Send HIM a Valentine

I am jumping on board a Valentine challenge from a friend of mine, Deena Royalty, which she posted in her blog.

"This year I am deciding to post each Friday in February to let you all in on the happenings here on Haywood to hopefully inspire and challenge you use Valentine's this year as an excuse to celebrate ALL MONTH, smothering your spouse with affection and having a ton of fun yourself.

You up for it???  Good!

Ok here's my romantic plan. Now by romantic I mean, "Fun, cheap, and special to us." What's romantic to us is quite possibly hilarious to you and vice versa. Who cares! Just have fun!"


Funds are tighter than your momma's girdle, so I have to do things that will be inexpensive and fun all at once.  I'll be using mostly what I have here, with only very limited additions from outside.  We'll see how things add up in the end.

I'm going to follow her gameplan of following the little childhood rhyme: "I love you in big ways, I love you in small ways, I love you this minute, and I'll love you always."

For the "big ways"- Tomorrow.... Let's see, I can... something big...  I can make a card from my scrapbook stuff, make a picinic dinner for us to take to the beach, have my mom watch the boys for the evening, then pick up the boys and hang out with them for the evening.

For the "small ways"- I can get up and make him a good breakfast before he heads off to work, and hand it to him with a second hand-made card.  He really likes a ham egg and cheese biscuit (all home-made, of course).  I can make sure the boys and I look nice when he comes home from work and that we have a really nice evening planned for him.

For "this minute", I can make a third card, and ........ have songs about minutes and love lined up to play in the background and make a candle-lit dinner for us. 

For "always", I can.....  I don't know.  HELP!!!!  I'll keep thinking on this.  It will be good for me to do.

Swagbucks

OK, so I've heard about these from two different people, and I was wondering if anyone else has heard anything.  I'll also post this on Facebook.

Swagbucks is a toolbar that you use as a search engine, and from what I've heard, the more people you tell about them, the more you get in return.  I'm utterly confused right now, since I have the same three swagbucks I received when I signed up.  Don't know how else to get them.  I learned some about them here:

http://newlifeonahomestead.com/2010/01/have-you-signed-up-for-swagbucks-yet/

and here:

http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/using-swagbucks-and-amazon-cards-for-organic-groceries

and here:

http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/another-happy-swagbucks-promotion

I don't know quite what to think, and was wondering if anyone could help me out.  Thanks.

God is SO GOOD!!

Isn't it amazing that, just when you need Him most, God comes through in a greater, more unbelievable way than you could possibly imagine??

Today, I needed to run by the store for two things that we needed: oil and honey.  I had exactly $5.93 to make the food fit into.  I prayed about it, and off we went.  I got inside, and went for the oil.  There was a smaller container there (half the size I normally buy) for $2.49.  Great!  That was almost half of the money that I had to spend.  And that was without tax.  And honey was sure to be more expensive. 

So, I sent a quick prayer heavenward, and started glancing around to see if there was anything on sale (that was the store brand, so I wasn't holding out much hope).  I looked down at the size of oil that I usually buy, and it was only $2.39!!!  WHAT???  I was really confused, so I looked around to be sure that I was right.  Sure enough, twice the oil, $.10 cheaper.  Ok, Thank you LORD!!  And off we went to buy the honey.

After walking in circles a few minutes, I found the honey.  The cheapest of which was $3.49.  Added together with the oil, it was $5.90.  It only left me $.03 for tax.  That wouldn't be enough.  So I looked again, and prayed.  There, right beside the cheapest one, was a bottle of Sue Bee honey.  It was $4.25.  More expensive.  I was about to look away, when it was almost as if God took my head inbetween his hands and said "LOOK!!"  On the front, was a coupon for $1.00 off.  Instant savings!!  WOOHOO!!!

All that to say, God answers prayer.  I have $.15 left over from my grocery store trip.  Also, while we were outside, I met up with a friend who gave me some strawberries, some grapes, some apples, and a cheesecake. 

What's that verse???  "Now unto him that is able to do EXCEEDING ABUNDANTLY ABOVE all that we could ask or think......"  AMEN

Baking Bread

SO, you ever get to the end of your breadmaking and it DIDN'T turn out right AT ALL?????

I did, all the time.  It was frustrating.  My husband said that he liked my bread, but I hated that it turned out so heavy and flat, instead of the nice fluffy loaves I saw everyone else being able to make.  It's something that frustrated me often, especially when one loaf would rise all nice and beautiful, and the other would remain almost as flat as when I started.

Nine years later, my wonderful husband still brags on my bread, but it frustrates me beyond belief that I can't get the results I'm looking for.  SO, I went on a search at one of my favorite blogs, and I found this:

http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/how-to-make-whole-wheat-bread-tutorial

Found out that the whole time I was making bread, I was adding water that was too hot (killing some of the yeast I was putting in) and that I wasn't kneading the bread enough (hence, the reason that only one of the loaves of bread would rise).  Now, I made a new batch today, and LOOK HOW IT TURNED OUT!!!!

