My Mom Is Here!

My mom has come to visit. I live in Texas, she lives in NJ and she has flown out to be with us till March 5th. As a result, my posting will be a bit short and not so often. We will be going to a wedding in MO over the weekend. Life gets busy when there is visitors!

Not everyone is fortunate enough to have family and I am glad for my large one. Enjoy your family while you can, they are not with us forever.

I will be enjoying my mom!

Life's little messes

Kids sure can make a mess. A really messy mess. A really cute messy mess!

It takes a lot of patience to let them learn things for themselves, but it is something that is needed. So many times parents do not want them to make a mess and as a result do not let them learn.

I finally got some of my pictures back from my computer melt down two weeks ago and would like to share three grandkids whose mommy's let them learn by making a mess!


This is Chris helping make a cake for his mother. He is doing quite a good job I think, even tasting it to be sure that it is going to be good!

This is Scout. Scout loves to do things for herself, including eat spaghetti. Below is Lexi, also eating her spaghetti.


Aren't they the cutest???

I decided to make this post part of the Natural Mommy's Meet and Greet. So go there to see more cute pictures (Some are even of my granddaughter!

Do not use credit cards!

Today is Frugal Friday at Biblical womanhood and I wanted to share something with you. When you get done reading here, click on the link and go to Biblical Womanhood for more ideas.

Many years ago I made a mistake that I realize now many are making. In an effort to be frugal I would see things on sale and buy them using the credit card. I was "saving so much money", or so I thought, that it was worth it to get it even though I did not have the cash.

What happened next was the bills came in. I was new to credit cards and did not realize how much that purchase was costing me. Way more than full price till it was paid off! Cards that allow you to transfer funds at 0% interest often charge a lot for spending that is not transferred. They then take the payments off the 0% interest first and you are stuck paying interest for that sale item until you get the rest of the balance off of there.

Do not use cards to save money! Not unless you pay them off as soon as the bill comes in, then it may work. I say may, because many cards are now doing 2-cycle interest, in which the interest is carried over for two payments and there is no grace period.

Frugal ladies, keep the card in your purse and use cash, or you are not being so frugal.

For the love of your husband

Today is Works for me Wednesday and I want to share something that really works, not just for me, but for most wives.

Some time ago I wrote about honoring your husband and how today's women seem to have a problem in that area. Yesterday I was reading some of the blogs I normally read and went to Real Life's post "All Husbands are idiots..." It is not what it sounds like and really worth reading.

As I read her post I was thinking about what works for me. I am in my second marriage, both to wonderful men. My first marriage was for 29+ years and ended when death parted us. I am now married to another man who is a gem also.

While I can't take the credit, because I feel God is the one to get all the credit, I can tell you some things that I do and do not do that I know makes a difference. Both husbands have told me so.

• I praise my husband. He has many good features that are worth praising.
• I talk positive about him to others. My talk is uplifting, letting others see his good qualities.
• No negative talk to others. If i have had a problem that I did not know how to handle I sought out someone older and wiser and one that had enough wisdom and sense to not hold anything against my husband (and to keep their mouth shut!). This has almost never been an issue, but in 29+ years of marriage there were a few times where I was dwelling on negative and could not see it.
• It is ok to tell funny stories, if they are not degrading. We have some funny things that happened that could be told in a negative way, but yet do not have to be. For instance, and my husband would tell you this one himself if he were writing, he has a bad throwing arm. We live in Texas and sometimes there are rattlesnakes in the pasture. He was crossing the pasture to look for a cow that was down and saw the snake in the path. Rick decided to hit it with a rock. He threw, missed, threw missed, and so on until he had this nice fort built up around the snake. That snake was peaking out the hole, sticking it's neck out, then its tongue out and hissing at my husband, then ducking back behind the fort. I had to go out to the pasture with a shovel to kill the thing. (He did the killing, eventually). My hero! We laugh, but I could make that into something really negative and put him down to someone.
• I try to make dinners he likes, get him drinks when he is working hard and such little things to show my love.

My list goes on, but by doing these things it keeps my mind in a positive frame, shows him I love him and keeps us close. It also works to make him want to live up to what I think of him. He changes as I change and it works for our good.

I would like to ask that if there are those reading who have blogs that promote and are in line with what I am doing here (please read my purpose) that you send me an email using the contact on the sidebar. I would like your blog name. I would like to get other links for blogs and resources that are in line with my stand and desires. Thanks

This works for me! For more works for me ideas go to Rocks in My Dryer.

Like it or lump it and other such foods.

When my kids were young we were on a very tight budget. My husband was a new pastor and we were in our first church. We had four kids at the time and he was making $100 a week and we had to pay our own taxes and social security out of that. Frugal was not an option, nor was it most of my life.

