This week instead of doing a song that we sang in church, I picked one that struck me between the eyes while listening to the local Christian radio station. Sometimes it is so easy just to go through my day without even giving any thought to the One who put me here on this earth. It is so important to take the time for Christ and have passion for Him and Him alone! Here is the lyrics...
The Motions
by Matthew West
This might hurt, it's not safe
But I know that I've gotta make a change
I don't care if I break,
At least I'll be feeling something
'Cause just okay is not enough
Help me fight through the nothingness of life
I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,
"What if I had given everything,
instead of going through the motions?"
No regrets, not this time
I'm gonna let my heart defeat my mind
Let Your love make me whole
I think I'm finally feeling something
'Cause just okay is not enough
Help me fight through the nothingness of this life
'Cause I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,
"What if I had given everything,
instead of going through the motions?"
take me all the way (take me all the way)
take me all the way ('cause I don't wanna go through the motions)
take me all the way (I know I'm finally feeling something real)
take me all the way
I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,
"What if I had given everything,
instead of going through the motions?"
I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,
"What if I had given everything,
instead of going through the motions?"
take me all the way (take me all the way)
take me all the way (I don't wanna go, I don't wanna go)
take me all the way (through the motions)
take me all the way
I don't wanna go through the motions
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Singing Sunday
Scrumptious Sunday Recipe Swap--DC Brownies
DOUBLE CHOCOLATE BROWNIE BARS
2 cups (12‑oz. pkg.) semi‑sweet chocolate chips, divided
1‑1/2 cups sugar
1‑1/4 cups all‑purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts(optional)
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 13x9x2‑inch baking pan.
3. Bake 30 minutes or until center is set. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. Store tightly covered. 36 bars.
For more scrumptious recipes, head over to Happy To be At Home! Kate has shared her pizza fondue recipe, which sounds sooo yummy!
Weekly Shopping Trip--Savings $99.13
- 5.12 lbs bananas $3.02
- 1.33 lbs catfish $5.32
- 21.5 lbs boneless/skinless chicken $36.34
- 3.17 lbs various apples $3.17
- 8 boxes microwave fries $8.00
- 4 lbs carrots $4.00
- 5 boxes fruit snacks $4.00
- 3 bags frozen green beans $3.00
- 3 bags frozen green peas $2.00
- 2 lbs tilipia $7.00
- 1 box Corn Pops $1.00
- 2 Country Crock margarine $2.75
- 2 pkgs. Nestle cookie dough $2.50
- 2 pkgs Eckrich smoky links $5.00
- 4 jars(32oz) Smuckers jam $3.30(83¢ each!)
- 10 cans Campbells Chicken noodle soup $5.10(51¢ each!)
- 1 family pack bag breaded chicken nuggets $8.00
- 1 family pack bag breaded chicken tenders $8.99
- 1 bag 50/60 ct. shrimp $4.50
- 1 box freezer quart bags $2.00
- 1 bottle(32oz) Vaseline brand lotion 50¢ (this was a steal! The 24 oz bottles were on sale for $2.00, however they had bonus size bottles that were 32 oz for the price of the 24 oz!)
- 1 tube Colgate toothpaste $1.00
- 6 boxes Kleenex $7.00
- 2 bottles Suave hair gel/mousse $2.59 ($1.30 each)
- 2 bottles Suave body wash $2.84($1.42 each)
- 2 bottles Suave shampoo $2.34($1.17 each)
- 1 box(4ct+2) razor refills $7.99
- 2 boxes Electrosol dishwasher power balls $1.00 (50¢ each!! I had TWO-$2.50/1 coupons!!)
- 2-24pks Northern TP $12.98
- 3.21 lbs top round steak $9.60
- 2 lbs regular bacon $3.96
- 1/2 lb deli oven roasted turkey $1.07
- 1 lb deli smoked turkey $4.39
- 3 jars Jif Peanut butter $5.00
- 1 box Bakin' Miracle $2.19
- 2 bags frozen potatoes $4.00
- 1.96 lbs beef stew meat $5.86
- 6.20 lbs ground beef $11.72
- 8 bottles Juicy Juice $15.66 ($1.96 each)
- 3 oranges 75¢
- 2 lbs lower salt bacon $3.96
- 1 head lettuce 99¢
Friday, January 9, 2009
Not so Frugal Dinner!
