Sometimes It's the Little Things

Last week was pretty frustrating.  Though my laryngitis was all cleared up, my back had gone out and was super achy.  Plus, I had apparently pulled a leg/groin muscle, so I found myself limping around.  On top of all that, my week started out with dental work bright and early Monday morning.  The dentist had numbed the left side of my mouth/jaw/lips, and it took several hours for the numbness to wear off.  It then took several days before my jaw stopped aching and I felt like chewing again.  I think my men were tired of soft food for dinner all week.  :)

Danny had also just gotten his driver's license, so I no longer had to accompany him to school three days a week.  I had all my time at home again!  I was able to spend time with Joe and Thomas, able to do laundry, and bake bread, and blog, and just be in my home base again!  But, although I was home, I was terribly limited.

I decided to at least take pictures of things I needed to do throughout the week, and then do them--even if they were piddly things, they still needed doing.

First, Fernando had asked me to fix a rip in his shirt.  He had said it was along the seam, so I thought it would be quick and easy.  Well, it had ripped along the seam but also into both sides of the seam.  I got creative with the needle and thread, and thanked the Lord that it was near the armpit so no one would see it!  (It was a brand-new shirt, too.)

I also cleaned off my project desk, which had gotten piled up with, well, stuff.  Our master bedroom is the "black hole" of the house, collecting stuff that has nowhere to go.  No before picture, but the after shot makes me feel good.

I also cleaned off our dresser, which also tends to get piled up with stuff.

One day, I decided to tackle the laundry.  I don't usually let it mound up, but it had gotten bad last week!

My "daily docket" (below) really helps me prioritize my day.  It is where I write down a rough "sketch" of the day, hour by hour.  I list all the items I have to do.  My docket allows for ten to-do items--I never get them all done, but I list the top three items under MITs--Most Important Things--to make sure at least those three get done.  This also helps me see, day by day, that I'm accomplishing things!  (I created my daily docket based on Tsh Oxenreider's example in her book, Organized Simplicity.  Excellent book, by the way.)

The last thing I actually accomplished was the filing.  Yep, it stacks up in a pile on the bottom shelf of our bookcase, right on top of the books!  At some point when I'm tired of looking at it, I file it.  At least the stack was small this time.  Paperwork seems to be my nemesis.

The filing got done, as did the laundry and other items above.  Even though some of the to-do's were everyday chores, I was glad I had gone around and photographed things, even if it was just the "before" photos.  I feel better now.


Back to life,
Christine

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Tea Talk -- Rejoice and Rejoice!

Welcome to my home for Ruth's Tea Talk!

Sit and share a cup of tea with me as we encourage each other in the Lord.

To participate, click on Ruth's button above.

I'm having...a cup of Trader Joe's Irish breakfast tea in what has become my regular morning mug.

Yep, it's a "Grad" mug!  Danny received it this past June as a high school graduation gift, and he doesn't drink coffee.  Or tea.  It's a pretty hefty sized mug--I guess they figure those college kids really chug down lots of coffee!  It's a great size for a big mug of hot tea in the morning.  So it's my new "regular."

I'm feeling...better, in a few different ways.  Last week I had laryngitis, which is finally gone.  This past week, I had dental work done on Monday morning, and suffered the lovely after-effect of an aching jaw for a few days.  Needless to say, I haven't eaten much lately!

 The front porch garden in autumn

On my mind...is new-found time!  A few photos will explain:

Danny got his driver's license!  I'm thrilled for him.  A few hours after he got it, he was driving away to biology class, and I was left behind.  I was slightly anxious but felt amazingly FREE.  :)

I leave you with...a passage of Scripture that my dear sister-in-Christ and I studied over the phone a few days ago.  What a treasured time of in-depth word study we had.

The LORD your God is in your midst,

A victorious warrior.

He will exult over you with joy,

He will be quiet in His love,

He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.

Zephaniah 3:17 NASB

Because it's so amazing, I'll type it straight from the Hebrew (interlinear):

Jehovah your God in your midst (is) mighty.

He will save He will rejoice over you with joy.

He is silent in His love; He rejoices over you with a shout of joy.

