Contentment in the Laundry Room

"Godliness with contentment..."

Pinterest can sure be addicting and there is nothing wrong with it....

UNLESS...

You become discontent 

WANTING

or 

CRAVING

the things you see in the images on your screen.

I can sure come up with some wonderful ideas 

for my laundry room.

BUT

Do I have the money and time to carry them out??

Better think twice!!

Some nice linoleum tile on the floor, sheet rock and sponge paint to the walls would be nice with a border to depict laundry. Shelves, cabinets, and wicker baskets, would all add to a beautiful and pleasant look to this room tucked away in my basement. 

BUT

Do I have the money and time to carry this out??

Although Pinterest is fun

and nothing is wrong with it...

Be careful

to redeem your time because the days are evil.

Be CAREFUL

to stay content with what God has given you

BE CAREFUL

to stay under the guidance and submit to your husband in all things!!

BE CONTENT!!

Keeping your laundry area neat and clean

goes a long way to keeping you content.

It is a pleasure to see my laundry all neatly folded

and the ironing done!!

Keeping my hands busy keeps me from being idle.


I want to add a world map so I can pray for missionaries as I fold. I miss the one on the wall in our old house in the laundry/schoolroom. I want to add Bible verses to the wall to meditate on while I fold...but it is hard to find ways to put things onto a cement wall. 


BE CONTENT...I tell myself!! All things in good time as time and money allows. 


Meanwhile,


I will collect ideas to make this out-of-the-way spot of retreat a haven of rest


and 


Fix it up to function well and be content


because


God meant there to be godliness in my contentment!!

Hearts 4 Home Thursdays

I'm an Intentional Homemaker

~Judith~

Spring has Sprung!!

I was sitting at my kitchen table just the other day, looking out the bay windows that stretch across the width of the room. Under the trees I saw a purple crocus poking up between the drab death of winter. Other years they flourished with a backdrop of snow blanketing the ground. This year is different in the northeast and likely where you live also. 

What beauty God has given to my day. What promise. This week has been unseasonably warm. This winter was unusual for where we live, in our woods on top of what I would call a hill...1300 feet above sea level. Winter started off with a BANG in October with an unexpected foot of snow!! The other four winters gave us continual snow from October through March. I remember wading through the quiet woods where not a leaf fluttered to the rug of snow. The snow came to just below my hips that year. What fun we had!! What beauty looking out the windows of our house any direction you looked. 

This year winter ended without the crashing melt-off of sheets of ice exploding into each other at the fork where two rivers meet down the mountain from our home. Instead, this little flower quietly poked its face out of the ground to announce that spring has arrived along with its warmth of 73 degrees!! Warmth not seen since around 1930!!

There are two thoughts that this tiny purple flower speaks of: It reminds me of God's care over my life. As I wake each morning, I should greet the day with a smile and thankful heart for all that God has done to care for me. He has provided me with all that I need much as he does this flower or the lilies of the field. I am busy all day with the duties that each day brings. Too often cumbered by the toil and worries that life sends. How quickly the worries and cares fly away once I start being thankful for everything that I can think of that the Lord is doing in my life. Being thankful even for the 'not-so-seemingly-good' in my life sends the devil packing!!

"And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:" ~Matthew 6:28~

There is a second thought that I have as I look at these sweet little flowers: this little flower will soon fade away, but the word of God will stand forever. It is so important to soak yourself (and myself) in the word of God.  Just as a flower needs rain, so we need the Living water of Jesus in order to grow. You can't expect to be able to last too long without reading God's Word, the bible. Without God's Word, you will wither and fade just like the grass and flower.

"The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever."

~Isaiah 40:8~

These little crocuses remind me not to worry about the day and what it brings. God cares for me more than these little purple flowers poking up through the ground under the trees in my yard. The trees give shade to them just as God covers me with His protective arms.

~Judith~

Linked up at:

Making my Home Sing Monday

Living Well Wednesdays

Homemaking Link Up Wednesdays

Intentional Homemaker

{Titus2}SDAYS

The Sky is Falling

"Whatsoever your hand findeth to do, do it with all of your might!" 

Ecclesiastes 9:10

What do you do when life comes crashing onto your head??

