Fifty!

Yesterday, 50 years ago my parents said "I do." I've been thinking about their marriage and what it has taught me. I kept coming back to three things... love, forgiveness, and most importantly commitment. They are committed to honoring their vows, for better or worse, in sickness and health, for richer or poorer, to love and to cherish. My parents have modeled commitment to their vows and to one another through all their years together. In a world where many take the marriage vows lightly, I'm thankful for my parents example.

My niece and I hosted a simple luncheon in their honor yesterday.  

 

 

 

  

 My prayer is that God will continue to bless their union. Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad! We love you!!

Mrs. Red

I have a new friend named, Mrs. Red. After seeing her from time to time and longing for a better relationship she came into my life this Christmas.

She is an enameled cast iron dutch oven. We are having fun getting to know each other. 

I can already tell this is the start to long and beautiful friendship.  I'm looking forward to all the adventures we will enjoy.

If you have a friend like this, please, tell me all about her. *smile*

Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations... keep moving forward, friends. 

Penny Smart #7: Leftover Makeover

This a place where I share how I've stretched a penny, saved a penny and in many cases spent no pennies.

One of the ways to help meet our financial goals is to have a zero waste, or as close as I can, kitchen. This year you will see me talking about re-purposing leftovers, cooking from the pantry, and making things stretch. 

Christmas Eve we had lunch with the in-laws (Chucks' mom and step-dad).  My mil sent home one and a half of the chicken breast that she fried for lunch.  I decided to use it to make a pot pie.  

Anyway, I cut the meat off into chunks and was able to get about 2 cups.  I sat that in the refrigerator for later.  

As you can see in the pot I could have gotten some more meat off, but I decided to use it to flavor the stock since I only had the carcass of one chicken breast.  I threw in the skin, bits and piece, a carrot, bay leaf, sprinkled in a little garlic salt, and some pepper.  

 

It made the riches, most delicious stock.  It had a ton of flavor from the chicken being fried.  

My sous chef was in charge of peeling and slicing carrots.  She decided they would look better if she used the crinkle cutter. *smile*

Once the pot pie was in the oven  I pulled the rest of the filling out for another use.  The good stuff was out into the refrigerator for later and there was still a good portion of the "sauce" left.  It was placed in the freezer to be used as a starter for soup. 

It would have been a much more frugal meal if I had made my crust.  I haven't had much luck with making a tasty pie crust.  That will be on list to conquer this year.  

This was the best pot pie I have ever made!  I'm sure it is due to making my own stock.  Chuck declared it "plate licking good."  Thankfully he has more manners then to lick the plate.  *wink*

This is the time of year when there are plenty of leftovers.  I'll be back next Thursday with some more leftover makeovers.

Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it. Proverbs 13:11  

It's a great reminder to tackle our financial goals bit by bit. So there you go. I hope this encourages you to do things to save money. The old adage that every penny counts seems to apply more and more these days. I find it's much harder to stretch my pennies into nickles. *smile* I find it encouraging to hear about other frugal adventures and I hope you do also.

Joy in the Ordinary

Look around, really look around and you will find joy... joy in the everyday... joy in the ordinary things.

We brought the New Year in sound asleep.  The next morning was slow and lazy.
Time in the Word as a family.  Our family verse is 2 Corimthians 12:8

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

After a hard, hard 2018 we are holding fast to the fact that His grace is sufficient... always.

New Years Eve morning I hit the grocery store.  By 9 am I had hit both WalMart and Meijer.  The next stop was breakfast where we enjoyed a last meal of sorts.  You see I "might" have a slight Chick-fil-A addiction.  That isn't going to cut it on our debt free journey.  This is what I said about it on my FB page. 

"Dear Chick-fil-A, I love you, but we need to take a break. It's me and not you. Saying good-bye is hard, especially since I really love your sweet tea. The thing is we have financial goals for 2019 and I want financial security more than your deliciousness. It's not good-bye forever. I'll drop by from time to time, just not once, twice or... it doesn't matter how often it use to be... Until we meet again, Wendi"

This was suppose to be funny, yet I had many people putting the sad emoji on this post. Ha! I don't know if they are sad that I won't be eating Chick-fil-A way too often or if they think we are broke beyond affording a meal.  We can afford it, but not if we want to irraticate our debt quickly.  Or at least as quick as we can. 

Slime!  Thanks for the wonderful gift from Grandma. I gave her hard time (jokingly) about it especially when Megan told me it had glitter. 

A simple donut breakfast set out for my family.  I had honest to goodness joy as I set this up.  I can't tell you how happy it made me to feel real joy in the ordinary! 

The first of what I hope many trips to drop off donations.  I got rid of lots of stuff last year, yet I'm still going.  Honestly, I think it's an on going thin.

The first room cleaned top to botom.  Many of the above items were things Megan parted with.  For our pack rack daughter it was a big day!  Her bed was made with Christmas bedding and she so far she had been doing a decent job keeping it tidy. 

Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations... keep moving forward, friends. 

Forward

I can't say I am sad to see a new year begin as 2018 was one of the worst years.  Sure I've had tough moments in years past, but nothing like a whole year of yuck.  Good news is that it's behind me and forward I go.

