New Year's Resolutions 2012

So a dear friend of mine does a New Year's Resolution every year, but she starts it on her birthday. She makes a goal for each year of her life. I thought that was such a great idea, but I always forget to do it once it's my birthday, so I decided to kind of split the difference. And then once I made my list, I kept thinking of more things I wanted to accomplish this year. So in the spirit of New Years and in the spirit of working on being a better person next year, I am submitting my list of resolutions. These are not necessarily in any order (except #1), but my goal is to accomplish all of these before the year is up. So...here goes!

New Year's Resolutions for 2012

1. Do a devotion EVERY DAY
2. Organize daily schedule
3. Take a break from Facebook one full day a week
4. Walk every Wednesday and Friday
5. Bake bread at least once a week
6. Go to New Orleans
7. Go down one dress size
8. Meatless Mondays
9. Speak softer to my children
10. Be more obvious in my love for my husband
11. Make freezer meals at the beginning of each month
12. Go to lunch with my mom once a month
13. Pay off a major debt
14. Clean/organize the pantry room
15. Clean/organize the craft room
16. Have the youth over
17. Have the college kids over
18. Make a new friend (not an acquaintance, but a friend) 
19. Stick to chore schedule 
20. Stick to reward/consequences chart
21. Have family worship once a week
22. Take the kids to volunteer at a homeless shelter
23. Visit Connie Maxwell
24. Find a new hobby
25. Have one sewing project a month
26. Promote a local business on my blog once a month
27. Get a family photo done (professionally) 
28. Go to the dentist
29. Have a date with the husband once a month
30. Try a new, exotic food
31. Have a successful garden 
32. Read a non-fiction book 
33. Go to bed with a clean kitchen 
34. Recycle

What's YOUR resolution(s) this year?

**UPDATE** I have organized my resolutions into different goals: daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, and miscellaneous. I then put them on a poster board, laminated it, and then hung it some place I could access it if I wanted to check my progress. This actually helps me with goal #2. I hate it at the end of each year when we forget to either stick to our goal or forget what the goal was in the first place. I wanted to make sure I really do work on being a better person this year. Here's hoping you make reachable (or seemingly reachable...see #7 or #13) goals this year and accomplish them!

Here's what I did for those of you who are visual learners:

Friday's Review: The Duchess and the Dragon

So with the New Year approaching, I've decided to change up my weekly blogging schedule just a tad. I'm not always able to do enough curriculum with Abigail during the week to really blog about it (or really anything that's super exciting. Sometimes teaching is just teaching not necessarily always fun, new things). So I decided that Fridays would be my day to review things. I will still take days review curriculum with Abigail, but I will also be reviewing books (because I read like 2 a week), local business (as stated in my New Year's Resolutions), or review music/television show/movie (ha! like I ever go to one of those!). I am starting today with reviewing a book.

I have become a regular at the local library, and my goal for last year was to read more romance books that had less sex and more real life situations where people discover how to treat each other and how to learn to, well, learn God. It doesn't always have to be Christian fiction, but just good, clean reading. And I have hit the jackpot with quite a few authors. Today's book is The Duchess and the Dragon, by Jamie Carie.

This book is set in England and in Pennsylvania during the reign of King George. It's a love story that really seems close to realistic. You have two classes of people thrown together in some pretty drastic circumstances. And just when you think "Ah! He's finally got it!" He falls short. The main character's decisions affects all of those around him, including the woman he loves. He struggles with having it all and really finding his purpose in life, while she is discovering new and exciting (and scary) things about herself.

I recommend this book. It's got a little of that historical romance fiction that so many girls love, but it's free of blatant scenes where you have to skim the pages looking for dialogue just so you can get back to the story.

Check it out and other great stories (that I'm probably going to review at some point) by Jamie Carie.

Christmas Cleaning List

At the end of last week, I had every intention to prewrite my posts for this week so you would be in awe of how I was able to keep up with my blog and make Christmas presents and clean my house and travel all over the state with a smile on my face, peace in my heart, and every hair neatly in place.

