Housekeeping

Housekeeping. Defined it is the ongoing routine, procedures, operations, and management of a commercial enterprise, government, organization, or the like. I like to consider my house "the like". There is some semblance of a routine here. It may be chaotic to some, but to us, it's normalcy. There are definitely procedures, and sometimes even operations (not of the medical kind thank God). The management is left to me and my husband collectively. Doesn't sound that difficult right? HA!

I am a stay at home mom. If you are not a stay at home mom, you might be wondering...just what do you do all day? My husband wonders this hourly I'm sure. My daughter is in school from 8 am to 4 pm. My husband is gone longer than that. Surely I can take care of the house and the dog and the laundry and dishes (that never seem to end) and whatever else needs to be taken care during that time right? Nope!

Ok, so I can admit this now....I've always been a slob. No, really. I am a fabulous cleaner, but not a good maintainer. Some of this I might blame on my mom, as she was working (sometimes 2 jobs) and the only time the house got picked up and cleaned was when people came over. Mostly I can blame myself for just being downright lazy! I would let stuff pile up in my room (no matter what it was) until I couldn't stand it anymore. Then I would deep clean it to sparkly, then the downhill wave begins.

So, then I got married. Woe is my husband. My poor, poor husband. Neatnick. Yep! Not so much the dust and dirt, but the clutter and stuff laying everywhere, and undone dishes, and laundry. He just doesn't understand my world! Granted, sometimes I don't either....but we won't go there. My dear, dear husband. He puts up with a lot. (Love ya babe!)

Then enters flylady. I did flylady for a while (www.flylady.com). I will admit that it was too much for me. I'm a perfectionist to the core. It's all or nothing. There is no gray area. The binder, and the emails, and the routine....not for me. Works for many people! I will even go as far as to say that it did help me in several things. Making my bed and cleaning the sink. Great! Doesn't cut it any further than that. Especially the shoe thing. I understood the logic, but my feet just don't talk "sneaker". I can lounge with the best of them, sneakers and all. LOL

So, I need a solution, and I need it fast before my dear husband leaves me, and my daughter ends up with the same fate. (She got a lot of dh's tendencies, but has learned a lot from me...poor thing). In comes motivated moms (www.motivatedmoms.com) Guess what? It is a list! (If you have been following me, I'm a list maker to the core too) They take every day of the year and break it down into chores. Sweet! I can check things off which is even better! I definitely notice a difference in my home when I use it, and when I don't. I even give myself permission to not do everything on the list (which is a change of heart for me). Bonus: It even helps me to read the bible front to back during the year. It's a win-win deal for me.

If you are a hopeless slob too (I really need to start a support group) I suggest you give these two a shot. You and your family are worth it! May God bless you in your journey towards change!

Steph

The simple woman's daybook

http://thesimplewoman.blogspot.com/2008/04/join-simple-womans-daybook.html

For Today 9/29/2008...

Outside my Window...The cabana...topless LOL . Golden sunshine reflecting off the orange and red leaves of a large tree standing alone in the field.

I am thinking...That I am so blessed to have a family that loves me, a church that accepts me, A God who never leaves me, a home to take care of, and a network of friends to share with.

I am thankful for...the strength of my husband who is going through a rough patch right now.

From the kitchen...cereal, yogurt, and cheese. LOL

I am wearing...Blue exercise pants with a white stripe, brown breakout staff shirt with Galatians 5:1 on it crazy morning hair and dark maroon polish on most of my toes.

I am creating...More buckets for friends and to sell on ebay.

I am going...To clean at my dad's house.

I am reading...Karen Kingsbury series

I am hoping...That the sunshine sticks around for a bit so that I can get in my exercise today and maybe tinker in my flower gardens.

I am hearing...My daughter tinkering around getting ready for school and the dog's "bling" clinking together as she runs around/plays with Jessie.

