The Lord’s Table – Day 3

I completed my lesson for today and am on the “half day plan” today. All is well so far!!

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Things That Make You Go “EWWWWW”

This is really really gross so reader beware!!!

Yesterday, Carter was laying in my bed to take a nap. I was sitting there reading and wasn’t facing him when he said “Mommy, come here.” So I turn over and he says, “Smell my finger.” So me, having the insatiable curiosity I have, am thinking he smells like the soap he just used or well, I don’t know what. So I smell his finger and it smells really weird and not a good weird either. He then says “Mom, you just smelled my butt!!”

UGHHHHHH What is it with boys!!! They are so nasty!

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Date Night with the Hubby!!

Carter gets to go to the in-laws to spend the night so Mike and I are going to take advantage of the evening to ourselves. I know for sure we are going to go out to eat. We may see a movie too. We also are going to get myOAMC shopping done. I want to do the cooking on Monday. I’m really excited about this month’s recipes. As I said before, I have found a ton of new ones and can’t wait to try them out. I’m also excited about baking more. I was telling Mike all the things that I was going to try to bake. He’s especially excited about the homemade bread. My goal is to not buy anymorepre -made bread, although because I’m still very new at this, I will probably buy hamburger buns still. I am going to bake bread on Monday, Wednesday’s and Friday’s. Mike can go through a whole loaf in just a day or two – He really likes his sandwiches!!!LOL On Saturdays (after this week that is), I will make up the breakfast pastry and dessert for the week. I may do those more than once a week if needed, but we’ll see. Hope everyone has a great day!!!!!

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One of the Best Inventions Ever!

We got Carter this for Christmas. I’m sure you all have seen it, but it’s so wonderful! It’s called Easy Link internet launch pad. Once it’s activated, you can only turn it off by entering a password. While it’s connected nothing else can be accessed except the specific site that is plugged in. So while the Elmo key is plugged in, they can only access sesamestreet .com. There are some advertisements on the page because it is the actual website you are viewing, but clicking on them gets you no where as do other links that are not related to the site. You can add other keys so they can access more websites. We got Carter the Bob the Builder/Thomas combo. He absolutely LOVES it and I don’t have to worry about him messing the computer up while I’m not there. Another great thing about it…it’s very reasonably priced!!!

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Home Management Binder Almost Done!!

I’m almost done with it!! It’s only taken me about 2 weeks to figure out what I was going to do.

These are the dividers I have used… (Note: This is not the order they will be in the binder.)

1. Entertainment – places we’d like to do, movies we’d like to rent/buy, books we’d like to read, etc.

2. Gift Ideas/Wishlists – obviously I’ll put gift ideas that I have for others here, but also gift ideas for myself, hubby, Carter. Hubby is always confused as to what to get me so this way he’ll have some ideas.

3. Articles – articles on parenting, devotional articles, blog posts that interest me enough to print.

4. Health/Diet – Weight tracker sheet as well as any articles of interest.

5. Carter – School information and anything else I think might pertain to him.

6. Cleaning – All of my cleaning to-do’s and schedules will go here as well as any tips/articles.

7. Schedule – This is where I’ll put my master schedule as well as a list of schedule to-do’s such as making dr./dentist appt.

8. Menu Plan – Here I will have a list of all of the meals I have available at any given time (freezer inventory). I will also keep my pantry inventory here as well.

9. Inspiration – This is where I will keep anything that inspires me to continue doing what I do.

10. Recipes – This is pretty obvious.

11. Cooking Articles/Tips – Here I will put information on food health/tips that I find. I get quite a few cooking magazines that have a lot of neat ideas in them, but I hate to keep the whole magazine for one tip. This will be the perfect spot.

That concludes my HMB!!!!

I know that I have already completed my “Personal Cookbook”, but I’m going to actually combine it with my HMB, I was originally going to keep these separate, but my binder is big enough to hold both for now. As my recipe collection grows, I may split them again.

I’m in the process of charging my camera and once it’s charged, I will post pictures of my cover (which I love- it actually matches my blog banner) and divider pages. I will also post some links that I found helpful in getting my binder put together.

