be a temporary quenching of the thirst and/or a temporary relief of the pain, I will end up more thirsty and in more pain than when I started. It’s like the person shipwrecked at sea in a lifeboat - thirsty and without water. He knows he mustn’t drink the salt water (which would dehydrate him, though it would temporarily quench his thirst), but instead he must wait for help. Those who drink the salt water die, those who wait have a hope to be saved.

One more problem occurs if I drink from my own well; not only will I end up more unsatisfied, but I will also end up with a whole new set of pains - of guilt and shame, regret, time lost and broken relationships - because I did not trust but insisted on my own way.
The wonderful thing about God’s great grace is that even if I go my own way, God is always there - ready to take me back, to clean me up, to forgive me - to heal me - to restore me; He is my Father and He loves me; Jesus is my Good Shepherd and He knows how to get this sometimes confused and stubborn sheep back into His pasture. (I just don’t understand why I keep thinking I can do my thirst and pain better than my Maker, my Designer, my Master... I’m ready to leave my wells and go back to the Spring. How about you?).


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more on shame

Part One on Shame is here.

Shame says (with distorted thinking) that no one could love me as I am, so I need something on the outside to be whole and okay. What is it that we think we need “on the outside” to make us feel whole and okay on the inside? Shame says that worth is measured on the outside. God says worth is measured because of who He is and that He sees us as being valuable enough for Him to have sent His Son to die for us. That’s love—and He says we are lovable. Shame often feels hopeless and unlovable.

Shame is, typically, multigenerational. It’s a generational curse that needs to be broken. Shame-based people marry other shame-based people. What does this produce? Shame-based systems produce a lack of intimacy and a marital system of control, loneliness, and major dysfunction.


Symptoms of shame to watch for are: nagging, trying to provoke change in your husband or children, blaming him (or them) for how you think and react, living with the “if only’s,” being the adult caretaker, being super-responsible, being a joy addict, being the victim, trying to be “perfect,” and/or addictive/compulsive behavior.

· If you think you need to be in control of everyone’s personal behavior and their interactions, then you are operating out of shame.

· If you think you need to be right in every situation in which you are involved, then you operate out of shame.

· If you think you don’t have permission to make any mistakes and you try to cover up your mistakes, then you also are shame-based.

· If you think you can’t trust anyone, then the chances are that you are shame-based. Trust issues typically come from a sense of not “feeling” protected by your father as a little girl.

· If you tend to isolate and withdraw from people, you are probably shame-based.

Why do we project our own shame onto our husbands and others? We project it because it is our defense mechanism. We want to attribute the sense of ashamedness that we feel onto the other person so that we can alleviate our own pain.

When we get to the roots of our faulty system of thinking, pull those roots out, and look at the so-called “benefits” of remaining in this faulty system, we expose the lies. Exposing the lies brings freedom. One of the main roots that causes shame to be internalized is abandonment. A child does not know who she is without the mirroring that is done by her primary caretakers. Emotional, physical, or sexual abuse are other roots that cause shame. No wonder Satan has a heyday with our marriages and our families.

But, the good news is that, as women, we can be set free—because truth sets us free! When we are free, then we are able to use our POISE (Power Of Influence, Submission, and Encouragement) to bring deliverance to our marriages and to our families!

Shame is a process that needs to be “walked out.” It takes work; but it’s not impossible, because with God, all things are possible. Begin to take a look at your patterns of thinking. Write them down. Write down the nagging things that keep coming to your mind. Then, pray that God will lead you to a godly woman in your church who understands strongholds and will work with you to bring you to a place of deliverance. Shame is something to make your master—to be used as part of your testimony.

Finally, remember that God is deeply concerned about you. He loves you dearly, and He sees you as extremely valuable and worthwhile. His desire is to bring you to health and wholeness. Place your trust in Him, for He will never, never, never leave nor forsake You. May His lavish blessings be upon you, most beautiful woman of God!

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this subject and how you've made shame work for you - instead of 'it' working you.

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healing shame - an excerpt from power prayers for your might man

The following is an excerpt from my prayer book for wives called Power Prayers for Your Mighty Man. My Life Coach Mom's web site can be only be viewed via Explorer.