I would carefully plan meals and shop. We had an Amish farm we could get cheese at really cheap as well as some other bulk foods, so cheese and pasta or rice was a staple at our house. From what was cheap at the Amish farm and what was on sale in the stores, I made meals.

Most of my meals were a creative invention. I did have some basics that we ate, but many were put together creatively and nutritionally as I had ingredients for in the house.

Thus began the creative names. My kids had to have a name for something before they would eat, so I began making up names for casseroles. We had "Like it or Lump It" A favorite and asked for many times over, even years later. Then there was "Take it or leave it" when something had an ingredient one of them did not like.

Use your imagination, use leftovers, use what is one sale and make something. Who knows, your family may just love it and want it for years to come. Try to remember what you put in it just in case!

I followed this plan as a widow and now as a married woman again!

For more ideas go to Biblical Womanhood!

Happy Valentines Day!

I hope you are having a great day! While I know that valentine's day is not the same as your anniversary or birthday, it is a special day to honor those you love, especially your spouse.

Today, I am thinking about how blessed I am to have the man I have in my life. He is my love, my best friend and my blessing.

Today, I am thinking about what an honor it is to be his wife and to be the helper God made for him.

Today, I am thanking God for this privilege.

Today, I am praying I can be all I am to be that he may be all he is to be.

Today, I am also thanking God for the 8 children we have together, their spouses and the 18+ grandchildren. (+ because there is another one on the way!)(scroll down the link).

Today I am thanking God for my readers. I am so glad for each and every one of you!

Happy Valentine's Day Y'all!

Back Up Your Computer!

Today is Works for Me at Rocks in My Dryer. I do not have the graphic since my computer went kaput on Saturday and I am working off a friend's computer tonight.

I have learned the hardway what does not work for me. Now I am a computer nut. I have pulled apart computers, replaced parts, love my software and have taken computer courses for web design as well as software courses.

First lesson: BACK UP YOUR COMPUTER!

I get an F. I have no backup and I now have no hard drive.

Right now I am at a friend of my husbands computer shop. He can't get the info off my harddrive either. Now, I have all family pictures, old pictures, all my blog info, affiliate info and passwords. Documents that are needed, my web design files and all my email addresses are all on that harddrive.

Paul tried, but can't get the thing to work and said there is only one chance of getting to work, but he does not have the part. It seems I need to get another drive, same model number and try to take a part off and maybe that is all that is wrong. MAYBE!

I said "what should I have done to back this up?"

Here is what he said should work for me (and you!).

• 
  
  Get another hard drive that you can plug in and have a software program to ghost the hard drive.


• 
  
  Get an external harddrive and software to back up at a certain time every day, week or whatever.


• 
  
  At the very least, make a copy of your important info on cds or some other storage and keep it in a safe place.

So, from now on, I am backing up! This will save me the time, head ache and heartache I am facing now, and that Works For Me!

What if you were Mrs. Noah? (part 2)

If you have not done it already, please go back and read yesterday's post, it should be directly below this one. Today's post may not make as much sense to you if you do not read part 1 first.

Noah is now making good headway on his ark, but Mrs. Noah still has something to say. I imagine if it happened today there would be all kinds of complaints, I mean a huge ocean liner being built in her yard with no water anywhere? What could that husband of hers be thinking. Why would God tell him to do such a thing.

I am sure by now, after 50 years, her "honey do list" was getting pretty long.

Mrs Noah: Dear, How many times in the last 50 years have I asked you to fix the leak in the shower? Or get that stack of wood off my flowers? or take out the trash? And then there is this old looking living room, why can't we get it painted? I wanted it done 25 years ago and all you do is work on that ugly thing in the yard. What do we need it for anyway? 50 years you have been at it and I have not seen one drop of rain yet!

Noah: That is because the ark is not done, we do not want it to rain yet. And, why paint the living room? It will all be destroyed anyway. Now darling, stop nagging! God gave me this job and I intend to finish it. He is going to destroy the whole world and we are the only ones going to be saved. It is up to us to follow His orders so that we and the animals can all be saved.

Mrs. Noah: Yeah, about those animals! Do I really need to be locked up for only God knows how long with all those animals? Monkeys swinging all over and kangaroos bouncing around? And how can anything be out of those giraffe's reach?

Noah: Dear, God has it worked out. We need to obey Him.

Mrs Noah: I have had it with all this, there is no way you are going to get those animals in, you are not hearing God, He would not tell you to do something so illogical!

And on and on she goes as poor Noah tries to follow God. 50 more years he has to listen to this stuff.