Are you like Henny Penny who kept crying,

"The sky is falling, the sky is falling!!"

Are you calling out in alarm, when nothing is happening??

When a carefully tended task is totally undone by your toddler 

or some catastrophic event, 

WHAT is your response??

That picture shows my flimsy clothes rack where I hang clothes that have been ironed. Yes, I iron. I had carefully ironed the clothes and hung them there when the rack twisted and crashed onto my head and all over the floor!! All that hard work!! All I needed to do was to pick them up...but there are some things that leave bigger messes.  A glass breaking all over the 'just washed' dishes and splintering all over the floor...with  toddlers and little children around are much more daunting!! Muddy footprints tracking through the kitchen, cluttered toys and belongings needing to be picked up can bring a feeling of chaos to many moms.

 What is YOUR response??

What kicks your bucket?? 

What shows you, YOUR spiritual condition of YOUR heart?? What are you going to do about it??

Tonight I made this delicious casserole for supper. I should have known after all the years I have cooked...but sometimes I am just blond!! The recipe called for uncooked elbow noodles to be mixed with the cheese, egg, and milk, and the rest of the ingredients. I just SHOULD have cooked the noodles first!! But I didn't!! It looked beautiful when I took it out of the oven...

but the elbow noodles were as bony as my elbows!! Crunchy too!!

"Plan B"....What am I going to do about it?? I was tired. Six loads of laundry later. Loads of trips up and down the stairs. Loads of other things accomplished. Now this!! What response was I going to have?? I could have yelled at someone. Surely it was someone else's fault!! My righteousness is NOT found in me!! There was a time when these things  would have gotten me upset. God is so good. He is working on me!! My daughter came to the rescue and she made some biscuits to go with the failed casserole and salad. We found some fish in the freezer 

(the boxed kind....<GASP!!>)

We ate the casserole and my dear husband and son liked the crunch of the elbow noodles (how hysterical) and we had a wonderful 'Plan B" meal. 

Is that making your home sing Monday, or what?!

Incidentally, I planned my menu today too...and put some of the recipes that I had found last week into my menu. It took me no time at all on a busy day!! 

Here is the casserole with corrections that include PREcooked elbow noodles for next time:

Macaroni and Cheese Ham Casserole

Plan to Eat

Making Your Home Sing Monday

Menu Plan Monday

All Day in the Kitchen

Have you ever found yourself to be a master procrastinator?? 

It is too easy to never find time for the things that we should do. 

Too easy to never get a round-to-it!! 

I've been there, and I know, you have too...I just know it!! 

Yesterday was a gorgeously sunny day, 

the kind of late-winter day that just wants to say, 

"Hello Spring!!" 

No doldrums yesterday. 

No January blues. 

Spring is around the corner, 

I just know it!! 

Flylady says that Wednesday is 'Anti-Procrastination Day'

So,

It was high time that I got around to making a meal for a friend who had her ninth baby!!

Italian Baked Pasta

Many times we get too caught up with our lives 

with our children, 

homeschooling, 

cooking, 

cleaning, 

or 

whatever 

it is you do with your life. 

It is too easy to allow opportunities to serve 

others 

slip by.

When my children were all little, they would help me. 

Maybe we wouldn't accomplish as much in a day...

but they learned to 'do' for others.

Instead of 'ME' 

Put Jesus FIRST

OTHERS second

yourSELF LAST!!

Don't forget to serve others!!

So, as I got the ground beef simmering on the stove 

and the water heating up for the pasta...

I ground my Prairie Gold grain in my Whisper Mill

Then I let it sponge with the warm water, honey, and yeast

After adding the other ingredients, 

it is ready to come out of the bowl 

and

Rise

I found these unique pans in my pantry. 

They make the cutest little loaves 

that invite someone 

to steal some warm bread, 

fresh out of the oven!!

I was in the mood to bake!!

So....I also made a cake....but it is called a pie!!

I made two since I knew, just knew my kids would snitch!!

One for the family with the nine children and the newborn.

And one for my hubby and children.

Like I said, 

It is a cake,

but is called a 

PIE!!

Mine turned out pretty...but nothing beats 'pretty'

Like Betty Crocker!!

