More than you’ll ever know

January 10, 2011Kim1 Comment

There are a lot of people lifting me up in prayer to day. I just wanted to say thanks & I know things are going to just fine. This song is one of my favorites & brings so many of you to mind every time that I hear it.

More than you’ll ever know—Watermark

Something brought you to my mind today

I thought about the funny ways you make me laugh

And yet I feel like it's okay to cry with you

Something about just being with you

When I leave I feel like I've been near God

And that's the way it ought to be...

CHORUS:

'Cause you've been more than a friend to me

You fight off my enemies

'Cause you've spoken the Truth over my life

And you'll never know what it means to me

Just to know you've been on your knees for me

Oh, you have blessed my life

More than you'll ever know, yeah, yeah, yeah

You had faith, when I had none

You prayed God would bring me a brand new song

When I didn't think I could find the strength to sing

And all the while I'm hoping that I'll

Do the kind of praying for you that you've done for me

And that's the way it ought to be...

You have carried me

You have taken upon a burden that wasn't your own

And may the blessing return to you

A hundredfold, oh yeah...

Linked up at Grattituesday at Heavenly Homemakers

Spice Muffins

January 10, 2011In the KitchenKim4 Comments

These are one of our favorite muffins to have in the morning. We pair it with scrambled eggs & fruit!

Spice Muffins

2 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup applesauce

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

8 oz sour cream

2 cups whole wheat or white wheat flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

Cinnamon topping

2 Tbsp brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Beat the eggs & sugar. Add applesauce, vanilla, salt and sour cream. Add flour, baking soda and baking powder. Stir until all is moistened. Mixture will be lumpy. Pour in to oiled muffin pan filled 2/3 full. Mix brown sugar & cinnamon together for topping. Sprinkle over the top of batter. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. They freeze & reheat well.

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Planning & Shopping for a Month of meals

January 10, 2011Kim2 Comments

The way I have shopped for groceries has changed over the years. When we were in college I didn’t do a lot of planning or organized shopping.

More kids came along and I exchanged teaching in middle school for homeschooling my little man. Wow that was 13 years ago.

I learned somewhere along the way about once a month cooking & shopping for that. It revolutionized my grocery shopping. Some months I would cook and freeze food but I always planned meals out for a month at a time. Some of my friends thought I was crazy. It was a huge day(or two) of shopping but totally worth it.

Benefits?

Fewer trips to the store—when you don’t go to the store you don’t spend money. Hard to spend too much if you don’t go anywhere. Staying home is a good thing.

I knew what I would/could fix each week—I wasn’t as much worried about what we would eat each day as having the ingredients on hand so we could make several choices. This worked GREAT for the first 3 weeks of the month but the last week things would be getting a little tight. Eventually I would plan for 5 weeks and shop sometime during the 5th week. Then we didn’t “run out” of things and resort to unplanned store visits.

How to Plan?

1. Print out a calendar and make note of any special considerations like practices or meetings. Those nights you might grab take out or plan to have a crockpot meal ready so it is fast & easy.

2. Choose nights to assign a certain meat or type of meal(Mexican, Pasta etc). I like to plan 2 weeks of meals and then repeat it to make planning simple.

3, Make it as simple as possible. Choose meals your family loves & you like to fix.

4. Make a list of needed ingredients(non perishables) and how many you need for the month.

5. Divide up the list based upon what store you normally buy those items at—try to only go to one or two stores or you may just loose you mind!

6. Add the perishable items needed for this coming week.

7. Carve out a period of time where you are fresh(and your children too). Make sure to take snacks & drinks along!

8. Take a look at your refrigerator, freezer and pantry. Do any cleaning out and rearranging before you leave. It is rotten to have grocery sacks everywhere & need to clean up a mess in the the refrigerator.

9. Each week figure out what perishables you need and make a quick stop to pick those up. Doing this on days where you are already in town works great for saving on gas & time.

This method saving me money in gas and kept me from spending extra money on things that weren’t on my list. By making such a large list it keeps you focused on what you are truly there to purchase. It is a hugely satisfying feeling to put all that food away & know that you can manage to feed your family for quite some time in coming month.

Quiet Week

January 9, 2011Kim2 Comments

I am having surgery on Tuesday on my hip. So this week will be full of some different kind of activities. We won’t be traveling, camping, or any of our “normal” adventures.

Things I will be doing

Learning to navigate with crutches.

Taking naps

Balancing on one leg

Having sore muscles

Reading books aloud with the kids

Watching movies

Eating meals graciously provided by friends, family & my church family

Watching it snow

Things I won’t be doing

Cooking

Cleaning

Teaching a normal schedule

Putting weight on my left leg

Going to the store

Life is going to be seriously different for a month or so. But hopefully after that we can have a “normal” for us kind of spring and summer. I am so looking forward to that!