git'r done dinners

Some days getting dinner on the table is just a job. As much as we'd like to think otherwise, we just want to get it done.. or if you live in the south , git'r done! Some nights there may be time, energy and brain cells for fayn-cee meals. But then there are those other nights. I found these books at the book store and I love them for just that. One is called Desperation Dinners and the other one is called Cheap. Fast. Good. I think the titles say it all. These recipes are from scratch with healthy ingredients too. Yeah.. I know! They tell you step by step.. even from the frozen slab of meat.. to getting it on the table FAST. They also offer other tips along the way from getting the most from your warehouse style food store to whether fresh or from a jar crushed garlic is best for that particular recipe.

To see the website these two ladies have created, as well as pictures of their books, click here.

There are several recipes in these books that I love whether I'm in a hurry or not. Deee-lish. So if you're in a rush, check out one of these books. They work for me. Check out other tips at Rocks in My Dryer.

the bad, the good and finding joy in the midst of it

This time of year holds a lot of memories for me. This is the time we found out something was wrong with Bubba. It took us over a week to get a correct diagnosis. I don't remember exact dates on this, since it was sort of a blur. But it was very early January. These things are nightmarish to 'regular parents'.. parents that haven't had to sit down and hear 'the odds' and then have to learn a new normal that's utterly indescribable.. So! I won't go there. Suffice to say.. it's early January.

I was talking to a good friend of mine at church Sunday. It's 'been a year'. She and I were both praising God for His healing of her body. A year ago she almost died and hung by a thread for a bit. I sat in the waiting room with a little girl Boo's age and we didn't know what was going to happen to her mama. My friend. Thankfully, God healed her. And then continued to heal her. She was rejoicing Sunday that it indeed has been a year and she finally feels strong and can do things like walk to the back of a department store and was just praising God for it. That was a rough patch last January.

I am also currently in the midst of a very spiritual (although people tend not to see things in a spiritual light and 'blame it' on other things) struggle that I can't/won't be blogging about right now. I ended my day yesterday weighed down and exhausted. And then woke up in the night and couldn't go back to sleep. I took a nap this morning after I got everybody off for the day. And now I'm feeling much better.

I couldn't remember if I fed the cat early this morning and her bowl was nearly empty so I fed her... again? She's probably making out like a bandit today! A fat bandit, that is!

Interestingly Sunday morning there was discussion on finding joy. We watched a video and the speaker was describing a joyful moment he had with his daughter where she was just happy and reveling in that moment. And then urged 'us' listeners to look for moments to find joy. I can understand at some level what he is saying. And there are times I do that. It's a nothing day and rather than just be ho-hum, I chose to be happy and see the mundane as something delightful. But what if the things I see aren't mundane.. or happy in the least. Yesterday was such a day. By the end of it, I was bruised and beaten emotionally and spiritually and was crying out to God for comfort and contemplating joy as it had been presented to us in the video. Joy has to go beyond that. Joy has to be because of God and who He is rather than my ability to manufacture a nugget of happiness. Because sometimes life is not a season of happiness. But it can be a season of joy. Not by seeking 'it'.. but by seeking Him.

I was reading the Andrew Murray book in my sidebar today while mulling in my heart recent events in light of this 'challenge', if you will, to find joy. And found this:

Therefore, soul, only believe. Do not seek joy--in that case you will not find it, because you are seeking feeling. But seek Jesus, follow Jesus, believe in Jesus, and joy will be given to you. "...and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory" 1 Peter 1:8

Only believing today.

a sneak peek

Here is a sneak peek of Little Miss Boo's room. I think it's going to turn out really cute.


Isn't the bedding great?! I love it. So does she. The paint is growing on me. I can go in there without squinting now! : ) Our new favorite word in her room is 'pop'. We've said this thing or that thing pops in front of the lime walls soo many times lately. Doesn't her pink lamp just pop now? (It did NOT pop in front of her bubble gum pink walls, btw.)