Tonight for dinner I decided to make up some of my Chicken Veggie Stew to use up the cooked chopped up chicken that I had done earlier in the week.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Works for Me Wednesday--Shoe Racks
As a family of seven, we have ALOT of shoes!! The kids have good shoes and play shoes. Then when winter rolls around here in the Midwest they also have their boots that need to go somewhere!
I got one of these racks for their shoes a few years ago when I just had 4 kids! It seemed to work well for their shoes and their boots just stayed on the floor. The top two shelves were divided into two and then hubby and me got the bottom shelf for our wet shoes. Well our family expanded and feet got bigger and that meant more shoes or no room for the shoes on the shelf! Which also meant the shoes ended up all over on the floor for someone to trip on going into the laundry room or to use the bathroom! Well I had enough of the shoes all over! So I decided to figure out a better plan....
The better plan was to TWO of these stackable shelves!! Now there is room for their shoes and even room now for guests to put their shoes! The best part in my mind is that these two shelves are smaller in height than the wire shelves so it makes things even easier for my little ones to find a spot on the shelves.
And now the wire shelves are used just for boots!
Now I wonder what would work to get my 2yo from thinking that he has to take the shoes or boots off the shelves and walk around the house in them?!?!
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Major Project Complete!
Here is a before picture of some of the storage part of the room...
Here is an after shot of the same space...
Here is the pantry shelves after the painting of the walls were complete...
This picture shows a close up of the contact shelf paper that I put on the wood shelves. These shelves were here when we moved into this house 6 years ago and were in decent shape so we have kept them and are just sprucing them up a bit. Putting shelf paper on them was ALOT easier than painting them!
Here is what the pantry looks like now all put back together and organized! Clearing off the shelves of all the goods and then restocking the shelves helped me to see what I had on my shelves that was close dated! I actually found a box of strawberry jello with a best by date of Sept 2006 that I trashed! That was the only casualty! There is a few other things that I will be using in the next couple of weeks so they do not become a casualty as well.
This is a picture of under the stairs. My hubby wired a light for under the stairs and painted the walls a light gray rather than having the cement gray, it really lighten things up!
Here is the items back into their space! Would you believe me if I told you that out of this space I managed to totally remove a 30 gallon flip top rubbermaid container that was full of stuff?? We purged that much plus at least another TWO 18 gallon roughneck containers of stuff just from this one area of the room!!
Lastly, I am now able to have the majority of our out of season clothes in just one area of the storage room! Hubby and I still have some out of season clothes in our closet because it is easier to store them there to the back and hubby will still wear short sleeves in the wintertime.
So this was one of our big "tackles" during the 12 days of hubby's vacation! The other tackle was repainting our main full bathroom!
Mini Bread Fun
I got this idea from Tammy showing us her mini loaves! I have small pans to do quick breads in and so over the holidays I made several loaves of bread--mini style or kid size! The main reason why I did them is because I thought they would be good size for giving away with my goodie plates.
Well like most of my recipes, my family thinks that they need to try them out! So I made a few for us to have as a side with our dinner meals. The mini loaves do not last long around here!
And then of course, my daughter loves grilled cheese and she asked if I would use some of "her name size" sandwiches. I told her sure why not! And not only did she enjoy them but everyone enjoyed a grilled cheese sandwich on homemade bread with a bowl of homemade chicken rice soup!
Honey Oatmeal Bread (breadmachine)
11 1/2 ounces(1 1/4 cup + 3tbsp.) water (80°F)
3 tablespoons honey
3 1/4 cups bread flour
1 cup oats, (quick or old fashioned)
2 tablespoons dry milk
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast(can be used in the breadmachine)
OR
2 teaspoons bread machine/fast rise yeast
Place in bread machine in order starting with water and ending with yeast.Basic Bread Setting, unless using fast rise yeast then you can do Basic Rapid Bread Setting. Makes 2lb loaf
***If you want rolls instead of a loaf of bread, place the bread machine on dough setting. After the cycle is done, take the dough out of the machine and make into 12-24 balls(depending on what size rolls you would like) place into a greased pan. Or for mini loaves divide evenly into 4 balls and roll out into a log and place in a greased loaf pan. Let rise til double in size(45 minutes-1 hour). Bake in oven at 350° for 15-20 minutes or til golden brown.