Around the house...Starting to decorate for Fall. Putting up the fall garland on the banister in the upstairs hallway, hanging up my scarecrow and fall welcome sign outside, putting out Thanksgiving deco, etc. Making my house a home :)

One of my favorite things...The cool, crisp, low humidity days of Autumn that is perfect for walks, runs, bike riding, picnics and the like.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week...Getting Bailey's stitches out which translates to the "funnel" coming off her head...Yeah! Cleaning for Dad. Renewing my commitment to bible study. My first home & school meeting. Craft day with friends. Trying not to go Bonkers!

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...

HFH--Fat ticker Friday near disaster!

Yes, you read right......DISASTER! With a capital D! UGH! I almost gained weight this week! How can this possibly be? I have exercised more than any other week, drank more water, ate more veggies, and thought I had a fabulous week! All for....are you ready for this?.....a measly .8 lb loss. Sheesh! That was the first time I stepped on the scale. I have a digi scale, and it stores my weight. Well, I forgot to store it, so I thought I would get back on and store it. I weighed more the next time and could never get the scale to go back to that weight. So, cheating??? I don't think so (at least that is what I'm telling myself). I figure if I didn't have the brilliant storing idea, I never would have seen those other weights right? Note to self: Store it the first time! So what's a girl to do? Keep on plugging on, that's what! Discouraging, yes! Not a deal breaker though. Who's with me?

Goals for next week:

Continue 4 bottles water/day

up intake to 3 veggies/fruits/day

5 hours of exercise (which I haven't quite made yet)

Add in my ab workout

As soon as something goes in my mouth, it goes on the food journal (i.e. the one sour candy, the 2 mints--they add up!)

Enjoy the journey and don't let the scale discourage me :)

Does it look like a lot? Maybe. I've been doing well, so I thought a few additions this week would be ok.

Onto the question of the week...It is a picture journal, so I will make it mostly wordless.

1. Someone or something that inspires you.

His determination and stick to it attitude is amazing. The depth of her thoughts and how she grasps information, especially about the Lord, is just incredible.

2. Something that you love to do.

These are my girls! Our bi-annual scrapbooking retreat. Need I say more?

3. Something that makes you crazy:

Things that have no place and therefore, end up on my desk. Not to mention, this computer! Kind of a love it, hate it relationship I guess.

4. Something healthy in your life.

*Lifting up my glass* Here's to a valiant effort, and to pressing on! *clink* Cheers!

P.S. Excuse my formatting....I'm still learning this stuff :)

HFH: Fat ticker Friday!

Tick, tick, tick.....That's how many pounds I've lost in the last two weeks.....3!!!!!!!! I'm so excited about this! I've been fretting so much about my weight recently, and I've made the first steps to success! I will say that I really did slack on my exercise this week. I think I did 1 hour out of my 5. Eeek! Wake up call :) Will do better on that next week, and maybe you will see a new pretty shiny badge that says 5 pounds lost! How cool is that? As for my goals, well I don't think I accomplished any of them, so they remain.

Drink my water (At least 4, if not 5 bottles a day)
Eat at least 2 fruits/veggies per day (baby steps here)
Fill out my food journal
Exercise 5 hours
Plan meals and cook at home

Don't get me wrong, I tried. Just didn't make it. I will not give up! I will keep pressing on.

Now, for the question of the week: What is on your life's to-do list? When you post on Friday, list as many as you like and whatever you like.

Wow, this really makes me think! I never really made a "list" like that before. I am a list-maker. I LOVE lists! I have grocery lists, cleaning lists, to-do lists, etc, etc. I even have my Jessie loving lists! Sad, sad situation there! LOL I think making lists give you a sense of accomplishment. There can be days when I say "Man! What did I get done today? Feels like nothing!" Then I will look at my list and start checking things off and realize that I did quite a bit. Now of course there are days when I truly was chasing my tail all day and got nothing accomplished, but those are rare. So back to the list:

Go on a cruise with my husband
Mission trip here and maybe abroad
learn to play the piano
start my own photography studio (already have a name!)
See my daughter meet the love of her life and get married and have a family of her own
Do agility with my dog

There are probably other things, but that is what I can think of for now.

