Simple Home Living: 11/30/08

Saturday, December 06, 2008

the advent conspiracy - making the season a different one

Why is it that we get determined to not get caught up in the "stuff" of the holiday that doesn't really matter much - anyway - and then find ourselves in the thick of it - anyway?

Shopping (for gifts that someone doesn't really want), the holiday activities, the parties, and on and on . . and then when the day arrives for which we celebrate - we're so tired that the life of the celebration is whipped out of us. So, we vow - next year it'll be different.

Well, it's not too late to simplify, do something different now and make a difference where it can count for all of eternity.

Friday, December 05, 2008

planned parenthood's at it again . . .

Mio Moov 200 Portable GPS Navigator w/3.5 in. Touchscreen Display on Sale $99.99

Who doesn't like a deal? This is a deal at K-mart!

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

from my kitchen - using herbs to dress up a turkey

little garden girl - tips with purple beans

the simple home - how to cut your spending by $500 a month

Like you, I'm always looking for ways to seal up the money leaks in our home. As the keeper of my home and the one who spends most of the money for home front needs, I'm compelled to find every way I can to effectively manage what God's given us.

One of my personal tips to look for leaks is to simplify, declutter, get organized and stay organized. So many times, we can't find something, head out to the store, buy it and then later on find that we actually have two of what we were looking for.

Simplify Your Life by Marcia Ramsland

Here's 7 More Ways to Save $$ from Consumer Reports Money Lab that will help you (as the keeper of your home) possibly find a few more ways to stop those money leaks.

No. 1: Find Cheaper Auto Insurance Average savings: $65
How to do it.
Start at the Web site of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, and click on NAIC States & Jurisdictions to find your state's insurance department. Most provide comparative premium quotes based on standard customer profiles. If your state doesn't, you can get quotes from insurers by phone or over the Internet.

No. 2: Optimize Your Life Insurance Average savings: $110
How to do it.
Life-insurance premiums have dropped so dramatically since the 1990s, it will probably pay for you to replace a policy bought years ago with a comparable one. Get a physical checkup and follow your doctor's advice for shaping up before applying for a new policy. Get quotes and don't cancel your existing policy until you have a new one already in place.

No. 3: Shop Smart for Food Average savings: $200
How to do it.
Plan menus around sales on fresh poultry, fish, meat, dairy, and produce, and make use of leftovers. Avoid costly prepared meals. Try less-expensive store brands. Sign up for store discount cards. Stock up on sale-priced staples. Eat more low-priced, high-nutrition foods such as beans and potatoes, says Andrea Carlson, a USDA economist.

No. 4: Stop Paying Bank Fees Average savings: $25.
How to do it.
Bank at a large institution with lots of ATMs in convenient locations to avoid the cost of using other banks' machines—as much as $4 per withdrawal. And use the no-fee cash-back option at supermarkets.

No. 5: Call Up Phone Savings Average savings: $35
How to do it.
Peruse your last few months' phone bills to assess how many minutes you typically use on landline and wireless calls. Comparison shop among cellular service providers, the local phone company, independent long-distance carriers, and your cable TV company. Don't buy more than you need, such as an unlimited cellular plan if you rarely go over 900 minutes per month.

No. 6: Pay Off Your Credit Card Average savings: $65
How to do it.
Paying off your balance is easier said than done. The trick is to stop charging. Then pay more than the minimum required each month until it's paid off. Dig up cash for this from your U.S. Treasury stimulus check, garage sales, or extra work part-time.

No. 7: Increase Your 401(k) Contribution Average tax savings: $125
How to do it.
If you're not already contributing the maximum, put more into your 401(k), IRA, or other tax-deferred retirement account. You'll also cut the amount of income tax you'll pay each month. (Note that this does not apply to Roth accounts.)

What's your tip to either simplify, declutter, get organized and then save $$?

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

little garden girls tip - no more rabbits!

Monday, December 01, 2008

little garden girls tips for turnips

Yes, it's true, the Little Garden Girl has another garden tip for you! Listen closely!

radical surgery required

I just wish I'd written this. I'm just not that eloquent with the pen (keyboard).

