Skirts

(Borrowed image from Zappos)

This is the skirt I am wearing in gray today... Why have I begun to wear skirts you might be asking... Because I'm crazy! No not really. I do have a couple good reasons or at least they are good in my opinion. :)

The Bible says:

In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. 1 Timothy 2:9-10

It is, I believe, the opinion of each individual on whether to wear skirts or pants, cut their hair or not, weat make-up or not, OR wear jewelry or not, however the Bible does call for us to be dressed modestly. I do wear make-up time to time and I do wear a little bit of jewlery.

I was not a big skirt or dress wearer, but that changed a few months ago and I have just recently began to force myself into wearing a few skirts.

Here are the short reasons for why I wear skirts more now:

• God convicted me. He told me that I was not taking good care of myself and I was not being an example for my children. Just because I was a mom, doesn't mean I should neglect myself and my body.
• I am now at a point where I am content with my life (it took a lot of praying and seeking the Lord). If I only have two sons, I want to show them what modest femininity looks like. I want to be a Godly example of how woman should dress.
• If I am blessed with daughters, I want to be the example that you can be modest and look nice. I want them to look at me and see confidence in what I am wearing and with everything all covered.
• I want to look nice for my husband. I know this and all the above examples can be achieved through jeans and a nice sweater, but it just wasn't working for me. I had to get out of the maternity pants and sweats suits. This was my only option. I am very an "all or nothing" personality.
• I feel better. I was beginning to forget, in a house of all males, that I was a woman and it was okay to not be one of the guys.
• And I am being completely honest here, after I started wearing them, I have begun to like how the feel. I like that I'm not worried about my backend hanging out or my pants splitting. It just gives me room to move (side note... all skirts I wear at this point are long).

I know that wearing skirts might now work for you, but they work for me in making me feel like more of a woman, a Godly standard for my children and future children and skirts got me out of my sweats.

Have you ever thought of giving skirts a try?
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This post is linked to Works for Me Wednesday.

Happy Birthday Mom!

No today isn't my Mom's birthday but last week was!

Y'all know that I love to decorate cakes for people. I love to make people I care about feel special. I love taking the time and making something that I think they will enjoy and know that they are important to me.

So... I made my Mom's birthday cake and I also made her a scarf.

I used fondant for the first time and it was quite the adventure. It actually turned out pretty good for a first go!

How about you? Do you enjoy making gifts? Do you enjoy recieving homemade gifts?

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*This post is linked to Works for Me Wednesday.

*This post is also linked to Life as Mom.

WFMW: Toy Storage

So here is the question that we as moms have to answer every year after Christmas...

Where are we going to put all those toys?!?

This was the topic of all my thoughts while Dylan and Lincoln were opening gifts...

So while trying to find homes for all the toys, I began thinking of ways that I could better organize the toys and find homes that weren't easy for Dylan to just "pick up and dump".

As I was thinking, I was out in the garage and tripped over some pickle buckets my dad had brought me. Then it hit me! Pickle buckets (you can get free pickle buckets from White Castle if you're looking for a place)!!

After sorting through all the boys toys and putting them in seperate pickle buckets, I went upstairs and printed off pictures of the contents and taped them to the buckets.

And wahla! There is my new toy organization trick and it really works for me!

I am really excited about this new tool. For more great tips head over to We Are That Family!

HELP from YOU and a Giveaway!

Okay... So last week, I totally messed up and did my backwards Works for me Wednesday last week, so I am re-doing it again tonight!

Sigh...

I had a great post all lined up...

But never fear, I am always in need help around here.

I have three good questions for you and at the end, I have a giveaway! Woot a give-away!

Advice Needed #1:

I know I need to learn about swagbucks but it confuses me! HELP!

Advice Need #2:

I am going to start sewing this week. Where do I start? I have a lot of fabric and a sewing machine, but what next? I am interested in bags, purses, aprons, and then clothing.

Advice Needed #3:
This is a hard economy to live. Our area was devastated and doesn't seem to be bouncing back. There are some things going on around here in which I would really like (strike that as need) to earn a little $$. I am wondering if y'all have any advice on how to start earning a little money from writing and blogging. It's something I love to do. I just have NO idea where to begin and where to go with it. HELP!