Hey! Happy Fat Ticker Friday! Cheers!

Steph

broken washing machines and other rantings

Ok now! I'm done with broken things! A few days ago, our latch on our back door broke. In enters the baseball bat to the track of the sliding door so that the door is forever closed and unable to be opened. (Hubby's grand idea-works well.) Off to Lowe's I go. Get a replacement handle assembly.....try to install on my own. Let me tell you, this woman is no Mrs. fixit! I took off the existing assembly handle on both sides, leaving the lock assembly still in the door. So far, so good! Two more screws for the lock assembly.....oooops......lock assembly falls into the door. Yes, you heard me INTO THE DOOR. Stop laughing! There is NO WAY to retrieve the lock assembly. Ok, so it was broken anyway....we are remodeling the kitchen and installing french doors sometime in the near future (next couple of years)...it's not hampering the function of the door, so I leave it there. I opened the package of the new door handle, and took all the parts out. I figured out how it went onto the door and tried to start putting it on. The only holes that matched were the screw holes. I couldn't get the "innards" of the handle on the inside of the door. Thought about maybe getting the drill, thought about the aluminum I had to drill through and decided not to. I put the old handle back on, minus the lock, and put the baseball bat back. Unusable back door. Remember...we have a dog! UGH Told hubby, but he is working so late that it will be next year before it gets done. *sigh*

Ok, so onto the next broken thing. Picture this...piles of mile high mountains of laundry. Haven't done any in a few days. Go to do the laundry, come down to a puddle of water inside my washer. Things that make you say hmmmmmm. Put it on drain and spin and OH MAN!!! The washer makes a horrible little grinding noise. Grrrrrrrrrrrr. It always happens when I have mount washmore. So, I called the repair guy who came today. He reaches into my washer, pushes on the basin, says "I can tell you what the problem is probably going to be and it's not good." Can anyone say "waaaaaaaah" with me? Tells me the basin is not supposed to move back and forth, and if he's right it will be pretty labor intensive. So he says he'll call me with an estimate because he has to order the parts and asks if I have the owners manual. Well, I like to consider myself a pretty organized gal, and I located it in a few minutes. The one good light at the end of the tunnel....he found the parts were still under warranty. Yippee! Then it can't be that bad right? WRONG. 3 year old washer, front loader, very expensive. $300 to repair. You've got to be kidding me! Not only that, but I will be without my washer for more than a week till the parts come in. *sigh* Anyone got any quarters? Laundry mat here I come. The silver lining is that all my wash will be done in a few hours. LOL

We have only been living in this house for one year. The air conditioning has had to be fixed, the hot water heater had to be replaced (these were covered under the new home warranty), the dishwasher had to be replaced, and now the back door handle, and the washer. What in the world? The blessings of home ownership I guess *grin*.

HFH: Fat ticker Friday

Well, I did it! I made it through the first week of Hot for the Holidays! It wasn't so bad...I don't know what I was waiting for! I've ridden my bike and walked almost every day this week. Jessie is even benefiting from this because I have to drag her with me LOL. My efforts were rewarded with a 1 1/2 pound weight loss! How exciting is that? Ok goals for next week:

Drink my water (At least 4, if not 5 bottles a day)
Eat at least 2 fruits/veggies per day (baby steps here)
Fill out my food journal
Exercise 5 hours
Plan meals and cook at home

I did ok on my goals for this week. I did fill out my food journal pretty completely, as well as watched out for eating after dinner. I exercised every day but Monday, and did it twice one day. As for cooking at home more, well, that didn't go so well. Overall, it was a great week.

The question posed at the Hot for the Holidays blog is this:

What do you want your legacy to be? Or rather, what is it about yourself that you want to be known for? And do you think you've accomplished that so far in your life? Are you the person you want to be? If not, how will you get there?