And guess what? It didn't happen. I mean, my hair is neatly in place...Stop laughing. Ok, but seriously, there is peace in my heart. This morning as I was cruising Facebook on my in-law's computer (don't get on me about spending family time on the computer. They are all watching football highlights), I saw a Christmas Cleaning Checklist in my feed. It inspired me to do a little more research for similar checklists out there. I found a few, and am really excited about it. No, really, I am. I get inspired by those who are super organized. I feel that if I am at least halfway as organized as they are, then my house will look GREAT! So I am going to include a few of what I found below. Some of them it's a little too late to begin, but others are geared for these last few days before the big day. Enjoy!

1. 2 Hour Checklist. This is from one of my favorite blogs: Money Saving Mom. This chick inspires me to be better all around. What's great about this link is that she also includes a free download checklist. PERFECT!

2. Christmas Planner. This, too, has downloads. The cool thing about this site is it provides downloads for everything Christmas: Organizing Christmas cards and gifts, Stocking Stuffers, and Menu Planning.

3. Real Simple. This is the one that I was telling you about that gets you started 3 MONTHS in advance. BUT it breaks it down all the way 3, 2, and 1 day before Christmas. This is good if you just need a good reminder.

So, I think that's about it. I am most likely not going to post again until the day after Christmas. Until then, Merry, Merry Christmas everyone! May the Lord bless your family!

Photo Source (another link for Christmas Cleaning Tips):
 http://www.channel4.com/4homes/christmas/cleaning-up-your-home-at-christmas-before-during-and-after-08-12-03

Not Thursday's Crafting: Homemade (or Semi-Homemade) Christmas Presents: Hot Plates and Coasters

Christmas is seriously DAYS AWAY and some of you are thinking, "Oh Lord! I forgot to get Aunt Margaret something!" I have just the thing for you. A quick trip to Lowe's or Home Depot, $10 (TOPS), and 30 minutes of your time will give you a nice set of coasters and a hot plate for that family member or friend or pastor you forgot to get something for.

I made these a few years ago after seeing them at a wedding shower (hey Nick and Mia!!) and immediately filed that in my "THAT is what I'm going to make for Christmas" folder. I made a coaster with the first initial of every person in the family and then a hot plate with the initial of their last name. This was also the year I paired it with the meat rub I shared with you last time. And I must stay 90 % of the people I gave this gift to use these on a regular basis. Seriously, who doesn't love a great gift you can literally use every day?

Things You Need

• Small (4 x 4), unsealed tile and/or large (6 x 6) unsealed tile 
• acrylic paint 
• paint brushes, stamps, whatever you need to make a pretty design 
• water proof, spray fixative or varnish 
• Felt, cork, or rubber pieces with one sticky side (you can find this in the crafting section of Wal-mart) 

Steps

1. Paint the tops of your tiles with whatever design, initials, etc to personalize the coaster or hot plate. Let dry (this should only take a few minutes). 
2. Lightly spray the top of the painted tile with the spray fixative. Let dry (10-20 minutes) 
3. Attach a felt, cork, or rubber piece to the back of the tile in each corner. This will help prevent scratching 
4. Wrap in a pretty bow or use immediately! :) 

That is it! I kid you not, this is SO EASY!!! Again, I have no pictures because this was before I thought to take pictures of the gifts I give. BUT, I am going to attach a few links I found where people did some similar coasters. Enjoy these beautiful works of art! 

1. http://www.skiptomylou.org/2009/11/03/handmade-coasters/

2. http://go.tipjunkie.com/dc/1481/twogirlsbeingcrafty.blogspot.com/2011/02/ramseys-finally-have-coasters.html

Not Thursday's Crafting: Homemade (or semi-homemade) Christmas Gifts: A Few Last Minute Stuff

Okay, so I know it's not Thursday, but I wanted to try to get some other nifty homemade ideas to you before Christmas. These are also great as hostess gifts for those Christmas/New Year's Eve parties we'll be going to in the next 2 weeks. Check them out:

1. 30 Something Gifts. This has a pretty decent list of easy to make and lovely to give gifts. #1 on the list pretty much is the same recipe I used for making truffles that I gave a few years ago as gifts.

2. Last Minute Gifts. Most of these are fun things to do with the kids, including Elf on the Shelf and making Reindeer Food.

3. 100 Days of Homemade Christmas Gifts. This lady was WAY more ready for Christmas gifts than I. Check out her list and her tutorials. I'm saving some of these ideas for next year, for sure!

