Meal Planning

One thing I am getting back to this year is meal planning. It helps me to be better organized and to save money. When I take time to do this each week it eliminates that rush and stress at the end of the day trying to figure out what is for dinner, it also eliminates the stops at the store for forgotten ingredients or ready made meals, not to mention take out food when I just give up altogether.

I recently received this idea to help with meal planning in an email from P&G. I thought it was a great idea so I thought I'd share!

Happy meal planning!

Blessings,
Liisa

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A New Year

Happy New Year! 2012 WOW! Time truly does fly...I'm still trying to figure out how Christmas snuck up on me and then flew by so fast it felt like I blinked and missed it! ~smile~ Now here we are in a new year, with a new start. A gentleman at our church pointed out yesterday that each new day is a new start which is so true but I love the start of a new year. It just seems all fresh and new and filled with possibilities.

First of all I must mention that if you do not know Jesus as your personal Saviour PLEASE make that your first resolution. There is no greater joy in life than a personal relationship with God, it changes every little aspect of your life for the better! The Bible says if you seek you will find, so please seek out God today, He is waiting for you! It is so easy. Pray. Talk to God just as you would a close friend, tell Him you want Him in your life, that you want to know Him, confess your sins to Him (no one else needs to ever know those things) and ask for forgiveness. He loves you and wants to forgive you and have a real relationship with you, He is your Father, reach out to him even now. If you do this tell someone! There are many wonderful churches in every area and they would love to welcome you in and help you on your journey. ~smile~

This year I have many things I would like to do. I want, as always, to draw ever closer to my Heavenly Father. To do this I am going to make personal study, devotions and prayer time a bigger focus in my life. Sadly as life presses in and things get busy those things get pushed aside to make way for the things that seem to being crying out for my time...however when I let that happen my soul cries out. I need time with God each and everyday, it is so precious. It really does make all the difference as well in how my days go, in what kind of person I am, how I treat others and how I cope with what each day has in store. I receive a booklet each week at church called Power for Living, on the back cover this week it says...

The Bible is like a telescope.
If a man looks through his telescope he see worlds beyond; but if he looks at his telescope, then he does not see anything but that.
The Bible is a thing to be looked through, to see that which is beyond.
- Phillips Brooks (1835-1893)
I thought that was quite profound!

That is one of the areas I intend to improve in my life, others are working harder to be a better wife and mother. To reach out more with the gospel, to be better at caring for my home and to get better organized. I am also working on keeping my priorities in the right order ....amazing how quickly those can slide around and get all rearranged!

But more on this later!
I hope you have a blessed day in the Lord!
Happy Monday!
Liisa

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A Hectic Month

This has been just an unbelievably hectic month, but a month full of good things like caroling with church family, a beautiful candle light service at church (my favorite part of the year)and baking cookies, cookies and more cookies. My parents just moved into town so that was a busy week preparing for that and then the craziness of moving day ~smile~. I can't forget all the shopping, planning and wrapping that have gone on but I must slow down and take time to refocus and take time to settle down and remember what we are celebrating.

It's about the cross...


Blessings,
Liisa

Cookies Cookies Cookies

Tomorrow evening we are having our annual cookie exchange and this year my neighbours are hosting it. I am really looking forward to it. It is so nice to get together with friends and family. A bonus is that I will bring 6 dozen of the same kind of cookies and bring home 6 dozen different kinds! It really doesn't get easier than that for variety of Christmas baking.

This year I will be making snowballs (recipe here)for it.

This cookie exchange will give me a bit of a head start on my Christmas baking. This year I will be making....

Snowballs
Double Chocolate Mint Cookies
Shortbread
Chocolate Peanut Butter Macaroons
Stained Glass Candy
Molasses Crinkles
Peanut Butter Cookies
Macaroons
Hello Dollies
Cherry Cookies
Thumbprints
Nonpareils
Peanut Butter Cookies
Russian Tea Cakes
Iced Spice Cookies

I like to start baking the beginning of December and make something almost everyday until Christmas but this year I am working outside the home for part of each day so I will have to see how it goes this time. Hopefully enough of each of these will actually make it to Christmas! My men tend to sample and sample and sample some more! Ok.... you got me, I do it too!