Legacy. Defined it is anything handed down from the past, as from an ancestor or predecessor. Legacy reminds me of inheritance. Just this week, Jessie memorized scripture for her bible lessons at school. You guessed it, it fits right into this theme. "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving" Col 3:23-24. All this to say that I want to leave a simple legacy. I want to love like Christ loves. I want to live like Christ lived here on this earth. I want to be full of compassion for those hurting around me. Acts 20-24 pretty much sums it up "However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace." Phil 3:12 also says "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." I was created for a purpose. I have a destiny. Jesus took hold me me for a reason! If you look at that last verse, you will see that it is an ongoing process. We need to keep striving for the goal. I want people to be able to say that I ran a good race, pointing to the Lord the whole way.

Steph

Beth Moore and my musings

So we started the Beth Moore series in bible study this morning. I think today was the best prepared I have felt in a long time, but we still went way over our time. Time is always a struggle for me. I never have enough of it, or I just dawdle it away. Why is that? Anyway, we are studying "living beyond yourself". This is a study of living in the spirit, and the fruits of the spirit. This morning she challenged us to live. Really live. That resounded in my spirit today. Of course, the P31 devotion from yesterday, titled "born to run" tied right in with that. It talks about excuses getting in the way of God's plan for our life, or doing what God is calling us to do. I realized that I am the Queen of excuses. No, this isn't the first time I have realized that, as my husband tells me that every once in a while. (Not nice by the way! LOL) There is a song (remember, my life is a song :) )that talks about this. It says "I am the king of excuses, I have one for every selfish thing I do." Let's think about that for a second. Are we being selfish when making excuses? Is it because we don't want to, it's too hard, there isn't enough time? Don't get me wrong, I don't think God wants us to live our lives always giving and never receiving! I do believe that the receiving should come from God. We are to store our treasures in heaven. If we receive all our praise and acknowledgement here on this earth there will not be anything left in glory. So what excuses are getting in the way of your destiny here on this earth? Anyone getting me?

Hey, speaking of excuses, I actually got in my walk yesterday :) It was with my hubby, and he doesn't quite power walk the way I do but at least I was moving. I also got up this morning at 5:30 am (boy was that a struggle) to take a walk before hubby got on his way to work. Get this.....it was still dark! Talk about creepy. Even Bailey was watching her tail and a little skittish. The important thing is I did it :) The plus side is that I got to watch the sun come up. That is one hour down. Now if I can only talk my darling daughter into biking with me this afternoon, it will have been a fantastic day! The only thing that would make it better is someone coming to do my dishes which are currently overflowing out of my sink..YUK!

Be blessed!
Steph

If at first you fail, try, try again?

Ok, so yesterday was a total blowout for me. I spent so much time on my blog, that I ran out of time to get in my walk (Bailey was not impressed). I had to go to the eye doctor to get some skin tags removed under my eyelashes. Something I definitely do not recommend for your comfort. LOL I was worried most about the Novocaine. Rightfully so! They stick a needle in that thin eyelid.......hurties!!!! Then they burned the skin tags off. Have you ever smelled your own flesh being burned off? It was not nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok, sorry for the medical review there. I'm still a little puffy under my eye, but it's not really hurting me at all this morning.

Yesterdays food journal doesn't look very nice either. I don't think grilled cheese, cookies, and bottlecaps are on my "can have" list. On the upside, I ate yogurt. LOL Today is a new day! Carpe diem right? So, I'm going to seize the moment. Gods mercies are new EVERY morning. In the words of winnie the pooh....Tut, tut, it looks like rain. I'm not going to let that stop me. I read the devotional this morning from proverbs 31 women. It talked about not letting excuses get in the way of what God wants to do in us and through us. If you want to read it, you can go to http://proverbs31.gospelcom.net/dailydevotions/dailyDevotions.php Click on todays devotion, and it is called "Born to Run". I will tell you what.....God is so awesome. It always seems that whatever I am going through, or trying to accomplish, this devotional is right on the mark. I teach Bible study on Wednesday mornings at my church, and I usually have at least one devotional from P31 that totally fits in with what I am teaching. Who says our God is not alive and active in this world today? I serve a living God!!!