Finally, God tells him to get his family and the animals into the ark. God sends the animals and Noah gets them in, two by two of some and more of the clean animals and birds. They are marching in and out pops Mrs. Noah again.

Mrs. Noah: Lions and Tigers and Bears, OH MY!

Noah: Yes, now get things together we are boarding next.

Mrs. Noah: I am not getting on there with those things, no, no, no!

If this happened today, would Noah be getting his family in the ark. If you were Noah's wife what would you do?

Noah's wife obeyed God. We find no where that says he had to fight his wife about doing God's will. I believe she was a submissive, Godly woman. She may have given her opinon, but Noah had the final say.

If your husband wants to follow God in an area you either think is crazy, or not what you want to do at all, are you willing to be the type of wife God expects?

Search your heart and pray you can be what God wants.

What if you were Mrs. Noah? (part 1)

Do you like to read and put yourself into the story? I usually do not, but this week I got to thinking about Noah. I began to wonder what happened in their family when Noah felt that God wanted him to build an ark. I thought about his wife.

For some background, read Genesis 6-8 when you have a chance. I will give some background here.

• Noah was 500 years old when God asked him to build the ark
• Noah had 3 boys and a wife
• God gave the directions and specifications for all details of the ark, size, rooms, kinds of wood etc.
• Noah's neighbors were not the greatest people. God said that all mankind was evil, only Noah had faith in God and trusted Him.
• Noah would need to have enough food for all the animals, places for them. God was going to send 2 or every kind of animal to Noah, and more of the clean animals and birds. He needed food for all of them and for the people.
• The ark would contain only Noah's family for people, Noah, his sons, their wives and Noah's wife.
• All other animals, birds, fish and people would die when it rained.
• Noah did not know how long it would rain
• Noah had never seen rain, but had to take God's word for it that rain was coming.
• God told Noah when to get into the ark; God sent the animals and closed the door of the ark
• It rained for 40 days and 40 nights
• The rain came, all the earth was in turmoil. It was a violent time with water coming down and shooting up.
• They were in the ark about a year.

I may add more to that list, but that is a bit condensed.

Now, put yourself in Noah's family. I want you to think. What about Noah's wife? Noah just came home and told her that the Lord told him to build this ark. He knows God said it, he is in turmoil over the whole thing.

I think if it were today the conversation might go something like this:

Noah: Honey, you will not believe what God told me today. He told me to build an ark and...

Mrs. Noah: What is an ark, Noah?

Noah: I am not sure, but it is huge and it will float, it is going to rain.

Mrs. Noah: What is rain, Noah?

Noah: Water from the sky dear. It will pour down just like you dumped that bucket from the well over your head, but more of it and everywhere. And water will even come up out of the ground. There will be so much water the whole world will be covered.

Mrs. Noah: I can't believe that.

Noah: I need to get a lot of wood and other things.

Mrs Noah: And where do you think we are going to get the money for that wood?

Noah: God will provide. Plus we have a lot of it growing out there.

Mrs. Noah: OH NO! If you cut down those trees the neighbors will see in our yard and there goes our privacy.

Noah: Honey, God said to do this!

Mrs. Noah: BUT, what about the neighbors? What will they think? Can you build it way back in the field?

Noah: rolls eyes

Noah now goes and begins getting the wood together. This is a big chore and takes a long time to even get enough to get started building. He brings it in and sets it in the yard. He collects other needed items as well, setting them down in stacks.

Out walks Mrs. Noah.

Mrs. Noah: Hey, I said not there! You are getting into my flower bed! Noah, this compulsion of yours is getting out of hand. Are you sure God told you to do this? Why would He tell you to make something like this? It has never done this thing called rain before, and how do you think you are going to get this all made. Remember, you are 500 years old, time for retirement. Sit back and relax dear! You are too old to build this huge thing.

Noah sighs, listens to his wife and keeps working. By now he is wondering if God did say it. It is not logical. It will take him forever to get this made. However, he keeps on working.

Out pops Mrs. Noah again. "Dear, do you think you have that board on their straight?" "You know, Naomi called and said that the town is making fun of us, they think you have lost your marbles doing this, they are preparing to get the code enforcer over here to check this thing out. She said that old Sarah and her husband are getting a petition signed to make us cover up the front by the road because it is an eyesore. Noah, why do you have to make this thing? Why can't you just make something small and easily hidden? Are you really, really, really sure this is what God said?"

Noah: Yes dear, I am doing it by what God said. It has to be this big because we are going to have to live in it with two of every kind of animal that roams the earth as well as the birds and all. It will need to hold enough food and water for all of them and for us as well for a long, long time.

Mrs Noah: WHAT?? We are going to live in this with animals? You know I hate animals!