A Cancer on the System Radical Surgery Required
Chuck Colson - Breakpoint

December 1, 2008 -

For those of you who remember Watergate, John Dean, the President’s counsel, famously warned President Nixon about Watergate, describing it as, quote, “a cancer on the Presidency.” That is a pretty good phrase to describe our economic mess.

If you got the sniffles, you can take an antihistamine. A few antibiotics can cure an ear infection. But cancer requires surgery, and maybe chemo and radiation.

Last week in the New York Times, Thomas Friedman wrote, “Right now there is something deeply dysfunctional, bordering on scandalously irresponsible, in the fractious way our political elite are behaving—with business as usual in the most unusual economic moment of our lifetimes. They don’t seem to understand: Our financial system is imperiled.” And, quoting Yale professor Jeffrey Garten, Friedman argued that it’s better to overestimate the danger and act accordingly than to underestimate.

He’s right. So I have a radical proposal: surgery followed by chemo.

Let us remember that one of the great concepts of the Reformation was the Rule of Law. No office holder is above it. So as for the surgery, I’d start maybe impeaching or indicting some of the officials who pontificate day after day on television about the terrible crisis—but they’re the same ones who helped bring it about. From those who put their pals in charge of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and then forced those agencies to make loans they knew couldn’t be repaid; to those regulators at the Office of Thrift Supervision who ignored the signs of catastrophe while the likes of Countrywide Financial, IndyMac, and Washington Mutual went down.

As one former Republican lawmaker told the Washington Post last week, the “regulatory motif” at OTS “was too accommodating to private-sector interests.” The result was chaos!

As for Wall Street, the surgery would include curbing the excess compensation so many of those officials got, and even indicting some of the irresponsible ones who negligently promoted instruments they knew had to fail. In the old days, we’d have called that fraud.

And don’t continue bail-outs to the irresponsible. Let the bankruptcy courts reorganize mismanaged companies. The reorganization would get rid of the all the labor feather-bedding and corporate excesses, particularly in the three big auto makers.

The chemo and radiation part is harder. It means injecting into the bloodstream of the nation a sense of ethics. It’s not taught in business schools; it’s not taught in high schools. We have lost our understanding of right and wrong. All that matters anymore is the financial bottom line and self satisfaction.

So this is where Christians can truly make a difference, as I have written this month in Christianity Today. The financial meltdown is more a crisis of character than a crisis of finances. Historically, our ethical system has come from Judeo-Christian revelation. We’ve got to start bringing it back into society. There is simply no other way.

Surgery, chemo and radiation are long processes. When my son went through it a while ago, it took a year. But the point is, until the cancer is destroyed, the body cannot be healthy.

To postpone it will only postpone the inevitable and perhaps merely succeed in allowing the patient to die painlessly.

This nation deserves better. The resource: Breakpoint.org

Your thoughts?

Sunday, November 30, 2008

A Woman's Relationship with Her Dad

God intended for DADS to give girls the Building Blocks that help build and grow girls into Godly, mature and confident girls who love God and know all about Him. Dad’s building blocks show girls God’s love and protection by making them feel save on the outside.

Dad’s are supposed to make girls feel safe on the outside & on the inside. God also uses Poppies in a little girl's life - to cause her to know that she's a princess.

A lot of dad’s building blocks are to affirm, teach and protect their daughters. Dad’s actually have a lot of responsibility according to the Bible.

One of the things dad’s are supposed to do (besides protecting their daughters) is to talk a lot about all sorts of life’s issues (according to God’s perspective).

Check out these verses. They are mostly about what God is telling dads to talk to their children about. Where ever it says “son” you just put your name there.

Check out what God says . . .
Deuteronomy 5:29
Deuteronomy 6:4-7
Deuteronomy 6:18
Deuteronomy 11:19—21
Isaiah 38:19b v
Proverbs 22:6 (this is most likely for moms and dads )
Proverbs 4:1
Proverbs 4:26-27
Proverbs 4:18 –19
Proverbs 4:14—15

One thing dads are supposed to do . . .
God wants a dad to tell his daughter that the most important thing is to know God as Father. A daughter also needs to know that asking God for wisdom and understanding is the key to a healthy life. God wants a dad to tell his girl how to be wise and avoid being foolish. God also wants a dad to tell his girl what to do if she feels tempted.

