Inspiration Sunday

I'm starting a special posting on Sunday called "Inspiration Sunday".  Here I will share things that resonate God's glory and goodness to us.  My father-in-law, who is a pastor, shared this with us, and I just think it is the sweetest thing ever.  It's a little long but worth watching.  Try to watch past the first few minutes becuase that's when it really starts to take off!  She's doing it all from memory!



"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."
Proverbs 22:6

My Boo-Hoo Morning

Well, it's happened.  Everyone's had them, but nobody's proud of them: the new mommy breakdown.  I've been a mommy for 4 months now; 4 wonderful months.  To be quite honest, the first few weeks that are supposed to be the most difficult went so smoothly.  Sure we were a bit tired, but easy peasy really, and miraculously, by 2 months my little guy was even sleeping 9 hours a night.   Fast forward 17 weeks and throw in a stomach flu turned cold that will not let up, and things get not so pretty.  In a not-so-glorious moment this morning I broke down.  Drowning in a flurry of tears and self-pity, I asked begged my husband to stay home.  How could I take care of a baby when I feel soooo awful? He wanted to, poor guy, but couldn't.  So what did I do?  What any respectable girl would; put on some red lipstick and poofed my hair.  Who can cry when you have big hair?  Suddenly  the idea of taking care of the little guy on my own didn't seem so catastrophic.  And of course once I saw the most beautiful smile looking up at me from his crib I felt better.  So that was my morning, hope yours went a little more attractively!

Well, I promised my hubby I would rest any chance I get, so I have to leave you, but not before I share this great tutorial I found!

The ladies over at eighteen25 whipped up this ADOREABLE love notes box.  Love it!

I think you should try it.

Ok. must. rest.

Waking Wednesday #2

Yea, it's Wednesday!  I am so excited to be hosting my very first, second link party!   I'm very thankful to Shantel Price at It's a Priceless Life for linking up her two great creations.  True, she was the only participant, but that just happened to be the case as she shared some bang-up ideas!

Check out these really cute and easy to make fall hurricanes!    The totally look like something out of a Pottery Barn mag.  

She also shared a few yummy recipes her sons loved growing up.   A mom's famous recipes are always the best recipes!

Thanks so much Shantel; keep 'em comin!

Alright, let's get this party started!  Show us what your workin' with ladies! 

Remember:

1.  Link up anything your proud of, just be sure to link back to your specific post so it's easy to find!
2.  If you see something you like on someone's blog, leave them an encouraging comment.  We need to support and edify each other!
3.  If you do decide to link up to Waking Wednesday, I'd appreciate it if you became a follower.  A girl's gotta eat.
4.  Check back the following Wednesday after posting to see if you've been featured.  If you have, grab a button!

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Now, link away!

Save Time and Eat Well!

I can't say that I love cooking, but I do it because I want my family to eat healthy.  And let's face it, when you love eating as much as I do, it's doubly important that it's not all junk.  But eating healthy requires using fresh vegetables.  Using fresh vegetables requires chopping.  Chopping requires time.  Do you see where I'm going with this?  It seems to me that most women (and the oh so rare breed of cooking males) desire to serve their family good ingredients but just don't have the time.  So I thought I'd share my itty bitty prep tip that saves me time and frustration and helps me not waste the whole bag of carrots (even though the recipe only called for two!).  Maybe it's something you already do and that everyone knows about (that's quite possible), but it seemed revolutionary to me, and we wives (and husbands) need to help each other out as much as possible.  

Once you pick out your recipes for the week and get the groceries, I spend a little time one evening (I like Sundays) pre-chopping all of the vegetables needed for the week.  Then I bag them up by recipe in a freezer bag, label and, you guessed it, freeze.  When you're ready to cook just pull out your bag and you're rearin' to go!

Important note!  Be sure to read through the whole recipe to see at what point you need the different vegetables.  There's nothing like having to pick tiny carrots out of a big bag of vegetables because you didn't realize you don't add them until the end of the recipe... all the while your baby is crying...and your chicken is over cooking...and your dog is whining to go out.  I'm just assuming of course, that's never, ehem, happened to me.  At any rate, just bag the carrots separate.  


And since many vegetables come in bulk (like carrots and celery), and you often only use a little of it in one week, I go ahead and cut them up and freeze them too so they don't spoil.  Waste not, want not! 


So there it is, it's not that mind-blowing, I know, but it is useful!  Do you have any time-saving cooking tips?  I'm all ears!


Don't forget to link up your projects to Waking Wednesday!