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The Lord’s Table – Day 2

Yesterday went pretty well. I actually woke up this morning and I wasn’t super hungry. I thought for sure after going basically a whole day without eating, I would be starving, but I had a small package of granola bars and a glass of milk for breakfast and it completely satisfied me.

I really like this course. Just in case anyone wants to check it out…

You’ll find it at www.settingcaptivesfree.com
It’s completely free which is wonderful, you don’t find that very often. Also, they assign a mentor to you as well. This person will help walk you through the program and give encouragement and guidance.

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My Personal Cookbook

Well, now that I am home again I decided to get my Home Management Binder (HMB) going again. It really is helpful and it keeps me on track everyday. By nature, when it comes to housework, I’m not very motivated so by using a checklist in my HMB , I can make it into a race and get everything done very quickly. The section I just completed is my recipe section. Obviously, I will continue to add great recipes as I find them, but for now, it’s complete!!!

This last month, I gave Once-A-Month Cooking a go. I have to say that it wasn’t horrible. I was severely unprepared – I didn’t have any of my meat thawed so I had to do it all in the microwave which took probably close to an hour alone. I’m getting down there in meals so I need to start compiling my grocery list and start making a plan. Now that I’m home more often, I want to also want to start making some homemade breakfasts and lunches. I have decided that I’ll keep the OAMC to dinner only and cook breakfast and lunch daily.

I have found some great looking recipes from Bethany.  She has compiled a lot of great recipes from various sites including some great freezer recipes.  I have found other recipes in different books and online.

I’m most excited about some of the baking and bread recipes I have found. I really want to start making our own bread. I have a breadmachine that makes it so simple. I do occasionally use a mix, but that is so expensive. So I have found a bunch of simple (or so I think! LOL ) bread recipes. I’m going to work tonight on putting together a meal plan for the meals we still have as well as adding some homemade breakfast and lunch options.

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The Lord’s Table – Day 1

Well today I have started a program called the Lord’s Table. In a round about way, it’s a weight-loss program. The reason I say in a “round about way” is because the main focus is not to be the weight-loss or the diet, but the focus is to be on honoring God.

The first phase is 60 days long. There are 60 daily lessons along with a meal plan. There are two meal plan options – the one that I have chosen is to follow the meal calendar. This is how it works :

Each week consists of :

–2 Half Days (3 meals with the portions divided in half).

–2 Liquid Days (1 regular meal and liquids throughout the rest of the day).

–2 Normal Days (without overeating).

–1 Fast Day (only water for 24 hours).

Now, you can do this in whatever order you choose, the only stipulation is that you do not put two of the same days together. So for instance you may not do both of your normal days in a row. You may also eat whatever you choose – obviously common sense applies. You also must exercise for at least 30 minutes a day.

I have decided to start this with the fasting day. I thought it was important that I spend my first day focusing on God as much as possible and what better way than to rely on God for my nourishment all day. Honestly, I know it will be a struggle (My tummy’s already growling), but I know God is going to bring me through.

Here is my meal calendar:

Sunday – Normal Day

Monday – Liquid Day

Tuesday – Half Day

Wednesday – Liquid Day

Thursday – Fast Day

Friday – Normal

Saturday – Half Day

The first lesson discusses why we need to make glorifying God our focus. It says that if we are trying to lose weight to feel better, look better, so others will notice, etc. these are all reasons that focus on us – not God.

1 Corinthians 10:31 “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Perhaps God has allowed me to be in this situation so that in order for me to succeed, I must focus and rely on him and truly understand that only through His guidance and His blessing will I reach my goal.

**Update : I’m almost through my first day of fasting. I have to admit, I did have 2 Nestle Treasures, but otherwise, I’ve had only water since basically lunch yesterday. I had a bad headache last night so I only had a SlimFast shake for dinner. It’s been really hard, but I’m doing all right. I have to say that this was a really really bad day to work on my Recipe/OAMC binder!!!!!! Oh well, I’m off to bed to dream of food and am already thinking of all the good things I can have for breakfast.

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Carter’s School Picture

I just LOVE how this turned out – especially since it’s a school picture.

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Mom Overture

This doesn’t have the best video quality, but it’s absolutely worth the watch!! It’s hilarious and so true!

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