For more kitchen tips head over to Tammy's Recipes or for more tempt my tummy tuesdays head over to Blessed with Grace. I also joined in on the over at Blissfully Domestic!
New Button!
Back along the way, my friend, Joy had a "welcome to my new home" giveaway over on her blog when she switched over to her own server. The giveaway had a first and second prize to it. Well I won the second prize, which was a button for my blog!
Monday, January 5, 2009
Math Around the House
Are you finding the kids (and maybe you for that matter!) are still not wanting to crack open the school books just yet? Instead of fretting or getting frustrated over them not wanting to hit the books yet, use it to your advantage and involve them in tasks around the house that involve math concepts!
Looking for some ideas as to what tasks you could do with your kids, head over to Happy to be at Home and read the rest of my article, Teaching Math Around the House!
Menu Plan Monday 1/4-1/10
Last week's menu plan got a little sticky towards the end of the week as I didn’t have meals planned out so those days were a bit stressful trying to figure out what sounded good with what I had on hand! We ended up eating at home one night and going to Steak N Shake the other night!
Well this shopping trip helped to finish last week’s menus and was enough to start menus for this week, however; it will not be able to finish off the week! Thankfully, there is still grocery money to use from hubby’s paycheck so I will be grocery shopping today to finish off this week’s menus!
There isn’t much to this week’s menus because I like to do my shopping first before I plan so I have planned the meals that I have the supplies for and the rest of the menu plan will immerge after my grocery shopping trip!
Lunches listed are for the kids & me. Unless we are having leftovers, our lunches are served with apple slices or baby carrots along with fruit juice or water. Hubby usually takes a dinner leftover for his work lunch.
A special thanks to Laura-Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday! Need help with your menus; go check the over 200 other delicious meal plans that have been linked at Laura-Organizing Junkie's site or look down in my right sidebar for my menu suggestion lists! **
Sunday (1-4)
Breakfast: eggs, sausage, hash browns, and cinnamon rolls
Lunch: sandwiches
Dinner: creamy chicken over egg noodles and a choice of peas or green beans for a side.
Snack: snack basket
Monday (1-5)
Breakfast: french toast (from freezer!) and orange juice
Lunch: leftover burger sandwiches and chips
Dinner: Your choice of bbq pork sandwiches or sloppy joes served with fries and carrots
Snack: snack basket
Tuesday (1-6)
Breakfast: cereal & toast
Lunch: sandwiches and chips
Dinner: ?? probably hamburger helper(from a box) served with a some kind of veggie on the side. (I found a couple of HH boxed meals in my pantry that need to be used due to the best buy dates)
Snack: cookies & milk
Wednesday (1-7)
Breakfast: bagels and cereal
Lunch: leftover spaghetti
Dinner: homemade chicken nuggets served with mashed potatoes and corn
Snack: snack basket
Thursday (1-8)
Breakfast: waffles
Lunch: bagel bites
Dinner: ???
Snack: snack basket
Friday (1-9)
Breakfast: cereal and toaster strudel
Lunch: sandwiches & chips
Dinner: Your choice of burgers or hotdogs served with seasoned fries and corn
Snack: ice cream night
Saturday (1-10)
Breakfast: “Cook’s Choice”
Lunch: ??? probably leftovers
Dinner: homemade pizza
Snack: snack basket or popcorn
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Singing Sunday
And I will sing
With all my heart and soul
Music for the King
And I will awake the dawn
With my praise to you O Lord
[CHORUS:]
How great is Your love
So much higher than the heavens
With faithfulness that reaches the sky
How great is Your love
So much higher than the heavens
With faithfulness that reaches the sky
O how great is Your love
Praise the Lord O my soul
And glory to the King
Forever You are robed with majesty
We come to you O Lord
And Lay our praise at your feet
[CHORUS]
[BRIDGE:]
Be exalted O God and let Your glory reign
Be exalted O God and let Your glory reign
Let it reign
Let it reign
Let it reign
Let it reign
Let it reign
Let it reign
[CHORUS]