He wants dads to tell their daughters how to stay pure, remind them that the main vein in life is preparing to be a wife and mother and to dream about their wedding day when they will be a beautiful bride.

Dads are supposed to tell their girls how to be a friend and what kind of person NOT to be a friend to. They are supposed to tell their daughters how to speak and not lie and what to avoid. They are supposed to build up the inner image of their daughters by telling them they are beautiful just as they are. They’re not supposed to tell them they are “fat and will never get a man” or “if only” they “looked a certain way” then they’d have boyfriends. Moms train their daughters too and affirm the good things dad teaches.

Proverbs 1: 10—19
Proverbs 2:1—2
Proverbs 2: 5—6
Proverbs 6: 1—2
Proverbs 6: 12—15
Proverbs 6: 6—8
Proverbs 6:20—21

When dad's building blocks are missing . . .
When girls don’t have proper building blocks from dad or mom, they tend to grow up feeling insecure, unprotected, not valued and then they make dumb and stupid choices that only add to a sense of woundedness and insecurity and fearfulness. If dad leaves, the rejection that girl feels and operates out of can last a life time. . . until some dad blocks are given back. If dad is left and wounded his daughter with the pain of rejection often she will stay "stuck emotionally" at the age dad left. What can help heal her? Another dad being used by God to begin to replace those missing building blocks - slowly, one at a time - with great love, acceptance, care and a willingness to stay in it - in spite of the potential of being rejected.

God intended for DADS to give girls the Building Blocks that show them God’s love by protecting them and making them feel safe on the outside and inside.

Bonding blocks of love are needed so girls feel protected, affirmed and empowered for life. Dad gives blocks that “bless” his daughter in being a girl. Dad helps his girl become independent of mom. Dad helps his daughter learn to rightly relate to guys, so she can right relate to her husband when she gets married.

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liam's home birth - so beautiful

There is nothing like life given and life embraced and there is nothing like the privilege of seeing new life come into this world and join a family.

I've been blessed to see my grandchildren join our family. I've been blessed to see my niece join our family and in October of this year, I was blessed to see Liam Ledner join our family.

Please take a moment to bask in the life God gives as you watch Liam's home birth. BreAnna's midwife, Sue, and her doula, Alison (also a midwife), were an awesome team.

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thanks at thanksgiving 2008

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of year. I love to cook the turkey and prepare our home to receive family and friends. This year was no exception. Twenty awesome people graced our tables in our family room. Usually the weather is acceptable to enjoy some outside seating but this year cooler weather and rain made the shift to inside seating (last year).

We served Turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potato squash casserole, green beans, salad, cornbread, rolls, stuffed acorn squash and of course lots of pumpkin pie.

My littlest girls (2 more were in a back room playing and sleeping).
My older girl.
My other older girl.
Hubs and one younger son (in law).

charley brown's christmas tree

When I think of our very lovely Christmas tree, the first thought that comes to mind is - Charley Brown. Don't get me wrong, I'm not at all unthankful.

Yesterday as our family (5 kids, 6 adults, packed lunch, hot chocolate and a few saws) trekked up to the beautiful mountainous region in Payson, Arizona to hunt and cut down our tree.

The permit said Junipers and Pinion Pines. Have you ever seen a Juniper or Pinion Pine. If not, just think of Charley Brown's Christmas tree and you'll get an idea of the image.

Mark and Candace actually found their tree just up from this rock.

All in all it was a great trip. Kids running and playing and jumping and climbing and dads chasing after them. Sweet. I love family! Tonight, we'll add pretties to the Charley Brown tree.

homegrown - pure and simple

This past year, I've been drawn to and inspired by what is simple. The Simple Home and living daily life with purpose: learning to love deeply, making home a priority and the people that come in and out of my home are themes that pour from my heart as I seek to create sanctuary in the simple spaces around me.

It is God who is continually arresting and rescuing my restless heart to find it's true rest in Him and in His great love for me, He often points me to the things that are simple and have eternal meaning.

This book, homegrown - pure and simple is one that has deeply inspired my heart in this season of the pursuit of things simple. It was a gift from a dear gardening friend and in a simplistic way I find its pages drawing - with gardening encouragements and recipes that I must serve from my kitchen - those simple things where I know God continually points me to.