Quin – Page 21

Inspiration

February 22, 2011 by Quin Leave a Comment

Have I ever told you what inspired me to start being better? It was a book I bought on a whim for a buck at Dollar Tree in the Mall of America. Yes, I went all the way to the MOA and still shopped at Dollar Tree… What can I say, I LOVE that place.

So, this book is titled: 1,000 Ways to Be a Slightly Better Woman. It’s full of lists. My organized personality can sure appreciate a good list!

I seriously could not put it down once I started reading it. If it weren’t for the toddler in the house, I would’ve read right through it in one sitting.

From this book (and some other influences) I started serving my family healthier food, spending less money on materialistic things, organizing my closet, and just trying to be a better ME.

It’s not that the book was SO incredible, or some sort of best seller, but it just movitated me. I like being motivated right where I am, and this book was great at that.

What motivates YOU to be better?

Ps- I can feel our gracious God healing my physical body, and I feel SO honored. I am honored that He chose ME to live this life, to raise these kids, and to be a wife to this husband.

Thank you God!

Ephesians 3:20-21

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Kitchen Uprgade: Plastic Storage Containers.

February 3, 2011 by Quin Leave a Comment

My husband mentioned that the toy isles of Wal-Mart smell when you get close. That darn plastic smell. Have you noticed this?

I haven’t, just because I avoid those isles. I’m always shopping with children, and rather than saying “no” all the time, we just skip it all together.

Well it got me thinking about this drawer in our kitchen that was full of plastic Ziploc storage containers. I never noticed it until this morning, but when I open that drawer.. it STUNK, like plastic.

Plastic smells so nasty.

I started taking out any plastic containers that were “pitted”. I ended up with just TWO that were decent. I ended up putting all of them in the recycling bucket and nicely lining the drawer with my new adorable jelly jars (They were on clearance at Wal-Mart).

They look so much neater than the plastic. We use these to store food in the fridge, cupboards, snacks in the car, wherever! we also use the larger jars as our “bottled water”.
In the fridge I date the tops with a dry erase marker, so we know when the food was made. Oh & these awesome, adorable little jars are MADE IN THE USA. How cool is that? Oh, it’s pretty cool!

This was a very refreshing change, one I’m happy I made! Are you making any, or have you made any changes that you’re happy about?

As a mom, God is trusting me with my familiyand it’s my honor to look after their health and nutrition.

Psalm 20:4 (Amplified Bible)

4May He grant you according to your heart’s desire and fulfill all your plans.

Disclaimer- I did keep a few square plastic containers my husband takes his sandwiches to work in. I want to replace these with stainless steel containers, but haven’t found them reasonably priced yet.

UPDATE- He’s now using stainless steel containers!

Kitchen Upgrade: Strainer

January 24, 2011 by Quin Leave a Comment

For Valentines day I bought myself my husband a new strainer. AND since I bought it early….. I’ve already showed him. I just can’t keep a secret.

We had a plastic blue one, which I have never totally liked. Mostly because when you put it in the sink and pour your pan of boiling hot water and pasta in it, the water touches the bottom of the sink then rushes back up into your cooked pasta. YUCK.

Also because it’s plastic.. and your putting hot food into it, we know this is dangerous.

The little princess and I were at Target shopping for craft supplies for MOPS when I ran across this beautiful strainer. oh, I just loved it! It’s stainless steel, AND it’s footed, so no more nasty-bottom-of-the-sink-water touching our cooked food. It was $8. An inexpensive upgrade, and one I’m very glad we’ve made.

Bonus: It’s cute enough that I’m not embarrassed if it’s in the sink when company comes over.

Whenever you can switch away from plastic you’re making a good choice!

What’s in Your bathroom?

January 22, 2011 by Quin Leave a Comment

Toxins- freak.me.out.

They really do.
But not bad enough to totally ditch everything I own.
I have some favorites, like my cosmetics. Mostly because I paid a fortune for them while I was selling cosemetics and would feel totally guilty just throwing them away.

Really though, what’s in all those tubes and bottles? TOXINS!
A few months ago I cleaned the bathroom. Not like wash the sinks & scrub the toilets kind of clean (that only happens when my mother comes over & does it for me). I just quickly (HA! okay, it was like 2 hours) went through the cupboards and drawers and took out any lotions, body washes, sprays, etc that I didn’t use or just wasn’t interested in using.
The result was fairly clean shelves, and A FULL garbage bag!

So today I decided to clean the bathroom again, this time just washing the mirror & counter top. While I was in there I thought to myself, what would happen if I were to take out every product that wasn’t good for me/my family?

I thought about it for a few minutes and realized my shelves would be empty and I would probably look horrible & stink.

But this is something I want to keep in mind, especially when buying new products.

Oh, we also ditched the bathroom cleaners A LONG time ago, because they made me physically sick! I found that vinegar and water in a spray bottle works just as good. And a baking soda/water paste is sufficient for scrubbing (Thanks Jessa for this tip!)

Have you made any big moves in the bathroom for the sake of protecting your family?