Okay, now for the giveaway!

I have got to be honest... My last giveaway, Jhona won and she was so patient with me. It was during a time of health issues and family issues and I got the product out later than I would have liked, but this time, (knock on wood!) there is nothing going on but bitter Mr. Winter...

Here are is the product:

I love the Mom's Home Plan-It Calendars. The calendar is one of my organization tools.

It's hard to read but here are the features of the calendar:

• Attaches to any surface with magnetic or standard hanger.
• Write names only once for the whole year.
• 442 stickers to mark: Holidays, Events, Activities, Doctor Appointments, Games, Birthdays and Carpools.
• Includes 2 tabbed sections for contacts, reference baby-sitter info, school activities and MORE!
• Extra-large grid to write in entries.
• Handy storage pocket for cards, coupons receipts or whatever else!

Here are the ways to enter:

1. Leave me a comment giving me advice on my above questions = 1 entry
2. Follow me on facebook = 2 entries
3. Follow my blog = 2 entries
4. Follow me on twitter =2 entries
5. Go through my blog and comment on your favorite post = 3 entries
6. Write a post about the giveaway or One Blessed Mama and link back = 5 entries

I will close the giveaway at 8 PM EST on Sunday, January 10th! Start your engines!
Now readers, it's up to you! If y'all enjoy this giveaway and take part, I am thinkin' of starting a weekly or monthly giveaway over here at the blog!

Advice and Tips Needed....

As I sit here on the couch, I am surrounded by toys... Toys are everywhere in our home. If y'all remember, I have an extremely hard time with toys just sitting out everywhere. I am working very hard on paying more open to having toys and such in a reasonable organized viewable manner, but with the end of Christmas comes the beginning of toy maddness.

So today I am wondering... Do you have any good toy organizing methods for various aged children (and sexes if you have them)?

Question number two:

With New Years approaching... Do you have any die hard advice on how to stick to health and financial goals?

Question number three:

This year I would really like to learn how to sew. My interests right now are bags, purses, and aprons (and maybe cloth diapers). I am not a very good seamstress. I have tried and failed. Any suggestions on where to begin and what to do?

And my last question:

This year, I feel led to begin couponing... What tried and true advice and tips to you have for me?
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This is linked to Works for Me Wednesday. There are a lot of questions being asked there today. Maybe just maybe it is a question you have... Check it out!

Book Advent

My mom and dad read this book to me when I was a young girl. It is an awesome book. You read a story a day until Christmas. I have inherited this tradition and continue to do it with my children. From reading this book, came my idea of a Book Advent.

My boys are a little young yet to be going all crazy, and while I love the ideas such as the Jesse Tree, I am just not the motivated or together right before Christmas.

I just came up with it this year and have been trying to keep up with it as much as I can BUT I will be doing it next year.

The day after Thanksgiving, I will be going around and collecting all our Christmas books. I will then wrap them up and number them in a sort of organized order. An example is the above Christmas book will be number 1 to be opened on December 1st since it is a story a day until Christmas. I will do this all the way to the Nativity story on December 24.

So far, my kids are really enjoying this tradition. It keeps the books centered around Christmas, gives them an idea of how long it is until Christmas, and lastly gives them practice on opening presents.

Do y'all have any traditions you have started with Advent? Do you not struggle as much as I do with the fancier more in depth Advent ideas?

Home Furnishings

This week I am sharing tips to decorate your home on a budget. Now I have to have an honesty moment with you. I am totally grossed out by the thought of second hand furnishings. I know that sounds so spoiled of me but I just got all funny feeling when I have no idea where the couch I am sitting has come from.

Therefore, a lot of our furnishings are new when we get them. When we moved from our rental home to our new, we over doubled our living space. So we needed to get some furnishings. I had never heard of this store, but Andy had gotten all his previous furnishings from there and the name is IKEA. Now here is the thing... When we wanted to get some furniture from IKEA, there is was not one around here and shipping was horrendous. Therefore we saved and scrimped our money and one afternoon we went on a road trip to IKEA up in Michigan. It was about a 6 hour drive, but well worth it.