Noah: I am not fond of living with them either, but God says...

Mrs. Noah: I think you are crazy. How can we live with all those animals? How can we keep the lions from eating the others, or the dinosaurs from stepping on us or the mice.. well, I guess I do not care about the mice... eek. Noah! What about all the poop for all that time? Where are we going to put that? And how can we live with the noise and the smell? The possums roam at night, the owls hoot at night and the coyotes howl at night. They will keep us all up. Did you ever think of that Noah? Huh???

Mrs. Noah walks off mumbling and Noah feels discouraged because he does not have the support of his wife.

Come back tomorrow for part 2. For tonight, think about what if you were Noah's wife? read Genesis if you have time.

Compare Thrift Stores

Today is Frugal Friday at Biblical Womanhood and I am joining in.

As wives and mothers I believe it is our responsibility to live within our means. Being frugal is the only way many of us can accomplish this. Others can afford more, but choose to live frugally so they can save, give to missions or help the poor.

One of the things I do is shop thrift stores. We all know of Goodwill, but there are many other Thrift stores around; Salvation Army, private ones and church thrifts are a few.

One thing I am learning to do is compare shop at thrift stores. I do not know about you, but around here the Goodwill is getting to be priced awfully high. I went in there last week and a shirt that still had the tags on from the store was priced $1.50 more than the original price! Walmart shoes were more than to go to Walmart and buy them.

Just because it says "Thrift Store" does not mean it is. Compare!

We have a private one nearby that has a lot of junk for high prices, another one the prices are very high for a thrift store also. The Salvation Army seems to be reasonable and often has times when the prices are marked in half or certain tags are marked in half. There is also a Christian Thrift store where the proceeds go to helping the poor and missions. This store is the greatest! Their prices are great, they are nice to deal with and will work with you.

Thrift stores are all different. We sometimes justify the money, or do not compare and just spend because it is a so called "thrift" store. Don't be fooled! Compare like you would any other store.

For more frugal ideas hop on over to Biblical Womanhood!

Check out other blogs!

I think we all loved the bloggy giveaway from last week. It was fun racing through all the 800+ giveaways listed and seeing what we wanted to try for and what we did not. I loved it as much as the other guy.

One thing I noticed as I was racing through though, I was not really seeing what the blogs were about. I was just looking for the giveaway and what you had to do or write in order to have a chance at the prize.

About half way through I began to realize that some of these blogs looked interesting and had some nice things to offer in the way of crafts, how to's, affiliate offerings etc. I still was not taking the time to look, but from there out I took notice of something more than the free gift I was trying for and actually took the time to put a few on my google reader.

Now, I am going back over the list slower, and looking at blogs as I can and seeing what is really there in the blogs that participated. Some are not for me, but others either are on the same line as mine, so I want to see what they are doing and learn. Others are good craft or sewing ones and have good sources listed on their blog or instructions in their posts.

I would suggest for some great shopping, learning and free internet sources, go back over the bloggy giveaway list slow and read the blogs, look at the resources on them and see what is there. Take time and I am sure there is a gold mine for your shopping and learning experience.

Works for me!

Who are you imitating and who is imitating you?

It happened Friday. It was as cute as could be, but so profound when you think of it in light of what Christ said.

My husband was sitting in his chair Friday morning, not really wanting to get up and get dressed for work. He began to get up and stretched with his arms looking like a jet plane and stood up as he did it making a moaning/roaring noise. Scout, our 14 month old granddaughter, watched her grampa intensely. He then told her that what he did was a stretch, and he did it again and told her again he was stretching. With that she "stretched" too and followed him to the kitchen "stretching" all the way. Noise and everything.

At various times through the day she would practice this new skill. It was cute, but it reminded me that no matter what we do, we are teaching our children something. Good or bad.

When we tell someone a half truth, our children learn that this is ok, and will then lie to you and others when they are old enough. We hide things, they see and learn. "If mommy can hide something she did or bought from daddy, then I can hide what I did from them". What are we teaching them?

When little ones, even infants, are around think about everything you do. Do you want them imitating you? They will!

On the other side of the coin is are you an imitator? Christ said we are to be imitators of Him. We are to be like little children. Little children imitate. They will mimic what you say and do. We are to be the same way with what God tells us and shows us through Christ.

Watch what you say and do, someone is watching and following. Your actions speak louder to them than your words. If we are following Christ, we do not need to worry about them imitating us.

We Have A Bloggygiveaway Winner!

After throwing all the names in a basket, my dear Husband picked one out, so we have a winner!

Karen

I want to thank all that joined in this fun time and hope you come back soon. Karen, check your email for one from me.