Godly-Givers

January 16, 2011 by Quin Leave a Comment

Let me start with telling you that I am a purger (On a whim I decide to throw or donate tons of things, all at once, it’s usually a big production). I’ve always kind of known this, but a good friend pointed it out recently (because good friends can do that). I didn’t think much of it at the time, but the next time I was in a purging mood I sat down and thought hard about why I was doing what I what I was doing.

Here’s what I came up with:
I wasn’t doing it to provide for the needy or to give to others with a kind heart. I was doing it as a way to cleanse the space around me, to get rid of the STUFF that was occupying my eyes. I did it so it was easier to clean, and less to mess with.

I’m not certain, but all I can think is maybe I was doing this because I have pretty much ALWAYS had more than what I needed. Growing up in a home that was certainly not high class, and sometimes not quite middle class, I only a few times really remember experiencing a sacrifice or struggling.
But when we did, those times although hard, passed quickly, and without a thanks to God or a lesson from my parents about the things we did have. (You’ll know from past posts though, I have great parents, but God was not usually pointed out as being the center of our home when I was growing up).

So recently I decided to go through my home and give, when I wasn’t in a mood. I took the kids along with me and we went through each closet, drawer, cupboard and shelf. We decided that the dining room table was our GIVE space. We talked about the types of things we wanted to give and that we weren’t giving just because it was things that we didn’t need, but because we wanted to be Godly givers.

When my children went through their toys and clothes to give, it shocked me. When going through my daughters hair bows I stepped back, and let her decide what to keep and give. I didn’t influence one way or another. Once she was finished I just asked her, “Are you sure your piles are right, this looks like you’re giving more bows than you’re keeping?”. Thinking that she’d quickly switch the piles, she instead just said “That’s right, and guess what mom? I still have A LOT!”

My daughter realized that she still had more than enough. We said several thankful prayers to God. This was much harder with the 3 year old because everything was “This is mine” “I want to keep everything!”. But by the end of the two day event it turned into “I don’t NEED this” or “Someone else can love this”. He would willingly run his un-needed items to the giving table and proudly yell out “I’m giving!”.

This experience was great for all of us.

I was certain not to guilt the kids into giving, I wanted them to realize each of their blessings and only give what they felt comfortable giving.

The princess and I took a car FULL to the second hand store and on the way down she said “Mommy, I really don’t think I’m ready to give my Hannah Montana pillow”. We talked about it, and I told her how I had also put something in the give pile that I thought I wanted to keep. I told her I was going to go ahead and give my item because I knew I was only thinking of keeping it because it was new, not because I had a use for it, or an attachment to it. If she wasn’t ready though, she could keep the pillow until she felt ready. So she kept it, hasn’t touched it since, BUT that’s okay. 🙂 She recognized her feelings and expressed them to me, that made me pretty happy 🙂

What can you give freely and with an open heart? If not something you possess, when and where can you give your time?

Cutting Cable

January 13, 2011 by Quin Leave a Comment

I think it was about 2 years ago I made a decision to cancel our cable TV. It wasn’t a financial decision, but one that I thought was a good move to get the awful horrible media out of our home (the grown up shows my husband and I were watching, thinking the kids weren’t paying attention, but they were). At the time, it was a decent idea.

About 3 days in, we all missed TV and, to be honest, we were BORED! So, we got a little antenna for the top of the entertainment center, to pick up the news, which was important to my husband. After that he discovered that if we bought a big one for the roof we could pick up several more channels.

Then 10 months ago I reactivated our Netflix subscription (we used it 4 years ago and liked it).

For about $10 a month we could watch movies/TV episodes instantly on our TV (through our Wii) and set up my laptop in the bedroom for the kids to watch a movie. Cheap entertainment.

CHEAP! Not inexpensive, but CHEAP (which to me, is kind of the same as saying crap).

I just figured out that in 10 months we’ve had 45 DVD’s mailed to us, and watched OVER 350 TITLES INSTANTLY!

#$%$#%#$^

So, yes, it is inexpensive. $100 in fees / 400+ movies = A quarter (or less) for each show.

What a disaster this has been. We’re watching more TV than ever, even though we’re getting it at a good price.

I feel so stupid that I let it get this out of control. And stupid that I didn’t really FIX the bad habit, I just CHANGED it.

I’ve begged my husband to let me take the TV out of the living room. I know this is very ‘unamerican’. But it’s something I so deeply desire.

It’s my wish that by the end of 2011 (but really, sooner would be better), we’ll have our basement completed enough that we can put our entertainment center, TV, and all video games down there.

It’s not that we watch anything that is really terrible, is just that there is so many other things we could be doing with our lives than watching shows we aren’t really interested in, just because it’s available.

Just like a cookie- Just because it’s there, doesn’t mean we should eat it. Just because the shows are available, doesn’t mean we should watch it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For those of you who are thinking of cancelling cable to save money, here is our financial break down-
Cable was $40 a month, so if we had paid that for 2 years it would’ve been $960
We spent $50 on a little antenna, and $200 on a great one.

$960-$250=$710 in savings

Minus say, 1 year of Netflix, $120
Means in 2 years, we’ve still saved $590.. which is a great savings. It just didn’t accomplish what I had first set my sights on, which was controlling the media in our home.

