Beautiful Monday

today.  Wow, the sun is shining and it’s so pretty outside, I really shouldn’t be cooped up in this house today, but the house is quiet and  all my chores are done, and thought I would take this opportunity to get caught up on my blog and blogging.  I can’t  believe I haven’t posted since the beginning of the year….but it has taken me awhile to get settled in after the holidays and such.

As most of you know Michael and I spent the holidays on a cruise, and I promise to share some pictures with you…maybe I will get that done tomorrow…but since getting home, I have had to put all my decorations away.  That is one heck of a job.  Not sure why it takes me so much longer now than it use too, but it was a three day process and then the weekend came and we had to declutter and organize our garage to get the crates back on the shelves.  So glad that is done, and the garage is looking much better now.  You can ALMOST get a car in there again.  Hopefully soon we will be able too. 

Also since getting home we have had some deaths to deal with.  Last week we had three special people to us pass away.  Needless to say it has been a tough week.  Certainly hope we don’t have to go through that again anytime soon.  It is so hard to say goodbye to those we love but even harder for those left behind.  My prayers are with these women because they all lost their husbands.

I have also been trying to put myself on some kind of a schedule and working towards getting myself better organized.  Seems this is always a January chore for me.  Last year I diligently put together my Homemakers Journal,so that I could stay on top of all the things that I want to do. 

Below photo is of me sorting through folders, magazine, calendars, charts, etc.

Getting pages ready to put into my binders

Saving pictures for my ideas folder

Deciding which magazines to keep and grab ideas from

My little binder that can easily be dropped in my handbag to jot down ideas

Now the finished product….

All this to tell you after all that work, guess what?  It is in storage in a box far away from me and I can’t even use it.  UGH!  But I am sure once I can get my little hands on it in the future, I will be so ecstatic. 

I have also been trying to get myself back on track with studying the WORD!

So as you can see I have been busy since getting back home.  I am hoping to get better at my blogging.  I always feel so overwhelmed at the start of a new year.  I always have great plans to do better, but always get sidetracked.  I hope you will hang in there with me, as I have lots of things that I want to do now that I am no longer working.  I’m so excited and feel blessed to have this time to do all those things that I have wanted to do.

Hope you have a blessed day!

Hugs,
Cindy

Little bit of everything

Home is so much more than just a physical place- Thomas Kinkade

Hi Ladies, I have a few minutes here, so thought I would drop a little note. Hope this finds you all doing well. I am doing great, been busy with work and such, and the weather has been cold. The last two mornings I have came into work late because of the snow and ice. But I did make it here. This morning was a real chore getting my car cleaned off, but I managed, with Michael's help. What a sweetie.

Due to the weather last night, Tori's cheer competition for regionals was postponed...guess when they rescheduled it for. Tomorrow night...On Valentines night. Guess it isn't a big deal, cause I am not sure what was really going on, but had thought about ordering Chinese (Michael loves it) and put some candles out and sit and cuddle and watch a movie. We were going to be alone, as all the kids had plans already. Now we will be watching my little Valentine cheer her heart out. Oh well, I always enjoy watching her cheer, and if they place then they are on to State. She and her father are going to Kentucky in April for their cheer camp. She is so excited. She loves the Kentucky wildcat cheerleaders, they have won the title something like 16 out of 17 years. It should be a good time for her, as well as some bonding time with Dad because with that she has going on these days she doesn't have much time to spend with him.

With the upcoming three day weekend, I am hoping to get lots accomplished. You would not believe my list of things to do. I have a little project list for Michael of odd jobs that need to be done in the house, and I want to work on some more web projects. I have a list started that I keep adding to. Plan to get both the blogs updated, and then the cooking/recipe one started and up. I have been working on my Master Menu List and a Daily Schedule too for my HMB. Although I still need to complete the prayer journal. SO my weekend is going to be full.

Got a question....I have asked several friends if they have any idea how to protect our images on blogger, and we can figure out how for the sidebars, but not the center column. Any ideas?

I know this isn't pretty, because there is no graphics...but don't have any on this computer...soooooo maybe next time. Thanks to everyone that has commented on this blog and how much they like it. I have gotten some truly wonderful emails and I appreciate them all.

Please keep Michael's mom in prayer if you don't mind. We both do appreciate it more than you know, and we have informed her that I have my blogging buddies keeping her in prayer. She says "Thanks".

Hope to get around and visit with you soon.

God Bless!

Happy SONday!

Good Morning Ladies, hope this finds you all having a blessed day. This morning has been quite relaxing for me thus far. I have spent oodles of time this morning, moving things around on my blogs, and getting my homemaking site in order. When I posted it yesterday I had a two column version and that isn't what I wanted so I got it changed to a three column verstion this morning. I like it much better. Now I will have to spend time populating the content for it. I have several things to still add but it will take me some time.