When I go around our home, we furnished our whole house (1 queen size bed, huge closet dresser, 4 dressers, 4 end tables, 2 night stands, a bunk bed, kitchen table (seats 10), 10 chairs, breakdown table, book shelf, and couch) on less than what a lot of people spend on a frumpy living room set.

Now once again, there will come a day (hopefully) when we have the money and the kids aren't drawing on everything with crayons that I will be able to spend a lot of money on a living room set but now is not the time, nor do we have the money.

Therefore shopping at IKEA, worked for me, worked for my home and worked for my budget. Here are a few pictures of our IKEA furniture.

our bed

couch and end tables

kitchen table, chairs, and shelving unit

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This post is linked to Works for Me Wednesday.

WFMW: Party Punch

Our family does a lot of entertaining over the Holidays and beverages get very expensive.

A couple of years ago, I set out on a search to find the cheapest, most tasty beverage for parties.

My finding was this simple Party Punch recipe:

Jodi's Party Punch:
2 cans of orange concentrate
2 2-liters of red soda
5 cups of water
vanilla or sherbet ice cream

Add orange concentrate, soda and water to large punch bowl. Stir. Chill for 4 hours. Dip ice cream unto top of drink. Serve chilled. Makes about 50 punch glass servings.

Cost:
orange concentrate $1.07/each
red soda 2-liters $.99/each
ice cream $2.98
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$.14/serving

So when I am getting ready for a party and I am looking for an economical beverage that others will enjoy, my Party Punch works for me!
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This post is linked to Works for Me Wednesday at We are that Family.

For the L.O.V.E. of Lists

I LOVE lists. I love checking things off of lists. I love the feeling of accomplishment that comes from lists.

I find that organizational tools such as lists, goals written down, menu plans, and calendars are my friend, BUT they are only my friend if I use them correctly.

There are a lot of "Life Binder" ideas out there, but those ideas just do not work for me. I am organized in my own sort of way and I become overwhelmed when I have a huge binder with a lot of different sections.

Therefore, I decided to show and tell you some ways that I stay organized and stay sane. People often ask me how I stay on top of things with this being my first year of homeschooling. I will give a little peek here today.

First and foremost, I use this blog as a reminder. I use it to write my lists for the week, I use it to keep my thoughts organized and I use it to stay on top of Menu Planning.

Lots, of people use printed out menu plans, but with all the paper that comes and goes through this house, it just isn't possible to keep a tab on where it is (I tried putting it on the refrigerator and the boys would jump and rip it off. I have tried multiple things, just none have worked for me.). Therefore, putting my menu up on here and just jumping on in the morning to see what is planned for dinner works for me. My husband also likes that he can just jump online to look at what we're having for dinner. It makes the Davis' home go smoother!

Another tool my husband and some of my friends use, but I have not gotten into (I'm not too good at technological things! :)) is Google Calendars. My husband uses it and it keeps him on top of things so it must be a good tool! To learn more about it click here.

The next tool I use it the "chore chart". It isn't necessarily a chore chart for any one person in the family, it is just a chart that states what we should do every day during the day. We try and do a quick clean and do of everyone of the things on the list but the day that we focus on a certain area has a box. Some categories have a box every day, these are things that we need to do every day such as make our bed, brush our teeth, and dinner/clean up. This helps are day go much more smoothly.

I also LOVE my planner. Every year when the school year starts, I buy a new planner. For our home the new year begins with each school year, more than with each calendar year. You cannot see it in this picture but every night before I go to bed, I tentatively schedule every hour of my day. Now days that I follow the schedule to a T, I would be telling a fib if I said I did not feel better, BUT I always try to be open to God's gentle interruptions (I am NO where close to being good at it yet!). I just feel when I follow this schedule somewhat there is not a lot of wasted time. I am distracted very easy but one thing that helps is I'm not a big "phone talker". If you catch me on a good day I am, but it is just too hard to focus on a conversation when boys are circling you with guns, screaming "you're next mom". This also limits me computer time. I love to jump on and read blogs, but there just isn't enough time for it some days. I try to use my schedule as a reward for myself. I find that if I do things in a timely manner and correctly, I let myself jump on the computer the remaining time. When the next hour starts, I start too. This is just a little trick that works for me.