Less than a week, people! So if you are budgeted out and still have a few people left, check out these ideas!

Monday's Devotion: Defining True Repentance

"I will leave and return to my father and say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against God and have done wrong to you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son, but let me be like one of your servants.'" Luke 15: 18-19


Joe and I lead the youth Sunday School class at our church. When we began a few months ago, there wasn't any curriculum available, so we decided the best place to start would be with Jesus's parables, and I must tell you that God knew exactly what he was doing when He lead us to teach this. I am constantly telling the youth, "I have read these parables all my life, and yet God is still opening my eyes to so many truths." The number one lesson that we seem to talk about each week is that having a relationship with the Lord is not about coming to church, looking nice, etc, etc, but it's about the condition of your heart.

THIS WEEK'S LESSON (and last week's too) was about the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15: 11-32). Joe and I felt that there was so much  to cover in this parable (my favorite, by the way), that we would take two weeks to cover. Through research (Matthew Henry and John Calvin, just to name a few), we really found so much truth for our lives in these 21 verses that I'm still floored with what God has shown me. The basic outline we were covering went as follows:

1. Begging for and Receiving Inheritance (shirking responsibilities we have been given) 
2. Wasting money and Falling into a pit 
3. REPENTANCE (and developing a true desire for it) 
4. Father's Grace and Forgiveness (the coolest part of the story, in my opinion) 
5. Older Son's Lesson (the part that was always hardest for me to read and understand) 

I'm not going to share with you all of the Sunday School lesson, but one of the things that really, really got me was the section about repentance. After we, like the younger son, completely reject our responsibilities, become selfish and wasteful, and exhaust all our resources, we tend to be at the bottom of the barrel. The job you are working is making you completely miserable, your kids are driving you crazy, you just can't get along with family members, you have no money to buy the things you want, etc, etc. If you have ever been in the pit (as I have been), you know how deep and dark that pit can be. You know how miserable life really is when you think you just can't get any lower. The younger son was seriously in the bottom of the pit...and so many of us would say he deserved it. He was living the fine life. He chose to leave it to squander his money. He deserves what he gets (how many times have we thought that about someone else?...Bin Laden, anyone?) But the greatest gift is that God does not believe that. He does not smile at the "lesson we learned".   But He is not always going to just snatch us out of that pit. He, like the Father in the parable, waits, watching, hoping we will have a desire to return (v. 20b...the greatest line in the entire parable). In order for us to never return to that pit of despair, we must recognize that we put ourselves there and have a true desire to never return. Calvin described repentance in the best way I have ever seen it. TRUE REPENTANCE means: 

1. We have a grief of conscience. We must grieve the decisions we have made that lead us to be so far from God and the joy he gives us. 
2. We must be dissatisfied with ourselves. At this point, we should be totally disgusted with ourselves as sinners. Just like the son in the parable, he realizes that he no longer deserves to be even called "son". 
3. Find displeasure with our sin. I truly believe this is the hardest part. There are have been so many times that I was grieving and was completely disgusted with myself, but I did not truly find displeasure in the sin. It's kind of like when your mom asks you "are you sorry you did something wrong or are you sorry you got caught?" Sin is so tempting: being selfish, finding joy in things instead of God, sins of the flesh, pride, hating that person who just is so hateful to you. All of those, and so many more, are so easy to just say, "Yeah, I shouldn't have thought (said/did) that" and then two weeks/months/hours later we do it again. This displeasure is when you are so disgusted in it, you commit to fully put it away from you. The son, instead of hoping to come back to his father's good graces as a son again, expects to come back begging to be just a servant for his father. 
4. We must repent and confess to those we have offended. Calvin says "humility is absolutely necessary in order to obtain forgiveness". Keeping a sin secret, I believe, is Satan's way of putting a crack in your steps of repentance. If you don't get it out there that you sinned, are sorry, and have a desire to be restored, then it will be easy to fall into that sin again. 

These steps, so clear in the parable, make it clear to me that I have done it wrong so many times, hence the familiarity I have with that pit. And that is the way Satan wants it. He wants us to forget one little step so that we are, again, far from our Father. The coolest part of the story, though, is that God doesn't say, "Well, forget her! She obviously does not want to find herself in my good graces again. He's waiting and watching for the moment we do steps 1-3 so he can RUN to us (how cool is that?!) ready to embrace us once again. 

