A Repurposed Treasure

My creativity comes back to me for a brief (very brief) period in between having babies, before the next round of newborn fog sets in. I was inspired by some repurposed wood art I saw at a craft fair. There were several things I wanted to buy, but I decided to see what I had laying around at home that I could use to make it myself. I started with an old pallet that one of Dave's business orders came on. I sawed off some planks, soaked them in soapy water, and then nailed them together at different heights. I looked at a painting I liked online and gave it my own twist. This probably took a couple hours total, but it was spread out over several days because the saw and rusty nails would be too tempting for toddlers. It's hard to tell from the picture, but it's almost 2 feet by 2 feet. Two more projects coming! (Maybe. :)

Week of Meals: Classic Favorites

(My apologies, no recipes. Just my list of meals and the shopping list. I made it before I ran out the door to go shopping today. Hopefully recipes will follow...some day. :)

Creamy Green Enchiladas, Chicken Pot Pie, Swamp Soup, Vegetable Casserole, Spaghetti with garlic bread and broccoli, Russian Chicken with mashed potatoes and peas

Make sure you have on hand: flour, milk, bullion, butter

Bag frozen chicken
Small flour tortillas
Cream of mushroom soup
Cream of chicken soup
1 can chicken broth
1 small can green chilies
1 med can green enchilada sauce
1 pkg. of each: shredded cheddar, shredded jack, shredded jalapeño jack
Sour cream
1 pkg spaghetti (to be used for two meals)
1 onion
Green and yellow squash (for two meals)
Broccoli (for two meals)
Potatoes
Asparagus (if you want it for the casserole)
1 pkg frozen peas and carrots
Frozen pie dough
Frozen spinach
Frozen peas
1 can diced tomatoes
1 sm can tomato sauce
Spaghetti sauce
Elbow macaroni
Garlic bread
Dry onion soup mix
Apricot jam
Sm. bottle Russian dressing

With a few more hours...and a few more brain cells

The kids are fed: check. The scrambled eggs are picked up off the floor: check. Peed crib sheets have been changed: check. It’s been another relatively successful day. Except…I’m ashamed to say that “quiet time/devotional” is sometimes not on the list. No matter what excuses I give for it, it doesn’t change the fact that it begins to take its toll on me. Sometimes as housewives we feel a false sense of security in our homes. In reality we know that spiritual battle rages on the home front just like it does out in the world. Arrows of discouragement, anxiety, short tempers, and discontentment threaten us throughout the day. When we take God’s Word for granted, we are essentially fighting unarmed. And we wonder why our best efforts to love our husbands and care selflessly for our children begin to crumble. “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you.” (Col. 3:16) “Set your minds on the things above.” (Col. 3:2) We are commanded to actively wash our minds with the gospel so it can transform our hearts. But how? When are we ever alone, alert, and in quiet all at the same time??

I have two chances throughout the day when this may or may not happen for me: at nap time and at bed time. I’ve been going back and forth, whichever one works better on a given day. But sometimes it’s still just not enough time to reap all the benefits I could out of what I’m studying. I find it more difficult to absorb a profound thought than before I had kids. Since I don’t always have time to absorb a verse in one sitting, I try to put the verse where I will see it throughout the day (hence the pictures of the sink and stroller). Also, while I don’t take my Bible with me everywhere, I do always have my phone with me. Grace to You has great daily devotionals. They are short but deep. Perfect.

While this is on my mind right now, I also see God’s word reminding me not to be legalistic. I am protected by the power of God because I am in Christ. He has already won the battle and I can rest in Him. My quiet times, or lack of them, do not change my standing before Him. But time in His word will enable me to enjoy Him more and serve Him better.

So the big question is: How do you do it? When do you do it? Where, for how long, what do you study…I guess that’s more than one question. I would love to hear some creative and practical ideas…and to know that I am not alone!

How to Make a Rag Rug

This project is completely no-sew! It is a wrapped rag rug. Ends are wrapped securely by overlapping the scraps. The end result is supposed to be rustic and shabby chic, so you really can't go wrong. It's a great project to involve your kids in!

What you'll need: Fabric. TONS of fabric! It takes much more fabric than you think. This rug has a "core" that won't be seen, so use up all your old sheets, towels, curtains, etc. The longer these pieces are, the better. Next you'll need strips of fabric for wrapping. Old clothes work great.

Step 1: Cut core strips. These need to be long. The thickness of the strips depends on how fluffy you want your rug. For the rug in the picture, I cut a queen size sheet into 6 long strips. That got me the thickness I wanted, but it didn't go very far! This rug is 4 1/2 feet across and took the equivalent of about 6 queen size sheets for the core. You can make your rug flatter by cutting your core strips thinner, like cutting a sheet into 10 strips instead of 6.

Step 2: Cut wrapping strips. I cut them about 4 inches wide. If your strips are super thin, your project will take forever. The width of each strip can vary, so don't bother getting out your ruler! The length can vary as well, but the longer the, the better. I tried not to cut them shorter than 3 feet long. To get the most length from a piece of clothing, think of peeling an apple in one long strip: cut the strip around and around, working from the bottom of the garment up.