Ain't they BEAUTIFUL?!?!?!?!?!?  The loaf in the front (at the bottom) is a Chocolate Swirl loaf.  I learned that recipie from the same website here:

http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/chocolate-swirl-bread-oh-yes-i-did-just-say-chocolate

Hope you get to enjoy her recipies. If not, you are SO missing out!!  And Ms. Laura, if you actually read this, THANKS!!

Homestead Blessings Giveaway

I am posting a link to one of my favorite blogs. 

She is doing a give-away, and I would love to get one of these movies as well. I've already been to their website, and would LOVE to get ahold of anything they have.   You can check out things about Homestead Blessings at http://www.homestead-blessings.com/  or about the give-away at http://newlifeonahomestead.com/2010/01/homestead-blessings-dvd-super-giveaway/comment-page-7/#comment-8682 

Both are really interesting websites.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.

Starting Over

Isn't it amazing to you that every day, we get a "do-over"?

I'm so glad of that.  Without the "do-over's" I get every day, I don't know if my life would be livable.  I wish I had done so many things differently, but I get to start over today.  Fresh and new.

Doug and I are reading a book called The Traveler's Gift.  In it, he goes to many different places in history, and talks to different people while he's there.  Just a couple, he speaks to Anne Frank, and from her learns the truth that happiness is a choice.  Just as complaining is a choice.  By choosing not to complain, and choosing to be happy, you make your life a better place.  Then, another stop he makes is to talk to Abraham Lincoln.  There, he learns to forgive others for the things they have done to hurt him, and himself for his mistakes.  That one hit me hard.

I can not move forward without forgiving myself for the past.  I have determined to do that, and to move ahead with my life doing the best I know how to serve and love those in my life, and those closest to me.  One day at a time, one thing at a time.

By forgiving myself, I give myself the freedom to move ahead and do what I know needs to be done.  Sounds really "new age" to me, but it is in the Bible as well.  In Philippians.  "Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."  Now I'm doing just that.

Clark Update

SO, I haven't posted in a while, but there HAVE been loads of things going on here.

Doug and I are building our own business, and while we don't see it as selling, many people are turned off simply by the fact that we own a business.  So, We've taken to calling it "marketing."  We "endorse" a wonderful line of products that were green before green was the thing to be.  They're healthy and affordable for the organic customer.  There.  That's my sales pitch.  I really do LOVE the products we have, and am looking forward to helping others find those that work for them as well.  (Not to say that if you read this I want you to inquire...and not to say I wouldn't let you if you did... Just updating!!) :P  We're really excited about the group we are with, their morals, their stand, their helpfulness, their servant-leadership, their ability to push you to the limit.  It's like the NFL.  You can be in a college league, or in an "arena" league, or you could even be a player in the NFL; but if you're not on the team that wins the Super Bowl, you're not a winner... at least not in football. Same with business.  There are many different marketing ideas out there, but unless you're playing in the best marketing system, on the best team, you don't have as much oportunity for winning.  OK, off my hobby horse now.

The boys and I are SO far behind in Homeschool.  It's been a hectic month, the month of December.  We hardly were at home at all.  The schooling is going well, however, and Nate is reading a few sentences at a time now.  SO proud of him.  Andrew is working on his math families, and that is going steadily, if a little slower than I had planned or imagined.  All the other subjects, he is doing really well in.  He hasn't ever lacked in English or vocabulary, so I expected him to catch onto that fairly quickly.  He is starting to learn cursive writing next Monday, and he is SO excited about that.  Aaron is actually doing pretty well too.  He is working on learning the letters, and I would say he catches on to half as much as Nate.  At three and a half... He's doing SUPER!!  He is also working on a half a lesson a day in a book I LOVE!!  It is called Teach your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.  It goes slowly enough that they catch on well, and at the end, they are reading at a public school 2nd grade level (it does use phonics of a kind, and it is SUPER EASY to follow.  The boys have not had any trouble at all going between that and the things that I have from A Beka).  Nate does a lesson a day, and is now half way through it.  I intend to do A Beka phonics with Nate next year, so that should cover anything that he has trouble catching onto in Kindergarten.

Lets see... other than that, the only big news is that Doug is on the job market again.  Without going into all the details, he is now persuing a career in Sign Language.  He is at school every Thursday to learn what he needs to know to be an interpreter for larger functions.  He is really excited about pursuing it , and I am getting excited about where it will lead.  God has provided every need along the way, and He continually amazes me as to what all He can do.  I know, shame on me for not trusting Him more.  But He is good to us. 

There's the update as to what we've been up to .  Hopefully I 'll be back sooner, rather than later.