As we near the end of one year and make resolutions for the next, examine your heart. Do you have a sin you are constantly falling back into? Do you enjoy a particular sin that you know is actually keeping you from Him? I know I have a lot of examining to do of myself. Here's to a new year and a new spirit for the Lord! 

Thursday's Crafting: Homemade (or semi-homemade) Christmas Gifts: This Year's Favorites

I haven't posted anything else this week because I have been super busy making presents. Well, let me rephrase this, I wasn't making them for the past 4 days, but I have been getting materials and ingredients to make them, making them, and then getting stuff to make them pretty. Today I should be done with the Christmas gifts, which is perfect since tomorrow we are decorating the house (more about that later). Needless to say, my house is a disaster, and I am currently in a fight with my garbage disposal (it decided to go on strike at the worst possible time). BUT I am thoroughly enjoying this year's crafts. I normally pick 1 thing (or 2 things if the one I choose is girly) to make a year (see what I've done in the past), but this year I found so many great ideas, and they weren't hard or expensive to do, that I felt I could do a few of them. It's working out great since I'm actually getting requests this year. So I'm going to share the links of what I found. I am not doing all of these, but these were the ones I was going to attempt this year. Check them out:

1. BBQ or Meat Rubs. Pastor Frank, DON'T go to this website until after Christmas. This one's for you! :) The meat rubs I made a few years ago went over really well. In the past I paired it with hotplates and coasters (to be blogged about next week, I promise). I must say, this is pretty easy to make and is really good! This website is not the one I used before, but I like it so much more because it has a good collection of all types of meat rubs that I'm sure to try in the future.

2. Minty Bath Salts. I must admit, I am a sucker for peppermint. Maybe it's because it helps cure my headaches, stomach aches, and curbs my hunger, but I love the stuff. So when I found this site, I was tempted to make it just for me, but I know some lovely ladies who would love to have it as well. And by the way, it was suggested to be paired with Peppermint Hot Chocolate (from my favorite frugal blog, Money Saving Mom). Great idea! I haven't decided if I'm going to do any pairing yet, but if I were, this would be a great idea.

3. Cookie Bath. This is another pairing that I think is a great idea. This includes making oatmeal cookies and then an Oatmeal Cookie Bath. I know, don't freak out. Remember, oatmeal is actually good for your skin. This was so easy to make! Seriously, you just blend the ingredients and then place in an air tight container. Most if the ingredients are stuff you should have in your house already, so this is a great gift to make for teachers or that last minute gift for someone who got you a gift that you didn't think of getting one for them (don't judge! You know it happens to you too!)

4. Peppermint Foaming Soap. Here I go again with the peppermint. You really could use any soothing scent with this recipe. This requires a few ingredients that you may not have around your house, so plan a little ahead on this one. Really it's only 3 ingredients, and if you buy those ingredients, you really should have enough to make all your friends. My hardest part was finding the foam dispenser. But once you get what you need, this is worth it!

5. Kitchen Hand Scrub. I love, love, love this! And this one is actually good for guys and gals. It's a hand scrub that removes odors from your hands that you might get while cooking. Why is that good for guys? Well, if they are fishing, or cutting up onions to go with their famous hamburgers, this will help remove that odor. I tried this out as I was making it, and really I was a so sad I didn't have enough for me, that I ran out to the store to pick up more ingredients. This one is one I may actually keep around my home year-round!

6. DIY Dishes. Okay, I'm NOT doing this link, so my friends who are into this, don't get too excited. BUT I am doing something similar. I didn't want to not include the last thing I'm making for family and friends, but this one I've been keeping a secret for a pretty long time (since last May when I found the tutorial). So I'm including something along the same lines. And by the way, these glasses in the link are selling for $12-$15 a cup. You can make a half dozen SET for that price.

Okay, that's it for this week. Keep in mind that if you STILL haven't gotten a present for your kids' teachers,  most of these will work great! It's not too late to give an original gift to the teachers that won't be another coffee cup, ornament, or "apple" jewelry.

Have a great Christmas, everyone! I will try to squeeze in another DIY before next week.