Step 3: Wrapping. Using a strip of fabric, begin wrapping around a piece of your core fabric. As you wrap, begin to make a coil with the core fabric. As you coil the core, you will begin to wrap your strip in a pattern: once around the inside coil, once around the exposed core. So as you work your way around the core you will keep wrapping once around the inside, once around the outside. When one strip runs out, double wrap the next strip around it for security. That's why you want your strips to be long - so you don't have so many ends to double wrap. When your first piece of core runs out, over lap your next piece with the tail end of the first piece so they get wrapped together.

Tips: Wrap tightly to keep the core from showing, but not so tight that it doesn't lay flat. Start working on a flat surface right away so you can flatten it as you go. The final product will bubble and pucker a little, but it flattens out with use.

Small Victories: The Pantry

Lately when I go to prepare a meal I feel like my mind is a tangled mess. It's not just distinguishing my salt shaker from my baby powder, or setting one timer for meatloaf and one for a crying baby and forgetting which is which. It's not even fishing my measuring spoons out of the toy box. It's my pantry! We have an odd pantry to begin with. The pantry is deep, but the shelves are narrow so there is a lot of wasted space. There are only three shelves. You can see from the "before" picture that I put in a cheap dresser to provide some storage. The bottom of the top drawer fell out, spilling half of the contents into the drawer below and making it impossible to ever close either drawer. The pantry is full of half eaten snacks from when son #2 was born four months ago and we had a lot of company. We never eat snacks. On a whim, I decided to organize the pantry. That's how I go about my house projects these days. My thought process went something like, "I should organize the pantry. Today. NOW." That's because (as you know if you have small children), you have to seize the moment. The kids' naps were overlapping today. It was an it's-now-or-never moment. The first thing I did was clear out all the food we will never eat. I filled one whole trash bag. Then I dismantled the little dresser until just the outside frame was left so I could use it as a shelf. I put my dry baking ingredients in plastic containers and whipped out a few labels with my husbands label maker. Oh, and the bin of rags on the floor on the left is...a bin of rags. They're for cleaning. I don't try to make them look pretty. I had to quicken my pace as I filled containers and grouped like items because son #1 was awake and was picking his way through my mess saying, "Uh oh. Uh oh, Mama." As I stepped back to admire my work I realized how sparse our food supply looks for a family of four. That's because I meal-plan and shop on a weekly basis and I only buy what we plan on eating that week. The only food that's not in the pantry is our cereal and spices. I was proud to show Dave my finished product. As he pat me on the back, my son gave himself a hearty congratulations and an, "I did it!" Making dinner tonight was already easier. It's the little things.

A Simpler Way to Clean

When we were first married, my cleaning cupboard was chalk full of store bought cleaners. Being a “clean-a-holic,” I used them often. Wiping down the kitchen counters with Lysol was part of my nightly routine. I have since cut down significantly on the chemicals I use to clean with. I am a bit of a germ freak, so I had to be strategic about this. I wanted to cut down on harmful chemicals, but I also wanted to be confident in the disinfecting properties of what I used. After having babies, I wanted to make sure the surfaces my kids ate off of were clean – including the floor. That’s when I met one of my best friends: HOT WATER! I said goodbye to Pine-Sol and hello to my new steam mop. Not only does it remove stuck-on messes on the first pass, but the steam is so hot that it kills all bacteria without the use of chemicals. I don’t use any cleaners on my floors anymore - just water. I also use hot water on kitchen surfaces. When I clean the stove top, I boil some water in a tea pot. When the water is boiling, I carefully pour a small puddle on the stuck on mess. Now, it wouldn’t be a good idea to start splashing boiling water all over my kitchen counters just to disinfect them. To disinfect the counters, I spray them with diluted bleach and let it sit for a few minutes. Then I wipe the counters down - with hot water.  A great place to disinfect things with hot water is the dishwasher. I throw my kitchen sponges in with the dishes about once a week, or when they start to stink. They come out odor- and bacteria-free. It makes them last a lot longer. (Sponges are expensive!) I also put toys in the dishwasher, especially bath toys or toys from a garage sale.

I'm always learning and always revising. What's a cleaning product you couldn't live without?

Run, Mommy, Run!

You know how some people wear a lot of hats? I'm convinced moms wear a lot of shoes. You wake up in the morning and slip into some comfy slippers, optimistic for a low key, uneventful day. But before you can take two steps, you're in your running shoes, trying to stay one step ahead of the chaos that's rapidly unfolding under every step you take. You find you have slow down a bit, though, and change into your rubber boots to wade through the spilled milk, exploding diaper, and overflowing bathtub. Now's a good chance to fish the matchbox car and make-up compact out of the toilet, too. But by lunch time you've kissed any chance of being productive good bye and you are in your combat Amazon-trekking boots. You have entered survival mode. If everyone makes it through this day alive, the day will be a success. But it's the end of the day and you have just seconds to yank off the combat books and put on a pair of red heels to look pretty for your husband. At the end of the day, as I contemplate doing it all again tomorrow, I just have one thought: I hope I'm wearing the right shoes at the right time.