Mid-Week Motivation
Starting Your Day Out Right!
Scripture, Short Devotion
In the last year, my family has gone through a lot of change. We even just recently relocated to Maryland temporarily. It hasn’t been an easy transition. Many people tend to resist change. I’ll admit that I don’t cope well myself…initially anyway. I tend to balk at it and, as I mentioned last week, try to force the now square peg into the same old round hole until finally I come to grips with it. Several years ago when I was leading a MOPS group through some tumultuous times, the book, Who Moved My Cheese, helped me a great deal. The concept is that we must be willing to adapt and grow with change.
While change may be inevitable in our lives and we most certainly need to learn how to deal with it, there is something that helps far more than merely coping. In a constantly changing world, isn’t it refreshing to know that God doesn’t change? He’s the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. We can rely on Him to always be our Sovereign LORD. In the light of that, He can move my cheese anywhere He pleases…and I’ll adapt and find strength in the knowledge that He is my unchanging rock.
Is Your House in Order?
Cleaning, parenting, marriage, organization tips, etc.
It is so lovely to have your sink so shiny and your routines working. If you’ve fleshed out your zones, tomorrow is the perfect time to put them into action! You’ll work in zone one, following your lists, for the rest of this week. Then, next week, you’ll move on to zone two. By the end of February you will see a noticeable difference in your home.
Now, there is one thing I haven’t mentioned that FlyLady is a huge advocate of…it’s called “de-cluttering”. When I first became a FlyBaby several years ago, I had some serious clutter. Oh, my clutter was mostly hidden, but it was still there. I kept mine in boxes, closets and drawers, stashed throughout my home. The way I tackled it was one box at a time. You know where your problem areas are, incorporate tackling the ones that are in zone one for the rest of this week. Don’t worry if you don’t get them all sorted and cleared out before week’s end, you’ll get to work on it again the first week in March. During week two of February, you’ll go after the cluttered areas in zone two.
Are you starting to see how your home can be reclaimed with a plan of action, time and of course…baby-steps?
Afternoon Pick Me Up
Writing inspiration
This week we’ll continue building our snowflake as we move on to Randy Ingermanson’s fifth step. We are going to tell the story from the perspective of each major and minor (yet significant) character. You will complete a full page for each major character and a half page for each minor character.
Once you’ve completed this, you’ll have built half of your snowflake. This is where I leave you in the process. I hope you’ll continue structuring your piece in the next weeks and months ahead. You’ve put in too much work at this point to go back to neglecting the idea you began with.
Source: The Snowflake Method
What’s For Dinner?
Quick dinners, crock pots, etc.
Yes! After today we will have baby-stepped through the entire process of freezer cooking. Today we take a look at the fifth and final step:
Step Five: We Clean!
No doubt this is my least favorite part of the entire process. Cleaning up after a full day or two of cooking is no small task. First of all, it helps to have large trash bags handy while you’re cooking. Pitch in any trash while you work so you have less to pick up when you’re done.
If you get the newspaper, put it to use once you’ve read it by lining several layers on the surfaces where you’ll be measuring out your ingredients, that way you just wad up a layer when it becomes too messy and place it in your large trash bag.
You will have lots of pots, pans and utensils to wash and put away; however, you won’t be pulling this stuff out again for a month so try to focus on that as you scrub. Also, you’ll want to measure out and store in freezable containers, any leftover ingredients that you want to keep. Often I’ll have sauces and salsas left.
After you’ve cleaned up the kitchen, you probably won’t be in the mood to prepare one of the meals you just worked so hard to place in your freezer. Personally, I go out to eat or order take-out on assembly day and then most nights the rest of the month, we pull dinner out of the freezer.
In case you’re wondering how my freezer meals survived a 21 hour drive and sitting in the back of a moving van for two days…it definitely helped that the weather was cold. Everything made it to the new location perfectly and it’s nice to have convenient meals during the unpacking process.
Source: 30DayGourmet
A Restful Night’s Sleep
Scripture for a restful sleep
“The sleep of a laborer is sweet…”~ Ecclesiastes 5:12a
I could barely walk after helping move our stuff down the stairs at our condo in Kansas last week…and then moved it back up stairs at the new location…Ouch. My muscles screamed at me for the torture I put them through. It took days to work out the kinks but once the dust began to settle, the rest was sweet indeed. Whether you’re scrubbing floors, darning socks, preparing meals, writing code, teaching, moving across country or putting up dry wall, I pray that your weary mind and body finds restful sleep.
So, off to bed with you, tomorrow is coming, the labor continues and God needs you refreshed for the task at hand.