C H A P T E R T W E L V E

Healing Shame



Preparation . . .


Consider this:


Shame is nothing new. Its origin is from the Garden. Remember what happened to Adam and Eve when they sinned? They were afraid, they tried to cover up their nakedness, and then they hid. Shame was at the core of Adam and Eve's fall. Not only did they hide, but they started to blame. What do we do when we feel shame? We hide. We blame. We try to cover up our real self. Shame is about who I am. Guilt is about what I’ve done.

A woman who operates out of shame carries about within herself a nagging sense that somehow she is defective or flawed. She may then resort to creating a false sense of self. When a woman has total acceptance and a sense of value, based on Christ's value imparted to her, she does not live in that sense of shame.

Shame is toxic. It is subtle, it is cunning, and it wears many masks. Shame gives us a sense of worthlessness and the idea that we do not measure up as women.

A shame-based woman will, typically, guard herself in revealing who she really is. She may take off the mask when the pain inside her feminine soul becomes too great, but this vulnerability is only temporary. It's only a release valve, like that which is on a pressure cooker. She will reveal only enough to gain some relief, then the mask will go up again so that she can hide the internal pain. Guilt keeps that mask in place because she feels she has revealed too much of her "real" self.

As women, we often shame our husbands because we view our own imperfections as a reflection on us. If others see that we really aren't as perfect as we'd like them to believe, then we think we’ll be viewed as not so perfect, either.

So, we may nag, complain, and shame the perfect husband (and the perfect children) into existence. Our thinking is, "If I make my husband and children perfect, or if I at least make them look perfect on the outside (looking right and doing all the right things), then other people will think they are perfect. And, if they think they are perfect, then I will appear perfect, too!

When I operate in a knee jerk reaction (shame) then it means that I’ve forgotten who I am. I’ve forgotten who Jesus says I am.

Who I Am

Jesus knew who he was, what he was to do and where he was going. You and I have our identity in him. The enemy would like nothing more than to keep us from walking in WHO and WHOSE we are.

I’ve listed a few of my identities. Are they yours? Great verses to memorize are: Eph. 1:3-14, Col. 3:1-3, ROM 6:6,11,13

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lylah's principles for a wife to know and live by

I love teaching women how to be wives and practice biblical principles. Here's what I call Lylah's Simple Principles for a Wife to Know and to Live By:

She was created for her husband

She was created to respond.

Men and women have different roles/job descriptions.

God has a divine order and you can’t get around it.

A praying wife is a home builder, heart healer and heaven shaker.

Submission is our door to influence (duck low enough for God to touch him).

There’s no blessing to a wife outside of God’s divine order. When a wife goes out of the borders set by God – it costs her the protection of her man. Without protection – without peace.

Men are initiators & piercers and women are responders.

A wife is complete in Christ and her security must be in Him – her trust ultimately must be in Him.

A wife has every thing she needs for life and godliness.

Change around me begins with me.

The more understand a wife has of her post (biblical job description) and his groove (biblical job description) the more comfortable and confident she’ll become in that role.

Pride is expensive – it costs us our peace and makes us age quicker.

A wife is the queen of her home and she should act like it - respecting the "king."

Confidence has its way of drawing its own invisible boundaries

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Foxy Ceasar Dressing

My girlfriend, Linda, brought this fantastic salad and salad dressing to our home group Sunday night. Oh my goodness. You've got to make this dresssing. It's her own concoction.

Foxy Ceasar Dressing
¼ cup of freshly squeezed lemon & lime juice - equal parts
5 anchovies
1 chopped clove of garlic
5 TBSP of Parmesan cheese
1/3 c rice vinegar
2 TBSP honey or sugar, I use rapadura
2/3 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Dash of salt
Fresh ground Black Pepper
Mix all the above in a blender and taste, should have a tangy bite to it

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Monday, April 14, 2008

pigeons, wild things, naps and pings

I have five wonderful grandkiddos that LOVE books. I'm so proud of their moms that have put a LOVE of books into their little hearts. Here's a few of my recommendations!






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sweet pink - create sanctuary in the master bedroom

It's too bad i don't have pink going on because I really think this would be so sweet - all to create sanctuary in the master bedroom.

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