It's time to put up a new calendar and enjoy a fresh start.  Obviously, you can't erase everything, yet mentally it feels like a fresh start.

This is the year that I am going to keep moving forward.  I'm going into the year feeling better mentally.  I still have my days when I struggle and stress is a big factor with my anxiety.  I am finding that the anxious feeling is coming on less and less.

I set up a breakfast for my family recently.  Simple donuts and milk.  I went to Chuck later and told him that I felt real joy in doing that task.  It's been a long time since I felt that kind of joy.  I can feel that I am moving forward and I'm so thankful!

One of the big things last year is that we accured quite a bit of debt.  Both of our vehicles needed to have their transmission rebuilt.  Our furnace went out and we had to purchase a new furnace and air conditioning unit.  There is medical debt from where Chuck injured his ankle and debt from where Megan had to have some heart testing. We took a vacation that I knew we couldn't afford. We were eating out a ton and I knew things were a mess.

I spent a morning going through each debt and making a list.  Seeing those figures in black and white, totaled up was shocking.  You see,  my state of mind last year lead to an I don't care mentality.  Bad, bad, bad as it lead to overspending, using credit, and not keeping good records.

I told Chuck that we needed to talk so we jumped into his truck (that I affectionally call Trusty Rusty *smile*) and headed through the Chick-fil-A  drive thru.  We grabbed drinks and then found a parking lot to sit in.  I handed him the list of debt and then waited,  To my surprise he took it all with grace.  He accepted responsibility for his part.  Not saying no to eating out or questioning my spending.  Also for not taking over the finances when I was at my worse and asked him to. We both know that we have played a part in our financial disaster.

All of that to say that we will be changing our spending as we start our debt free journey.  We've played at it in the past, but haven't had the desire or amount of debt we currently have. I haven't decided yet if I am going to share our total debt.  I might start by sharing our lowest debt in the sidebar.  Then I will update it as we pay it down.  In the end you all will know our debt total.  I have been talking about frugal living and then I bottomed out so it is hard for me to share how far we fell.  I may get more comfortable sharing as we embark on our debt free journey.

As I move forward I am going to take better care of me.  I don't mean that in a selfish way either.  I need to get my weight down.  Before I started taking anxiety medication I was self medicating with chocolate.  I know that it will be a long and hard journey, but I need to change so that I feel better.  I also need to make time to spend in the Word.  Not a quick read, but a quiet time to meditate on what I am reading.

I need to be in the Word so that I can see God's plan for me as a homemaker, wife, mother, and most importantly a child of God.  I feel like I bought into the world telling me that I need to spend, I need to keep up with trends, I need to vacation like every one else, live like everyone else, and basicly allowed all of this to make me feel like I was unworthy.  I can now see that comparison and buying into the lies of the world did not bring me happiness.  In reality it brought me to my knees. As hard as it has been, it might not have been a bad thing as it has changed my mindset.  I can now see that God will use the hard to mold and change a person.

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12:2

Another change is going to be in my home.  I plan to declutter again and I have a project or two planned.  Very frugal projects like painting and changing up decor (with items I aleady have).  I also plan to get back to basics.  Monthly/weekly menu planning.  Cooking more from scratch and lessening our food waste.  Last year was bad! I'd like to increase my pantry stock.  I also want to developing some new routines. All in all I want to make changes for my home to once again feel like a haven.

I am hoping to post regularly, but I won't guarentee that it will happen.  I love blogging and reading blogs, yet I love my family more. I don't feel like I was truly present last year and moving forward that will be my number one goal... more time present with my family.

I am ready to see what 2019 has in store.  Ready, set,.. keep moving forward! Happy New Year, friends!

Tidings of Good Cheer

We've had a fun, full month leading up to Christmas. The day after Thanksgiving we had our traditional Rudolph pancake breakfast before the decorating began.

No great decorating pictures this year.  We put the tree up, added lights and realized that we needed a new tree.  It was literally raining needles.  Oh, what a mess it was!  

Of course there has been shopping trips.  It's fun to shop with Megan.  (Well, most of the time.)

Our last shopping trip involved a trip to the mall.  We stopped to listen to the piano player and enjoyed the department store display. 

Cookies have been made and enjoyed. 

Me and my sidekick.  I know many who talk about missing their children when they were younger.  I enjoy all of the ages.  I find the independence and know how of a twelve year old to be fun when doing things together. 

We are slowly getting settled in our new church.  We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas program.  

There has been evenings spent out and about looking at lights.  The window display at a local antique mall is by far my favorite. 

Saturday we ventured south to a little town with an old time candy shop. We went to watch candy canes being made. Fun!

Our first family gathering will be tomorrow afternoon.  This afternoon was spent getting the goodie trays ready to go.  

All the cards are sent, presents are wrapped, treats are baked and most importantly my heart is in the right place as we celebrate the birth of our Savior.  I'm thankful for all of you who stop by and read my little space on the web.  

From my family to yours.... Merry Christmas!

Christmas Cards

One of my favorite things about Christmas is Christmas photos/cards.  I love to send them and receive them.  I call them happy mail.  I will be sending our 2018 Christmas greeting the first of next week.  If anyone would like to exchange cards then shoot me an e-mail with your information.  

Wendi_HeartisHome@aol.com