I also have been spending time this morning updating my HMB. What a chore that was, but I feel much better having it done. I worked on my prayer journal section. And removed my grocery/menu/recipe sections because I have added them into my recipe binder. Which I have also been working on this morning. This is huge undertaking because I have collected recipes and cookbooks for 20+ years. So it isn't anywhere near finished. My main goal was to get the prayer journal ready to go.

I'm hoping that this week I can implete some of things that I had hope to start the first of the year but seems like I couldn't get it all together. My brain has been racing with tons of projects that I needed/wanted to do to make my life run smoother. My goal is this will become a lifestyle that I can keep up with regardless of it I am working full-time or staying back at home. I love being at home and making my home a place that the family wants to be. Love going the extra mile for them. And seems like for the last several years, I play catch up. I think Michael is on board with all the changes so that helps.

This week he is heading to Houston on Wednesday to visit with his mom. We are expecting more test results tomorrow, but unless we hear something different than what we have, she only has about six months to live. It is so sad. He wants to go and spend some quality time with her while she still can enjoy the visit. I'm glad he is going, although he is only going to be there through Friday. He doesn't want to stay to long as she will not feel up to him being there that long. It will give his dad some support too. Please keep Betty Sue and Michael's family in your prayers. We can only hope for a miracle at this point.

Michael and I went out on a date last night. He came in the family room yesterday and ask me if I wanted to go on a date. I was like sure, where you want to go...he wanted to go grab dinner and go to the movies. So off we went. We saw "Juno". It was different, the language was rather bad but other than that, it had a good message. If you haven't seen it you can see the review here from the New York Times.

He also did my taxes yesterday. Yeah, glad that is done. I went ahead and filed online which is the way I normally do. The money is usually deposited into my account with 7-10 days. Not bad.

At the moment, he is over making me my favorite....he is making breakfast tacos. They are so yummy. Although I am allergic to eggs, he makes them with egg beaters and they seem to work for me. I always ask him to make extras so that I can have them throughout the week for snacks. I can tell you that my house some 'garlicy' at the moment, but I love it.

My Featured site this week is Christians United. They have some wonderful resources for you. Everything for family fun, to studing the bible, devotions, etc. The bible trivia quiz that I have added to my site( in the right hand column) is from there site. Take a look...maybe you will find something that you would like for your site, or to help you with your walk.

Well ladies, I need to scoot, want to make a small post at my other blog and then spend some time with Michael, not to mention grab a nap sometime this afternoon.

God Bless

Friday's Here and Saturday's Coming!

The weekend is finally here....woohoo! What a wild and busy week this has been. I am so glad that it is finally over. My plans for this weekend is get myself organized and get some of work done on my HSB and my other sites that I am working on. So hoping this is going to be a productive weekend. And I think this is going to be a good weekend for it too. Today was a gray gloomy day. Extremely overcast. The sun never came out. So my little bear with his umbrella and boots is so appropriate for today. Actually I got up this morning to slick roads and debated on trying to drive in myself....but I decided to give it a try and I made it. I was so proud of myself. I hate to drive on icy roads, but the salt trucks were out if full force. They ended up canceling school here today. It started sleeting last night about midnight and continued until about 6 or so this AM, then the rain set in. With the temps getting up to 40 today that help to melt the ice for the drive home. Thinking this weekend we are suppose to get more showers, but we are suppose to get up near 50.

This week I have spent alot of time rededicating myself to reading God's word which I have been doing since the first of the year. I am signed up through a website called Bible In a Year. It is a wonderful resource, they email me the readings and I can chose to read it online or using my bible. Alot of the time at work, I will read it online and then during the weekend, I will read my bible. I am loving it. I also have been reading a new book I purchased this past weekend called " A Woman's Call to Prayer" by Elizabeth George. It's a great book. I found a great devotional, "Making Prayer a Priority" if you have time swing by and read it. Actually there are some wonderful devotions at this site.

Do you see this laundry basket? Can you guess what I am going to be doing? Actaully Michael put my bed sheets in the laundry this morning, so I have to get upstairs and get them back on my bed....but I have several loads to do this weekend. I have been working on a weekly schedule for my chores. I have been breaking down each day of the week with daily chores to keep me better organized throughout my work week. At this point, when I work everyday and get home, I don't feel like doing much....but I think with a list of a few things to do daily, it will cut back on my Saturday chores. Although sometimes I really like to spend a Saturday doing some deep cleaning, which is what I want to do and then incorporate my new plan next week.