I Swear.

January 11, 2011 by Quin 1 Comment

Last night my husband was working late, so the kids and I decided to make homemade brownies and serve a candlelit dinner to daddy to show him our appreciation when he came home.

I had the radio on, and my daughter started doing dishes, without being asked.

John Michael Montgomery’s song, “I Swear” came on the radio.
My sweet princess, who had only heard this song for the first time, but is excellent at all things musical, started humming along. After the chorus she says, with the biggest smile on her face,

” I’m so excited to be a wife……someday”

Ahhh, finally, I feel like I’m doing something right! She makes me so proud!

Thoughts of The Homemaker

January 5, 2011 by Quin Leave a Comment

This is what is on my mind:
Intentional Parenting– Not just letting each day slip by, and giving in to whatever makes our kids happy, but intentionally parenting our children. Training them to be well disciplined. This is a new experience for me, and let me tell you, it is H.A.R.D! Especially after so many years of not doing this.

Homeschool-I don’t know if this is right for our family or not. But it’s something My husband and I are praying deeply about. It would mean a total lifestyle change, but may be worth it for our children. Especially my daughter. I went to public school, I don’t see it as a terrible thing. But I think a home school environment would be less distracting and give me more time with my children. I feel like 18 years having them home is just too short, I don’t want to miss more than I have to. There are so many pros and cons to this.

Decluttering- I spent about 30 minutes in the kitchen yesterday filling paper grocery sacks with things I don’t use, or don’t want to use anymore. Today I took an hour to have a paper shredding party with the little prince. I organized my husband’s night stand. I think it looks MUCH better, and I hope he appreciates what I’ve done.

Food– I’m thinking of what to have for lunch, and what to make for dinner. Wednesday is our busy day. Thankfully I made a Turkey earlier this week, and the whole family likes it! I’ll have some for lunch, set some aside for dinner, then put the rest of it in bags to freeze and use later.
Anyone have a favorite turkey recipe? I have another frozen turkey in the basement freezer.

YES! I did it! Pancakes!

December 13, 2010 by Quin Leave a Comment

My sweetheart and I had a nice morning making breakfast together. Here’s what we tried today.

FROM THIS:

TO THIS:

THE RESULTS, THESE BEAUTIFUL HOT CAKES!

I used a pancake recipe I found online. I added cinnamon because I’ve read/heard that it’s healthy. There are some statistics on it from the health diaries . Cinnamon can help with cholesterol, blood sugar, yeast infections, reduction in cancer cells, anti-clotting effect in blood. It’s also a natural food preservative.

Although, we sure didn’t need that last benefit, there was only one pancake left when the breakfast dishes were cleared.

What I love about this, even more than the fact that it’s healthier, is that it’s less clutter! No need to stock an extra box on a shelf, the recipe uses ingredients I already keep on hand.

I dedicate this post to my dad. The grandkids always beg for his pancakes when they have sleep overs there. He uses a boxed mix, but he makes them into the cutest teddy bear shapes.

Maybe he’ll ditch the box & give this simple recipe a try next time.

Homemade Butter Recipe

December 12, 2010 by Quin Leave a Comment

This family is making the switch from cheapo plasticy margarine all the way to HOMEMADE BUTTER!

I used my fancy shmancy Kitchenaid mixer and it was so incredibly easy!
Ingredients: Quite literally, you really use just plan old Heavy Whipping Cream

Pour cream into bowl. (I used 3 of these cute little cartons)
Attach whisk and mix on medium-high until mixture thickens.
Once thick switch to the flat beater (it’s easier to get the butter off of this, then it wont stick in the whisk).
When the cream turns to a buttery yelllow color and is thick remove from mixer.

Pour off the butter milk (save for something else, or just drink). Rinse the butter in the sink to get all of the butter milk off. I did this by holding chunks of the butter in my hand and squeezing the extra buttermilk out until the only liquid running from the butter was the clean water I was running over it.

Store in a container with a lid. Enjoy with homemade bread, rolls, or anything else you would like butter on.

You may also add seasonings to flavor the butter.

& my neighbor also suggested to lightly salt. I checked this out, not only will it give it a little bit of flavor, but the salt also helps the butter to keep longer. Woo! Bonus!

My husband LOVES butter. He puts butter on everything. So for years I had been buying the biggest cheapest container I could buy. Although this really isn’t a cost effective move in terms of food dollars, I believe that long term (health care costs) that this was a great switch for our family. I had the butter on some homemade pancakes today, and I also approve!

If you make this let me know how it turns out for you.

Oh…. Okay, so I should be honest and add here that there would be many more pictures, that was my intention anyway. But mid-mixing I broke down crying about how bad I suck at making things from scratch and this was never going to turn into butter.. and poof, before I knew it, the mixture had thickened and my husband heard the buttermilk sloshing around in the bowl which meant it was almost ready… I would’ve heard it, if I weren’t so busy feeling sorry for myself. So a big THANK YOU to my husband, for encouraging me, and not putting up with my whining.

Psalm 20:4 (Amplified Bible)

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