The final tool I use is my family wall calendar. This isn't a very exciting tool. We have a wall calendar hanging in the kitchen so if someone calls and wants to schedule something we can take a quick look at whether we already have something planned for that time. Now we have the rule in our home (and we try to adhere to it!) that before we schedule or commit to something, we always talk to each other. It doesn't always work, but we have found time and time again that one of us had an idea for a Saturday and the other had a totally different idea or committed the family to something else. This calendar is very handy during the Holiday season. We both have large families that live near us. Therefore, we have a TON of plans. I am starting to have anxiety attacks just thinking of the events coming up.

These organizational tools really work for me especially when times get hectic around our home. I hope that they can be of use to you during your busy holiday season!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

So last week I talked about how our family has pizza night once a week on Wednesday. I had many emails asking me for my BBQ Chicken Pizza recipe. I am delighted to give it to y'all because it is just so yummy and so easy... :)

First it needs to be said that I either cook a huge chicken at the beginning of the week and set chicken aside from that or we have chicken and I leave a breast to the side- I use those for the chicken on the pizza.

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

1 packet of yeast

2 c. warm water

1/4 tsp. salt

1 T. rapadura

1 T. cooking oil

5 c. whole wheat flour

Dissolve yeast in water. Add sugar, salt, and oil. Gradually add flour and mix. Knead until elastic (about 5 minutes). Oil bowl and top of dough. Cover and let stand in warm place for 30 minutes. Punch down. Flour and oil a large cookie sheet and roll dough out on sheet.

On the rolled out pizza crust, I pour 1/2 of bottle of BBQ sauce on the crust and spread it around with a spoon. I use Montgomery Inn because I love the taste and it has no HFCS. Love it!! :)

I sprinkle pizza seasoning on the BBQ sauce.

What it looks like after you sprinkle Italian seasonings and Pizza seasonings. Top with cheese. I like to experiment on what types of cheese- whatever happens to be on hand.

Chop chicken into small pieces and put on top of the cheese.

Ta-da! This looks like a HUGE pizza and it is, but this pizza usually feeds us dinner and a couple of lunches.

Once I get the pizza together, I cook it at 400 degrees for 10 minutes on the top rack and 10 minutes on the bottom.

That's all there is to it! Totally easy and totally yummy! This simple recipe works for me!

Hey Kids, It's Pizza Night!!

So we have made it a tradition to every Wednesday night have some kind of pizza. It has been a really great memory maker and treat for the boys!

Dylan is old enough to help and he loves that! I love knowing that every Wednesday is pretty set-- we're having pizza!

My kids also love that they get to have pizza once a week. Some kids would be really burnt out on the fact that it is almost always homemade, but not my kids, that just means that they get to help make it.

I also love knowing that every Wednesday night both boys are going to eat good!

I really enjoy making new (sometimes small and silly) traditions with my family.

For more ideas head on over to We Are That Family.

Help Around the House

Since school has begun, I have made a daily chore chart that includes chores Dylan can help me do. I have love spending time with him next to me, learning how to do chores around the house. He just seems so grown up to me.

Dylan is so excited about doing "big boy" work. He wants to help with as much as he can. I love how he absorbs everything and wants to continue learning.

I want to know that I raised a young man who can take care of the house himself. I don't want him to rely on me for everything.

Dylan sweeping the floor.

Dylan helping make bread this past weekend.

For more Works for Me Wednesday ideas click here.

Works For Me Wednesday--- Set Schedule

Okay... I am going to go out on a limb and confess a deep dark secret here... I am a CONTROL freak!! It is nothing new for me to do everything by myself because I HAVE to have it done my way, the RIGHT way... I know I really need to be committed... So it should come to NO surprise that having a set (as in moment by moment) schedule. So today I want to let y'all know, that a moment by moment, hour by hour schedule works for me. It keeps me on track and helps me know where I should be headed with my day. It really has been a blessing.

However, I have been working on God's interruptions and prompting. I don't want to miss out on something special just because I am following my to the "T" schedule. So somedays, I have to rethink my next days schedule.