The first rejoice (Strong's 7797):  to exult, rejoice.  Translated delight, exult, glad, rejoice, rejoice greatly.

The second rejoice (Strong's 1524):  a rejoicing.  Translated exultation, greatly, joy, rejoicing.  From #1524--to rejoice, translated cry, exult, glad, rejoice.

From the dictionary:

• exult:  to show or feel a lively or triumphant joy; rejoice exceedingly; be highly elated or jubilant.  To leap, especially for joy.
• delight:  to have great pleasure; take pleasure.
• rejoice:  to be glad, take delight.  To make joyful; gladden.

Sorry that's so long!  If you skipped over it, that's fine, too.  The Bible verse is complete in itself!  But the in-depth word study is amazing, since we're not the ones who are doing this action.  God is.

The Lord is exulting over me.  With joy.  He is showing a lively and triumphant joy over me.  He is rejoicing exceedingly over me.  He is highly elated and jubilant, even to the point of leaping, over me.  He is taking great pleasure, gladness, and delight, in me.  Me.  This lowly sinner, a teeny-tiny one of over four billion people, not accomplishing great things for Him, not one of astounding faith.  But the Lord acts this way over me, His child.  I am simply amazed.

Honeybee in my backyard

Back to life,
Christine

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An Apple Update!

Boy, I haven't blogged in a while!  If it weren't for my Tea Talk posts, I wouldn't have blogged at all!  I had uploaded some photos from October, then never created posts for them.  So I guess I'll have to play catch-up now...

Back in October, we went to pick apples with church friends.  So we had all those apples sitting in our basement, and I knew I better process them quickly.  The M. family, with whom we spent most of that day picking apples, came over to watch me make and can applesauce.  The girls had not canned before and wanted to see how it was done.  I was so blessed to have them pitch in and do some of the work!  Here's the story...

Joseph, my very willing kitchen helper, and I started the peeling process early that Saturday morning.  I love my Pampered Chef apple peeler/corer/slicer.  It made fast work of all my Jonathon apples.  We put the slices in water with lemon juice added while we prepared the rest of the ingredients for pie filling.

Once I had enough apple slices for one pie, I drained the apples and placed them in another bowl.  Then I dumped in the cinnamon/sugar mixture Joseph had prepared, plus cut-up butter pieces.  Stir well!

Then we poured the apple pie filling into gallon-sized freezer bags.  To get as much air out as possible, I tried a neat trick which really worked.  Once the filling is in the bag, seal almost all of the zipper seal.  Insert a drinking straw and continue zipping until the straw is snug.  Suck out as much air as you can, then remove the straw and quickly seal the rest of the zipper seal.  It's almost as good as a vacuum seal, and the bags store nice and flat in the freezer.  We ended up with eight bags of apple pie filling.

The M. family helped me with the applesauce and canning portion of the day.  My arm got tired of stirring, cranking apples through the food mill, and stirring again.  I'm afraid I burned the applesauce, too!  Kelle was such a dear to help stir, crank, and stir some more.  She blessed me big time!

I sure hope the M. ladies learned as much in the same quantity as I was blessed with their help!  The first batch of jars came out of the canner sticky and messy, so I was surprised when they all sealed nicely.

The next day, after Sunday church service, I gently rinsed off each jar under lukewarm water, then dried them off.  Don't they look pretty all sitting in rows?

Blessings from that canning day:  help with apple peeling and pie-filling making, friends to visit with, ladies in my kitchen, help with canning, teaching and learning opportunities, 17 pints of applesauce put up for winter, satisfaction from a hard day of kitchen work...  Thank You, Lord, for all the blessings of the day!!


Back to life,
Christine

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Tea Talk -- Till Your Land!

Welcome to my home for Ruth's Tea Talk!

Sit and share a cup of tea with me as we encourage each other in the Lord.

To participate, click on Ruth's button above.

I'm having...a cup of Trader Joe's sipping chocolate in my Gibson white china cup.

I'm feeling...speechless.  (I know--huh?)  For those who have spoken to me in the last five days, you know that I have laryngitis.  I'm just starting to get my voice back again, so it's scratchy, low, and husky.  (My husband keeps asking me to say something in French.  *wink*)  I feel fine otherwise, except for a little scratch in my throat every now and then, and I get tired in the afternoons.  Not too bad for a cold, I guess!

