Oh the weather outside is frightful...

Well, it has been a long few weeks. I spent one week being sick, one week catching up after being sick, and now we are at the end of a tropical storm. Fun times. :)
I am happy to say we only lost power once for about 2 hours when a transformer blew. It was around 2 a.m. so we did not really even notice it, well except for when it came back on around 4ish our house alarm went off. Noticed that.
I live in a place with a lot of hurricane watches and warnings. About 99% of the time the storm blows the other way and we miss it completely. Because of this I'm afraid some of us get a little lazy with our storm prep. I try to make sure we have some stock during the season, but I'm not really diligent.
I'm going to work on a list this week and then start making sure we have all we need for a storm. I'll share it later on this week and hopefully next time I won't be laying in bed wondering if we have enough water, or if the flashlights work. How far will that jar of peanut butter actually go? How are 8 people going to use the bathroom without water? Ya see, these are important things!! :)
Dh and I have always been interested in disaster prep stuff, but we have not really worked through implementing it to actual disaster prep. Seeing as how the first storm of the season came before the season even started and we got a direct hit I think we'll be a little more active in preparing for the coming season.
What are some ways you prepare for a disaster?

Our organization corner

I guess I should have prettied it up a bit before taking a pic, but hey, I'm all about keeping it real. :)
This is the little wasted space alcove to our bedroom. One day I decided to hang up a white board and the little letter organizer thing. Underneath that is a small round table.
The white board has had many uses. I used to put the kids chores on there, then I put Bible verses and little quotes. Now it's the perfect place for our to-do list! The one you see is Dh's list (that he wrote for himself). I only have two on my right now. Yeah, before you get too impressed one is finish the closet and the other is finish my garden project. Neither one is a small deal. LOL
The letter organizer holds papers for the kids, magazines we want to read and netflix movies to send back.
The table underneath holds my purse, the diaper bag, and whatever needs to walk out the door with us the next day.
Also, something you can't see is a key holder. It also has a small white board and that has some phone numbers on it so I could not show it. We put all of our keys there.
It can also be a serious hotspot. Looking at the picture I see stuff that needs to come out of the letter organizer. Stuff I cropped out of the picture (I don't want to be too real!) needs to be put away.
Overall though, this is a great little organization nook.
Look around your house. See if there is a little nook you can use to help yourself. :)

Is it over yet??

Just having one of those days! :) Not to worry though, I wrote a little bit about it at my homeschooling blog. Want to take a peek?

Do all for God's glory

The whole life of a Christian should be nothing but praises and thanks to God; we should neither eat nor sleep, but eat to God and sleep to God and work to God and talk to God, do all to His glory and praise.               Richard Sibbes                                                                               

                                       

 I've been trying to explain this to my kids for some time now. We talk about everything we do should be for God's glory. We talk about setting a good example for those around us and showing them Christ through our work. I still seem to have the same problems. They don't do their best. They forget. They purposely overlook something. I get frustrated, but then I realize, it's my job to train them.

What does MY attitude towards work look like? Would I rather sit around and read all day? Do I complain? Do I slack off or rush through something missing the little details? My children are looking to me to be the example. They need to be doing everything with praise to God. Bringing him glory when I clean up that mess one. more. time.
For example: My bedroom is still not done. I spent this weekend doing everything but finishing it up. Things pile up. In order to put together a sewing/craft nook for my little future homemakers I HAVE to finish my room. My middle daughter has waited and waited to pull out the sewing machine she got for her birthday... last September.
Everyone is waiting for me to move forward. I realize when I am sitting still not working (I'm not talking about my Be Still time with God) that I am setting the example for my children that my pleasure comes before the peace I should be bringing to my home. Why should I expect them to work for God and not self, when they don't see me model that?
Oops! I pray that I will be a better example moving forward!

When hubby is home..

Long ago picture! :) When hubby is home the computer is his. I'll be back tomorrow.

My menu plan system

Sigh, blogger is acting all crazy and typing in weird places. LOL I'll keep going though and just hope that it looks ok on the actual blog. 

When I plan my menu I plan for the whole month. I usually pull out my super cool calendar with big boxes. This way I can see what we have going on that day or week. I like to jot down meal ideas at the bottom of the box for that day. Yes, Mother's Day does say, "I better not be cooking!" LOL

 After I jot it down on my calendar I put each week's menu plan on a index card. This index card goes in my recipe box in front of all the recipes for the meals I have planned that week. When I'm done I just scoot it to the back. Easy peasy. GF means the recipe is actually in my green folder and has not been put on an index card yet.

Then I make up four weeks of grocery lists. On shopping day I grab the list, add anything I need and head to the store!

It's really made cooking a lot easier. We did this through April and it worked great. Another advantage I just discovered tonight is I can hand one of the girls a recipe card and have them make the meal. I am right by the kitchen so they can ask questions. I ask if they want me to help and sometimes they do but mostly they just let me go off and do something else. :) Great practice for them. Probably in the fall I will assign them a week to plan meals. Something I am definitely thinking about.

My day went well. I met my mom and my great aunt and had lunch with them and Miss Lily. We then headed to the Farmer's Market, but I did not have any cash so I have to go back Friday. My mom had some and she bought her some stuff. She kept offering to buy me some stuff, but I told her I would just wait. She's sweet like that. :)
I got my glasses fixed and then headed home. I worked in my garden a bit and watched the kids play outside. Then Karly made dinner. Now we are just relaxing until bed time. Lily conked out early. I hope that does not mean she'll wake up all rested in the middle of the night. She had a busy, busy day.

Hope you all had a great day!

Just realized it's homemaking link up day on Raising Homemakers. I think I will post this over there. If you have not taken advantage of this great resource please do!

In the home.

Face meet asphalt! :) Poor kid he fell off of his scooter the day before the party. He's still one of the cutest kids I know!!

Yesterday, I shared this blog post with my girls. They immediately ran to their room and began cleaning it again.  It looks so nice now. :)
Today, I plan to share this one. As I said before I want to share something about homemaking every day. I am also going to help out in a room today. Right now the kids are getting breakfast and finishing up room chores so I have a couple of minutes.
I also took some time to post to my homeschooling blog here. Today is the sixth anniversary of starting our homeschooling journey. I look back and I'm amazed at how far we've come, but also at how far we still need to go.
I will leave you with a quote about family. It is supposed to be by Winston Churchill, one of my favorite people in history. I'd never heard this attributed to him before so I can't promise for sure he said this, but I do love the quote!

“There is no doubt that it is around the family and the home that all the greatest virtues, the most dominating virtues of human society, are created, strengthened and maintained”

Be blessed today as you work around your home!