Like I said, I have a couple of do-it-myself projects I want to complete before we call her room 'done'. I'll try and show pics of those too.. especially if they turn out cute. I think they will. : )

site to store

I went this morning to pick up the bedding for my daughter's bedroom. Oh. My. Goodness. I think I am hearting site-to-store pick up at Walmart. It's a deal, lemme tell ya! I just walked in with my printed out email, they looked at my name and bar code and came back with my ADORABLE comforter set. I had read good reviews of it online and decided to try it. It is just precious and I know Boo's gonna love it. It totally changes the look of her room and really 'makes' it. The colors are so vivid. And I am seriously impressed with the polished chintzy cotton feel of the comforter. I have seen many along the search that cost much more but did not deliver the goods in the quality department.

Well... enough gushing. I need to go put her room together. There will be pictures soon. I have a couple of craft projects I want to complete before I declare it 'done' though. And a sewing project too. I need to make a window topper! Hopefully someday soon I can get it all done and post some pics!

cleaning house

I've been doing a lot of house cleaning. Lots of throwing away. Putting away the clutter. Giving things a way that we no longer need. And yesterday, I cleaned off enough dust to create a whole family of dust bunnies. Ick. No wonder my asthma was driving me batty.

Last night I was so tired, I could barely move. I had cleaned and scrubbed until I was sore all over. By 9pm it was Oh-vah for me. But I was so thankful. Not just for the clean-ER house, but to be so tired I couldn't do anything. That changes my frame of mind. It brings me to call out to God in a different way. A needy way. The way He wants us to call out to Him on a daily basis. But when I am up and going and doing, I feel self sufficient, although I know I'm not. I am needy all the time. That helpless all the time. And I need to call out to Him in that way all the time. (not just when I feeeel that way)

So I'm thankful for cleaning house. Not because it looks better, but because of what God was showing through it. I don't want to get to feeling so self sufficient that I miss out on all God wants to be and do and live out in the coming year.

it's quiet

School started again today. It's always a strange day. We've been up late alot. We've slept late. We haven't had much of a schedule and haven't done much that's productive.

And then... WHAMMO.. we've gotta get up and get going and try and remember just exactly what it is we usually do every day. After sitting on the side of the bed in the dark mumbling something about the fact that it is just. not. right. to be getting up at such a crazy hour... I got started with my day. And finally remembered what I'm supposed to do.

And now the house is quiet. It hasn't been quiet like this since the middle of December. I like it. lol I plan to linger in the quiet and enjoy it for a while. Sooner than I would like, the phone will ring or it will be time to go the grocery store (the list is already made) and it will be just another day.

cleaning out

This has been a very relaxed holiday in a lot of ways. We haven't had a schedule to keep to. We've stayed up way too late and gotten up way too late. Which for a short time, is so nice. And it's given us time to focus on other things.. things that get overlooked in the hustle of work/school days.

With all three of us home, we had time to tend to some things. We deep cleaned the Boo's room before we painted it. And were able to clean out and sort through and dust and rearrange and give away etc. It felt soo good. Every item of her bedding was deep cleaned. All her furniture was cleaned and dusted thoroughly. Even her window and blinds got the treatment. It's a very fresh start for her. Even she was excited about the changes.. and not just the color! Yay!

And we carried the cleaning out to the rest of the house. We had sooo many books and magazines etc just taking up valuable space and cluttering up our world. I was so glad to make stacks of things to get rid of. We took all of that to the book resale store today and made $14.. not a huge amount.. but hey.. that stuff's not in my way anymore.

One of the things I hope to do this year is buy less. I love to buy books and subscribe to magazines. And then I don't know what to do with them when I'm done. I feel like I have to hang onto them because I PAID FOR them, so I keep them and they just lay there in the way all the time. I've been trying to rediscover the library when I get a hankering for a book. My only problem is I tend to take forever to read one. But anyway, I hope to buy less this year. And have less clutter to move around later.

But for now, I'm just enjoying being able to put the things I DO want away.. and not stacked all over the place. Now that I have all these cleaned off surfaces, I need to dust!