Merry Christmas!

I will be taking a blogging break to celebrate our Saviour's birth with my family.  We will be enjoying an extended time of celebrating with family, and the kids have off of school until next year!

It is my prayer that you will have a wonderful, blessed Christmas.  As you ponder and celebrate the birth of our Saviour, May you have a happy and healthy holiday filled with the love of family and friends.

Joy to the world, the Lord has come.
Let earth receive her King
Let every heart prepare Him room,
and heaven and nature sing.

(One of my favorite Christmas Songs!)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Blessings,

Happy Birthday!

Happy 12th Birthday, Buddy!  We love you!

Blessings,



The Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY~December 21, 2010
Outside my window... Snow...it is winter in Wisconsin!
I am thinking...how pretty it always looks after a snowfall
I am thankful for...my children.  I read about a fellow blogging mommy who just lost her 22 month old boy.  I also have a 22 month old boy~born just 2 weeks prior to her's, and my heart is breaking for this family.
From the kitchen...lasagna
I am wearing...jeans and sweater
I am creating...nothing this week
I am going...to enjoy this Christmas with our families
I am reading... Bible
I am praying...for guidance on a fairly big decision
I am hearing...little ones playing and watching The Wiggles
Around the house...things need to be picked up and I need to wrap some presents
One of my favorite things...Christmas!  I love so much about this time of year!
A few plans for the rest of the week...A Christmas program tonight for our only elementary school child, a birthday for our oldest son, church on Christmas Eve, spending time together with family this weekend.  We have family coming home from Michigan and we're all excited
Here is picture thought I am sharing...

our youngest daughter at her Church Christmas Program

For more daybooks, please visit Peggy at A Simple Woman's Daybook.  Thanks for stopping by.  Have a blessed Christmas!

Blessings,

Frugal Living~Do It Yourself Dishwasher Soap

Many months ago I found a recipe for do  it yourself dishwasher soap.  I have not bought any dishwasher detergent since.  It is simple to make and only requires 2 ingredients.  The recipe...

• 1 Cup Borax
• 1 Cup Washing Soda (NOT baking soda)

Mix together and fill your dishwasher's soap dispenser as you would with store bought detergent. 

As a side note, make sure your rinse aid dispenser is filled with a rinse aid.  The dishes come out very cloudy and filmy if you don't use a rinse aid.  Another frugal tip...use vinegar as a rinse aid.  I haven't bought rinse aid in years!

Have a great day!

Blessings,

Goals for 2011

Christmas isn't even here yet, and I 've heard people talking about new year's resolutions already.  I don't like to make resolutions~mainly because I've given up on them by the middle of January.  But I have been thinking a lot lately about goals I would like to set for myself and my family.  I like to set goals~things that I would like to accomplish for the year, not just a couple of months (or weeks!).  This is not my complete list, but here are a few things I have been pondering lately.

• Sending birthday cards out each month.  I used to be soo good at this, even having them done at the beginning of the month so all I had to do was send them out as the birthday drew near.  Somewhere along life's journey, I started slipping on this, then stopped altogether.  I love to get birthday cards, so I am going to get back into sending out birthday cards to my family and friends.  We have a couple of birthdays in our family in January already, so I get to start right away.
• Read the Bible every day in 2011.  Every year I say that this is going to be the year that I read through the entire Bible in that year.  I start out with a bang, then life happens and I feel like I'm behind.  Then I'm always trying to keep up and I'm reading just to say that I did it.  I'm not really applying the Word to my life and self, and this is just not a good way to go about reading the Bible.  So this year, I'm just going to say it is my desire to read from His Word daily.  Even if it is only a chapter.  Even if it is only a few verses.  Even if I don't finish the entire Bible in the year.  This is a more realistic goal for myself.
• Monthly date night with my husband.  I really enjoyed going out last week alone together.  It has been years (yes, years!) since we went out without any children.   For several years I have been nursing babies, so the baby went with us.  Or we would take the older children and leave the little's with a babysitter.  While I still think it is good to have alone time with each child, I say we (hubs and I) need to get out alone together.  Even if all we do is go to get groceries, it would be time to be together and talk.  It will be good for our marriage.
• Live healthier.  Everyone has the loose weight resolution, but I want to go farther than that.  Loosing weight is something that I want for myself, but I want to live a healthier lifestyle.  Exercising more and eating better is something that will be good for our entire family.
• Family worship time.  We have devotions together after our dinner, but I would like to spend some extra time as a family reading the Bible, praying, and worshiping together.
• Spend less.  'Nuff said!
• Be more organized.

I'll have the entire list as the new year approaches.  Have you started thinking about goals for your 2011?  Have a great day!

Blessings,