I also plan to do some work with my recipes. I have been working on a daily theme for my meals. Monday-chicken, Tuesday-leftovers, Wednesday-Ground Beef, Thursday-Chicken, Friday-go out or leftovers Saturday-try new recipe Sunday-Soup/sandwiches, pizza, etc....that is kinda the game plan for now...so want to get that organized so that I can start implementing that this next week too. I am going to do a major kitchen clean tomorrow, clean oven, clean out the fridge and wipe it down, etc...so that I can start on Monday with a clean slate.

This is just a few of the things that I want to work on this weekend...as well as work on some

of my new blog ideas for my other sites. I have a plan wrote out and outlined, but not sure if I will have time to get to it or not....if not, hoping that next week I can work some more on it in the evenings. I also think Michael is going to work on my taxes this weekend. Woohoo! Wondering how that tax rebate is going to effect me? What are you ladies going to do with your tax rebate? Anything fun? Actually at the moment, I plan to put mine in my savings account. I am trying to get my savings build up good before I start moving next year. I have a goal (amount) set that I would like to have to help off set the moving cost. My intention is to do whatever I can to make sure that we are financially secure, my hope is after I move, I will not have to work, but will be able to stay at home again. If I decide I want to do something part time then I will look into that...but I don't want to feel the need to have to work. I will be working hard to make it possible for us to live off one income. I really need to pray more about that.

Well I am going to go upstairs now and get my bed ready for a cozy nights sleep. Have you ever sprayed your fresh sheets with lavendar spray? I have a wonderful spray that I use on my sheets and it is heavenly. When I lay my head on my pillow, the light scent fills the nostrils and it is the BEST. Nothing better than taking a warm relaxing bath or shower and climbing between freshly washed sheets that smell terrific. Talk about great dreams.
My hope is to get back tomorrow to post my progress and also share more about the other books I got last weekend. Hi I'm Cindy and I'm a Book-a-holic.

Sweet Dreams and God Bless!

Catching you up

Learning to say no to what you don't need really begins with learning to say yes to what you already have-Thomas Kinkade

Hi all...I can't believe it is now Wednesday where has this week gone already. This is actually only my second day back at work this week. I had to be off on Monday for court. I was subpoenaed to court for the accident that I was in back in July of last year. Although nothing really came out of the hearing (have to go back) it was a beautiful day and Michael and I spent the rest of the day together.

The temps were in the 70's so we spent the day wondering the streets of a old historic town. This little town is situated on a hill and all the shops line the street, so were still decorated with lights and Christmas trimmings. Some of the streets are cobblestone and most of the homes and shops are old stone buildings, dating back to the 1700's. It is simply beautiful. It is one of my favorite little towns in all of Maryland. Anyway, after court we stopped in a quaint little coffee shop nestled back away from everything. It was one of those places that you could just go into and have a lovely private conversation, read a book or paper or just gaze out the window. As we sat there we just enjoyed the atmosphere and the slower pace of life that seemed to embellish this little shop. It was so adorable, I told Michael I could see myself having a little shop like that. Granted I would have had to have books in it too, but with all the pastries and breads, and light fayre it would be heavenly. I think it would make going to work a pure joy.

Once we finished up our treats and coffee we headed to some of the shops, but my favorites are the two antique shops in town. They are huge and we just spent time roaming around them. Wasn't really looking for anything in particular, but if was fun just the same to just wander. Granted I did come away with a couple of books. One being a cookbook. (I collect those, but plan to organize them in the coming month)

Spending all this time walking and enjoying the warm weather outside had gotten our appetites going. My little muffin from the coffee shop was long gone. So we headed to another little quaint restaurant, called The Trolley Stop.

The food was OUTSTANDING. Definitely a must to go back to. You can see from it's menu it has a variety of foods, but the restaurant inside has a huge stone fireplace and it reminds you of a pub/tavern. It was one of the best days that we have had just hanging out in a long time. No schedules, time to wonder, and just enjoy one anothers company. Hopefully there are more of those in store in the coming months as spring approaches. Anyway, that was my Monday.....

Tuesday was getting back into the groove of things with work. And after a long two hour drive home from work, I was totally exhausted, between the drive and my eyes, it was time for a nap. Needless to say it was surprising when I woke up from my nap at 7:30. But that was okay, I needed the sleep, plus I had to go out to a meeting last night, so didn't get home to get into bed until almost 10:30. So the nap did me good.

Today and the rest of the week, I am going to try to organize my schedules for my HMB (Home Management Binder). Haven't had a lot of time to devote to that since I created it, but my goal is by the weekend to have it equipped with my schedules. You wouldn't believe my to-do list for this weekend.

I didn't have breakfast this AM...so of course, my stomach is growling and that is making me think about dinner. I am thinking that tonight might be a good night for Chicken Spaghetti. Mmmmm Yum, and oh so easy.

Gotta scoot, hope you have a blessed Wednesday