On my mind...hmm.  I just finished editing images from a photo shoot several days ago.  I've gotten a lot of little things done lately, and today seems like a day to check off more items from my list.  Thursdays are my stay-home days, when I don't have to go anywhere, take anyone anywhere, or step out of the house.  And that's a very nice thing as the weather turns colder.  I do have to run out this afternoon--non-driving boys have dentist appointments--but I'm hoping to just plug away at my to-do list and get things done!

I leave you with...a Proverb I read yesterday that impacted me:

He who tills his land will have plenty of food,

But he who follows empty pursuits will have poverty in plenty.

Proverbs 28:19 NASB

After having canned much of my garden produce throughout autumn, this verse is especially meaningful to me.  No wonder I feel satisfied about having stocked my shelves for my family's benefit!  But more deeply than that, I think this verse is talking about being diligent about the work that the Lord has given me.  It's so easy to become distracted with computer games, reading (pleasure) books, Facebook, and even blogging (!), that I neglect the area over which the Lord has given me jurisdiction--my home.  Maybe this is a not-so-light post for Tea Talk today, but I hope that these words encourage you--as I am encouraged--to be about the Lord's work today!

Sunset on Lake Bonaparte

Back to life,
Christine

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Tea Talk -- In Peace

Welcome to my home for Ruth's Tea Talk!

Sit and share a cup of tea with me as we encourage each other in the Lord.

To participate, click on Ruth's button above.

I'm having...a cup of my regular Trader Joe's Irish Breakfast tea, in my regular mug.  I took a [small!] number of photos of my tea mug and cozy from my recent upstate NY "retreat" vacation, and I'm sharing the below one with you today.  My older brother had no idea why I was taking photos of my tea mug; it was very humorous to hear him question my dad! 

See that tall, skinny tree in the upper center of the image below?  That's what it looked like on our first morning at Lake Bonaparte; you'll see this tree again at the end of this post...

It was a chilly morning, that first morning.  But my mug of tea warmed me up nicely.  So did the sun.  Oh, I can't stand it--I'm sharing two tea mug photos today.  I'll save the last of the Lake Bonaparte "mug shots" (and my favorite image) for next week's Tea Talk.  So stay tuned!  ;)

I'm feeling...still full from dinner last night.  We feasted on a meal gifted to us in exchange for flute lessons, and the M. Family sure know how to satisfy a household of guys! 

Leaf on the lake

Before my sweet retreat vacation, I felt a little like the above leaf, adrift on the water and pushed in whatever direction the wind blew.  Even though that water looks still, there was enough motion in wind and water to slowly move that leaf beyond my camera lens.  Now, though, I'm abiding in His peace, and trying to be still and know that He is Lord.  I am not adrift; my anchor holds in Him.

On my mind...my to-do list is shrinking!  Today I have tomatoes on my mind.  Specifically in the form of a 44-quart Rubbermaid storage tote mounded way over its brim with overripe, ripe, ripening, and green tomatoes (from top to bottom).  Today is Tomato Day!  I'm going to attempt to can, in some way, shape, or form, all of the red tomatoes.  Well, I might set aside two or three beautiful ones for a salad.

I leave you with...a few verses of Scripture that is keeping my heart steady today.

You have put gladness in my heart,

More than when their grain and new wine abound.

In peace I will both lie down and sleep,

For You alone, O LORD, make me to dwell in safety.

Psalm 4:7-8 NASB

Remember the tall, skinny tree in the first photo above?  I took another photo of that tree just four little days later, before we left the beautiful Adirondack foothills.

Four days and the handiwork of God

Back to life,
Christine

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A Hearty Soup for Autumn

"There is rhythm to being a farmgirl.

It is the rhythm of working hard when there is work to be done.

It is the rhythm of finding joy in the "doing" of the work.

It is also the rhythm of slowing down to enjoy each moment."

Rene Groom

I'm linking up with Lori's Friday Farm Girls @ Heart today.

