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​Mary and Martha Challenge

1/31/2019

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At the beginning of this month, I started a Pray Like Mary, Clean Like Martha Facebook Challenge. I had over 300 women participate and help keep each other accountable. It was a great experience and not only does my house look better, but my prayer life has also greatly improved! The challenge was based on the book with the same name written by Sarah Mae. Each day in the book she would give us a story to read, a bible reading, questions to answer, as well as, a cleaning/organizing challenges.

It was a lot of fun, but after a week it got harder to keep up on a daily bases. I will also say the author doesn’t suggest doing it for 31 days straight, but we chose to as part of the New Year’s challenge. Next time I might break it down doing it over two months that way it doesn’t feel as overwhelming at times.

Now I Challenge you to pick up the book and start your own women’s group challenge.

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Pre-Made Meatloaf

1/19/2019

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I’ve been making and freezing slower cooker meals for years now, but to give our taste buds something new to try I wanted to change it up. Currently, my 14-month-old LOVES meatloaf, loves it. With him teething so badly it’s still one of the only solid foods that he will eat. It also requires a bit of prep work before even cooking for 45 minutes so I decided to make a triple batch and froze two trays of it for a future dinner. The recipe is easy to make, freezing it and cooking it later will be even easier! Just need to make some mashed potatoes, peas, and brown gravy to serve with it before enjoying. Now that’s some good eats!

Ingredients:

2lb ground beef
1 meatloaf seasoning packet
1 egg
10 saltine crackers, crushed
¼ cup milk
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 can tomato sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
Ketchup (optional)

Directions:
Mixed ground beef, meatloaf seasoning packets, 1 egg, 10 crushed saltine crackers, milk, green bell pepper, onion and half of the can tomato sauce. If desired salt and pepper.
Place in a loaf pan or casserole dish.
Add the other half of tomato sauce and ketchup on top. Spread to cover completely, add more salt and pepper if desired.
Bake 45 minutes at 425 degrees. Remove lid and bake an extra 10 minutes.

​Or Freeze before cooking. To cook thaw overnight and good as normal.
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Weightless Book Review

1/16/2019

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Part of my New Year Goals (I don’t like resolutions, they always seem to be gone before the Christmas decorations are put up) I wanted to add more reading into my life. On Black Friday I bought tons of books and can’t wait to get to read them all. The first one I picked to read was Weightless Making Peace with Your Body by Kate Wicker. As most women at New Year’s I wanted to work on my weight and my health, so I figured this could be a great book to start with.
 
Overall I enjoyed the book; however, the author and I have different problems with our weight. While I am bigger, she suffered from anorexia. Hers was because she wanted to fit in and be seen as pretty during her teenage and college years because she was a bigger girl when she was younger. And well, mine is because I eat my emotions and hide behind my weight.
 
The core point of her book though is what I loved about the book. It Is God made you and He loves you and if you can’t grasp that then nothing will ever change. You can’t love yourself until you accept that God made you and gave you your body. It is a temple to help worship Him. Mistreating it only hurts your relationship with God. This thought wasn’t a new idea to me, but how she specifically broke it down really opened my eyes.
 
What’s also great about the book is that included what she calls soul food which includes inspiring quotes, tools, and tips. There’s also a meditation to think about and each chapter ends with a prayer.
 
I’ve read similar Christian weightless books with the same concept. I think this one reached me a little deeper was because of the authors also being Catholic and you can see that in her writing.
 
If you are struggling with your body, be it weight, wrinkles, or scars you should give this book a try. Oh and its only 83 pages perfect length for busy moms! I have a few other books by this author that I am looking forward to reading soon!

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Wonderful Winter Wreath

1/9/2019

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This beautiful winter wreath was inspired by an episode of Home & Family on the Hallmark Channel. On the episode, they were making snowflake wreaths out of white Christmas lights and paper dollies. They were really pretty; but just not my style. However, it did make me want to make my own winter wreath, especially now that my house was suffering from post-Christmas plainness.

I purchased the grapevine wreath for a few dollars at a craft store along with winter-inspired colors. I chose shades of white, blue, and a few silver flowers. I also leaned towards flowers that reminded me of snowflakes. While I was also there I picked up some silver glitter paint and a container of mirror chips that is decoration filler. The filler is normally used in flower vases, but I had a different idea in mind. I cut down all of the stems on the flowers and placed them all in a pile. I picked some of the bigger flowers and placed them on the wreath. I then filled in spaces with smaller flowers until I had the full look that I wanted. After I glued all of the flowers and leaves in place, I painted the tips of some of the flower petals with the silver glitter paint. The glitter made the flowers look like they were touched by Jack Frost or Elsa.

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​Lastly, to complete the winter look I glued the mirror chips all along the wreath. I didn’t use hot glue for this part, just regular craft glue. I placed the wreath on a large trash bag and then squeezed the glue on any part of the wreath that I wanted to have the mirror, including the center of a few of the flowers. Next, I sprinkled the mirror chips all over the glue and didn’t move the wreath until the glue was fully dried.
I couldn’t be happier with how beautiful my winter wreath came out and how the mirror chips look like ice crystals!
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Wrapping Up Christmas!

1/7/2019

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How do you even begin to take down the Christmas decorations that took you several days to put up, oh and you decorated every room of your home? One bite at a time… The first thing is to turn on your Christmas tree lights. It will be the last you will get to see them for eleven months and they will help you keep a smile while taking everything down. The second thing is to break down all of the decorations into manageable sections.

The first section I tackled was grabbing all of the blankets, pillows, aprons, tablecloth, towels and holiday clothes that will be stored in the storage bins. Then throw them in the washer (if they are washable of course). For the next section gather all of the dishes, glasses, coffee cups, and servings platters. Yes, even the specials cookie plate for Santa and put them in the dishwasher or wash them by hand.

While all of these items are washing and drying, I gather all of the non-washable items like the tree skirts, stockings, Santa hats or any other fabric items that are not washable and store in large plastic storage bags. I reuse the same ones each year and just leave them in the storage bins. Once everything is in the storage bags I place them in a pile all together to easily grab to put in the bins as needed.

Next up, remove all the knick-knacks, figurines, plaques, signs, candles, books, advent calendars and any other décor. Including any garland and wreaths, you have throughout your home. Wrap them if they are breakable or store multiple items in a box. Place them in another pile until you are ready to put everything in the bins.

Last up; remove all of the ornaments, lights, tree topper and any other items on all of the Christmas trees. Wrap and store glass ornaments, ideally in boxes or plastic bins for extra protection. My plastic ornaments are just placed in plastic storage bags. I also place the string of beads in a plastic bag to keep them from getting tangled. Make sure to secure strings of lights so they also don’t get tangled. Once all of the items are removed from the trees place plastic ones in storage boxes or bags or remove a real tree to be hauled away. By now all of laundry and dishes should be dried and ready to be put away in storage bags and boxes.

​Now you are left with piles that need to be organized in the storage bins. I do prefer plastic bins over cardboard boxes; it helps prevent water, rodent and other damage. I start by putting any boxes in the tubs since they are usually the largest items. I next fill in the spaces around the boxes with the storage bags and any other items. This usually takes a few tries to get everything to fit in the bins, but once it is finished and the bins are placed back in the shed or garage your home will be suffering from its post-Christmas magic. Sadly, this always makes me sad until I realize I have whole years’ worth of holiday decorating to look forward to!



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