One more thing to share. My husband just called me a few minutes ago and said, Hey, I just won tickets to a Sanctus Real concert with 10th avenue North. I was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited!!! Next Sunday I will be going to see them *jumping up and down with excitement*. I always love going to concerts because it gives you such a better perspective about the groups songs when they share in between. I think the first concert I went to was a Jennifer Knapp concert. She was so awesome! When she shared, you could really sense her heart for God. It just gives you a new spin on the meaning of her songs. I'm telling you, if you get a chance to go to a concert, you will not be disappointed.

Be blessed, and be a blessing!
Steph

Hot for the holidays

Ok, here we go....I have been soooooooo very bad about my eating habits. Toooo bad. I'm about to cross a barrier with my weight that I am kicking and screaming about. I've been half-heartedly making attempts, but last night's pizza, soda, and slurpees are haunting me. UGH.

In comes Hot for the holidays! Starting today, I am going to making a stronger attempt to avoid those butt enlarging things that I shouldn't be having. LOL I have been doing pretty good on the exercise homefront, as my dog has way too much energy. If I don't walk her, she pretty much bounces off the walls. I also got a bike a week or so ago. I LOVE to ride. Who would've thought? I used to avoid the stationary bike at the gym like the plague.

So, here are my thoughts.....

I will try my hardest not to eat after dinner.
I WILL fill out my food journal honestly.
I will try to exercise every day, but will be happy with five hours a week.
I will cook more at home.

Oh my goodness! These are the same things I have failed at doing in the past. *sigh* Lord help me!

So who's with me?

Taking the plunge

Ok, I did it......finally. I'm taking the plunge. I vowed not to do this, but here I am. I'm blogging *sigh*

I guess the first step is to go out on the limb before the dive, and introduce me and my clan. My name is Stephanie, I am a wife to Shawn of 13 years. I am a mom to a beautiful dancer, Jessica, 8. Mom to my puppy baby Bailey, who is part Border Collie and part Lab. Smart as a whip and trouble to the max. If only I had a little of her energy, I'd be doing good. We live in the suburbs between Allentown and Philadelphia Pennsylvania.

So, the third week of school started this morning. I did not want to get out of bed. We have been letting the puppy sleep with us in bed. I don't think that is going to last much longer. If she is not rutching around, she is licking or biting herself. No she doesn't have fleas, just sensitive skin. I did not sleep well. Daughter gets up, and plays with the dog instead of getting ready for school. I swear I should lock up the dog in the morning till she is ready. Five minutes to the bus, she is still eating. She has written me a love note on a napkin with......a permanent marker. Yep, you guessed it.....bled through onto my wood table. UGH. Thank you Lord for soft scrub. Yes, it came up. How can you be mad at a love note bled through onto the table? Clearly a good deed gone awry. Gotta love that girl. Jessie goes out to the bus stop in front of the house a few minutes before I did. While trying to put the halter collar on the dog, she resists.....screen door wasn't latched right.....wiggled out of my grasp....ran across the street to greet all the kids. Need I say more? BAD DOG! LOL

Let me share with you why I labeled my blog from glory to glory. I grew up in a Jewish household, and was saved at the age of 19. Before being saved, things happened that kids should not have to go through. By God's saving grace, he has set me free from the bondages that enslaved me. That was the first glory. Ever since, it has been one glory to God after another. My pastor put it this way....my trials are as pearls. Each trial has a beauty all it's own, and when strung together, they make a beautiful necklace for all to see. Each glory has it's own attributes that make it different and unique. All the glories strung together will make me stronger, and better able to help others.

I hope to spur you on also, in your journey of life. I have many things to share along the way. To God be the glory, forever and ever, amen.