I thought I would post a recipe today.  I'm feeling cold, and rightfully so--the thermometer has been in the 40s and 50s whenever I've checked!  Still, there has been no hard frost yet, which is good because I still have a few herbs in the garden to process!

With the cold days, and especially with the wind that has recently been howling, it's a great time to break out the soup recipes as I plan our family's weekly dinners.  This particular soup is one of our favorites, and just by looking at the title, you'll be able to tell why my guys love it so much.  It's also very easy to make.

This soup can also be healthy with just a bit more planning.  Dry beans are cheaper and healthier than canned, so plan this soup a day in advance so you can soak the beans overnight.  When I soak and prepare my beans, I double the amount I need, because you can freeze cooked beans!  Then the next time I need beans, or make this soup, I can simply pull the beans out of the freezer to defrost.  Healthy, and easy!  We've put up lots of tomato products for the winter, so it's easy to pull out those jars for the spaghetti sauce.

No matter how you make it, it really is a quick recipe.  My boys make this on their own, which frees me for other things instead of meal preparation.  Like blogging.  :)


Easy Taco Soup

1 pound hamburger, cooked and drained
2 cups water
3 cups spaghetti sauce (about the size of a typical store-bought jar)
3/4 cup dry beans (soak overnight, change water, simmer until soft; substitute 1 can beans, drained)
1 packet taco seasoning mix (we use 3 T of our homemade taco seasoning)
1 T chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix all together and simmer for 15 minutes.  Serve with cheddar cheese, sour cream, and other taco toppings if desired.  Also may serve with tortilla or corn chips.

She rises also while it is still night

And gives food to her household

And portions to her maidens.

Proverbs 31:15 NASB

Back to life,
Christine

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Tea Talk -- The One Who Holds My Hand

Welcome to my home for Ruth's Tea Talk!

Sit and share a cup of tea with me as we encourage each other in the Lord.

To participate, click on Ruth's button above.

I'm having...a cup of my regular--Trader Joe's Irish Breakfast tea, in my regular mug.  I took several images of my Lake Bonaparte mug from earlier October when I went on a special trip with my parents and older brother to upstate New York.  My parents travel there every fall to enjoy their lake house one last time, see friends and family, participate in a Columbus Day cook-off event, and get their house ready for winter.  My brother Matt and I tagged along this year to help them, and to make some special memories of our own.

Morning tea on the back deck at Lake Bonaparte

There's my mug!  I claim it for my personal use whenever I'm at the Lake.  It's a tall white mug, with a blue Giants football helmet on the side.  My mom crocheted a cozy which ties around the handle.  I like both the size and the cozy, and it's great for a nice mug of tea in the morning--especially an autumn morning!

I'm feeling...renewed, refreshed, and relaxed.  That was the whole point of my trip to the lake.  I was so overwhelmed with the hectic and rushed feeling of life; I felt swamped and not able to stay afloat.  The Lord orchestrated this trip to renew my soul and calm my spirit.

Our little piece of the Lake

On my mind...even though scads of issues continue to wait for me to handle, life is not so overwhelming right now.  My anchor is resting firmly in His Word and His Life and His Love.  A few weeks ago, I created a "Daily Docket" for each day to help me accomplish those things that need doing today.  I'm using my daily docket to help me get things done--today will be processing the rest of my garden herbs, going to Costco to stock up on a few items (and to get dishwashing detergent--we've been handwashing for two days!), and concentrating on helping Thomas write a report.  There is lots of other stuff on my mind, but I'm focusing on today, and today only.  :)

 In the garden at the Lake

I leave you with...I was reading Psalm 37 in my devotion time yesterday, and I was refreshed all over again!  I will share just a portion here for you.

The steps of a man are established by the LORD,

And He delights in his way.

When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong,

Because the LORD is the One who holds his hand.

Psalm 37:23-24 NASB

But the salvation of the righteous is from the LORD;

He is their strength in time of trouble.

The LORD helps them and delivers them;

He delivers them from the wicked and saves them,

Because they take refuge in Him.

Psalm 37:39-40 NASB

Autumn sunset on the Lake

Thank You, Lord, for Your precious peace!  Thank You for Your strength and Your promises.  Thank You for Your hand in mine that will never let me go.


Back to life,
Christine

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