I bake alot of each kind of cookie because we deliver cookie plates around town at Christmas to let people know how much we appreciate all they do for us each year. We bring cookies to...
The Post Office
Our local grocery store
The dentist's office
Our doctor's office
The hospital emergency department and the first floor nurses station
Our bank
and
Our pharmacy

This year we will also bring cookies to the seniors home and to each of my housecleaning clients.
This means lots and lots and lots and lots of cookies will be made in my kitchen this year! ~smile~

I guess I better get baking!
Have a happy Monday!
Blessings,
Liisa

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The Best Way to Clean an Oven

My mother in law is a little German lady who worked hard all her life and always had a spotless home. She taught me alot about house cleaning and I thought I would share the way she taught me to clean an oven.

The very first thing is to not let your oven get too dirty in the first place! If you are like me you just put off cleaning it as long as you possibly can, but if you keep after it and clean it often then the chore will be much less messy and will go quicker and easier.

When you do clean your oven be sure to lay out newspapers around the oven on the floor to guard against over spray, also remember to wear gloves. Take out the racks and spray down the oven well the night before with an oven cleaner (remember the door too). Place paper towels at the bottom of the oven door to prevent drips and close it.

In the morning wipe down the oven well using paper towels. Next fill an old container or a margarine tub (one you don't want to use for food or anything) with hot soapy water. Using an old rag wipe down the oven a few times to remove the cleaner residue.

Now spritz some paper towels with vinegar and wipe down the oven one last time to remove every last trace of soap and cleaner and you are done!

This seems like alot of extra steps but it eliminates the terrible smell and white streaks that can appear when you first turn on the oven after cleaning it. Your oven will be clean, fresh smelling and shiny...well worth the effort.

Now all this reminds me that I better get at cleaning my "black hole" of an oven!

Have a happy day!
Blessings,
Liisa

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Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Yesterday morning I woke up to the first snowy day of the year. Nothing puts in me in a more "homey" mood than a snowy day!
It was so very lovely, everything all fresh and white...so pretty! That is until I tried to leave my house and realized that I had put off buying winter boots a little too long! In the spring I had thrown out my old beat up ones and meant to buy a new pair this fall but I just kept putting it off. This meant that I had to go walking in a winter wonderland wearing just a little pair of flats, getting them full of the pretty white stuff, and freezing my feet all because I knew winter was coming and yet I was not prepared.

This holds a bigger lesson for me. There is something we all need to prepare for. The end could come at anytime, any day, any moment. It could be today. We are not told when Jesus will come back but even if He doesn't come soon we could meet the end of our earthly lives at any moment as well. Are you prepared? Have you made your travel arrangements before you take your final trip? Do you know without a shadow of a doubt that if you died right now you would go to heaven?

If you don't please look after that right now, be prepared! It is easy, simply pray asking God to come into your life, into your heart, confess your sins and turn from them. God is faithful and just and ready to forgive no matter what you might have done. He loves you and wants you to live with him for ever. So why not make that choice today. If you have done this please seek out a church in your area and let someone know that you have made this decision to be ready should your end come. If you need help with finding a church or would like to discuss this further please leave me a comment and I will be happy to get in contact with you!

I am now off to enjoy the winter weather!

Have a happy day!
Blessings,
Liisa

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Unconditional Welcome

May a spirit of good cheer, devoted friendship and unconditional welcome be ever present in our home.

Unconditional welcome. I love the way that sounds, I love the idea of it, but do I practice it? Not always. :(

Unconditional welcome means to me being willing to open your home to others at anytime, without any notice and to anyone. (O.k. maybe not burglars and the like *wink* ) Hmmm....not as easy as it first sounds.

Do I throw open the doors and welcome my son's friends into our home and treat them as welcome guests? Do I invite new people at church home for lunch after the morning service? Do I welcome people into my home and make them feel comfortable when they pop by with no notice and my home is less than spotless....sometimes MUCH less than spotless? ~blush~ Do my family and friends know that they can always come by and receive an unconditional welcome at our home?

Definitely something to work on!

There are a couple of other things to keep in mind that I should mention. If your husband does not like having company, or having people drop in unexpectedly then you must honour his wishes. He is the head of your home and it would not be right to go against him for the sake of others.
Also we must keep our priorities in order. God first, husband second, children third, home fourth and then outside interests. We can't let our families and homes suffer because we are constantly busy with company.

Perhaps what I should really strive for in my home is a spirit of conditional welcome. If my priorities are in order and my husband is alright with it then open my doors and my home to others and hopefully be a blessing to them and a light shining for God. ~smile~

Blessings,
Liisa

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