The schedule has been a blessing, as has listening to God's lovely interruptions..

For more Works for Me ideas head on over to We Are That Family!

Health Goals

I am an extreme Type A personality. I love my goals, I love my lists, and I love my structure. Get me out of those and there is one unhappy mama! Because of my love of goals and lists, I have come up with a list of ways to lose weight.

I have found that if I put down the goal lose 45 lbs. this year, things do not go well. It just seems like such a huge number and I end up giving up before I begin.

There fore I have concocted a list of goals which fit our lives and whatever happens.

Our list of goals are called "health goals" instead of "losing weight goals". Our goal should be finding good health and not just losing weight.

In gaining that attitude, we have been better at sticking to our goals. We are starting to feel better. I am hoping that the weight will come with the healthy living.

This frame of mind works well for my family and myself. For more ideas head on over to Works for Me Wednesday.

Easier Method to Cooking Down Tomatoes...

I have been a canning and freezing fool! I have gotten a ton done this summer and I have been blessed as you read yesterday. There are a few things that are not my favorite to do when it comes to harvesting and preserving food, here they are in order of my dislike:
3. Getting silks off of corn so that you can cut it off the cob. They just keep appearing!
2. Dicing and seeding tomatoes for sauces and salsa.

And the number one thing I dislike is:

1. cooking down tomatoes for sauces and salsa. It's hot, it's time consuming, and I really, really dislike sitting there stirring.

But alas, I found a way to get around my number one dislike! Here are the steps in preparing them for whatever you are going to make with the tomatoes.

1. Clean the tomatoes thoroughly and let dry.
2. Drop tomatoes in a rapidly boiling pot for 30 seconds and then take them out and put them in a boil of ice water (called blanching.)
3. Skin them (when blanching the skins should just fall right off.), core them and cut out all bad spots.
4. Seed them! That yucky number two dislike!
5. And finally put them on a slow cooker over night on low. Then the next morning take the lid off the slow cooker for about 45 minutes and your tomatoes are beautifully cooked down. No standing in front of a hot stove and stirring... Just sleep! walah!
   

This is a quick shortcut that works for me. For more Works for Me Wednesday head on over to We Are That Family.

Seeds to Starters...

In lieu of Earth Day, I am posting about starting a garden. Now if I have to be completely honest I will tell you that this is the first year this has ever worked for me, BUT it did.

I decided this year to be frugal and began my tomato, pepper, broccoli, and herb starts from seed. I have tried this is the past and it was a very daunting task. This year I came up with a better way to go about this. I started all my plants in egg cartons. The spaces were just big enough to allow slow and proper growth. I then transplanted them into over sized Dixie Cups. Instead of over watering them, I used a spray bottle and misted them every morning and evening.


I am so excited about how well the plants turned out. So using egg cartons not only made my plants grow well, but it also reused an item that most people just through away! (Yes, I am patting myself on the back right now... ;) )



Here are the first tomato plants to pop up in the egg carton.

Here is one of my two tables of starts.


My PLANTS now.


All my jars just sitting ready to have yummy home-grown fruits and veggies in them!

Our garden before anything was planted... Now everything is in the ground! YIPPEE!

So for those of you who are unsure how to begin a garden but know it is something you want to do. My tip for you would be to start your seeds in egg cartons! Happy gardening!

WFMW- For the Love of Binders

I love binders! I love to be organized. I would not be able to operate in my daily life if I don't have my binders. So today I am going to share my 3 main binders.


This is my coupon binder. All of my coupons are in this binder. When I go through the ads on Sunday and when I grocery shop- I take this binder. It is really a valuable resource in saving money for my family.




This is what you see when you open my Financial Folder. This helps me keep accurate records of my financial needs. I always know where to find my budgets, billing statements, etc.




Those were just a few of the categories I have in my Financial Binder.

Now this is my F.A.V.R.I.T.E binder. My life is at the mercy of this binder. It has everything I could possibly need to make it through a day. Below are the categories of my Brain Binder. For more help on making a brain binder click here.






To find more things that work for others go to We Are That Family.