Boston Cream Pie

After all that baking....

WE

Needed something to eat for supper!!

So,

I made Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yum!!

Today is the day 

(don't procrastinate!!) 

that you and I need to be doing good unto others. 

Not tomorrow, so to speak. 

There is a verse that talks about 'reaping what you sew.' 

You know, someday you might be in need and God will abundantly care for you, 

if 

you have cared for others today while you are young. 

My theory is that I need to do today and learn how to become that sort of woman. These things haven't come naturally for me. 

I didn't even know how to cook when I got married!! 

I hope both my husband and I live until we are 90...but there are no guarantees. 

So, 

here is a verse which talks about the things a woman 

needs 

to have done in order to qualify for help as a widow. 

These are things a woman is to do over the course of her life, 

while she is married and younger. 

You form your character 

over the course of time 

through the empowering of the holy Spirit...

don't cram for the test!!

"Well reported of for good works; 

if she have brought up children, 

if she have lodged strangers, 

if she have washed the saints feet, 

if she have relieved the afflicted, 

if she have diligently followed every good work." 

~1 Timothy 5:10~

Is there someone in need?? 

Do you have a need??

Are you downhearted??

If you are any one of the above,

Then think of something you can do for others!!

Do for someone in need and God will supply all YOUR need!!

Even if you are in need, do for someone in need!!

You won't be downhearted anymore because 

doing for others 

is the best way to cheer up!!

"But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in Christ Jesus."

~Philippians 4:19~

~Judith~

My recipes are put together at 

Plan to Eat

This is simplifying my life and bringing order to my

 chaotic pile of recipes that have accumulated 

here and there!!

Today's post is linked up at:

I'm an Intentional Homemaker

Comfy in the Kitchen

Hearts 4 Home Thursdays

Homemaking Link Up Wednesdays

Grasshopper Vision

"And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, 

which come of the giants: 

and we were in our own sight as 

GRASSHOPPERS!!

and so we were in their sight."

Numbers 13:33

If you were a grasshopper hopping around on the ground, people and trees would look HUGE. That is how our problems and situations in life become when we have 'grasshopper vision!!!' Everything is out of proportion and we become filled with anxieties and fears because our vision is so disproportionate!! 

I have been there. Have you??

When my children were all little, I was homeschooling them. There were many days when the tasks at hand were insurmountable and the word 'overwhelmed' became part of my vocabulary. I remember often wishing that I had someone to 'come along side' who would encourage me along the way. Often, God instead asks us to 'come along side' someone else, although we don't have everything together. 

This morning I was reading Numbers 13 and 14 again. Isn't it special how many times we can read a passage in the Bible, yet it is fresh each time we return to it?!

In Numbers 14:9 it reads: "Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defense is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear then not."

When the LORD wants to lead us in a certain direction and we are filled with fear and do not have the courage because of the 'giants' in our life, we are rebelling against the LORD. I don't think I have seen my fear and anxiety over 'things' as rebellion!! I should be trusting the Lord to meet my every need....and if I am not trusting...but I am worrying and fretting...it is rebellion!! I may be worried about the finances, or my children, whatever it is...I ought to be casting all my cares on Him, trusting Him. 

When the situations in our lives loom tall like a giant, it is too easy to forget the strength of the LORD and lose courage. It says in this passage that 'the LORD is with us!!" and "Fear them not." We aren't to fear our problems. 

Many of my years of homeschooling were hard. Just plain hard. I loved homeschooling and wouldn't have had it any other way. Whatever your situation may be with your husband, children, relatives, or ___________, you may find this to be the giant in your life. God wants to help you (and me) with our day-to-day giants.

BUT...we need to have faith....OR...

"And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them? I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation mightier than they."

"And Moses said unto the LORD, Then the Egyptians shall hear it, (for thou, broughtest up this people in thy sight from among them;) And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that thou LORD art among this people, that thou LORD art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goeth before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud and in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night." (Numbers 14:11, 12)

We are not even a good testimony of what God is doing in our lives when we lose courage and fear!!

Too often I look at all the positive verses and although I read through everything, skip over in my mind the ones that bring consequences. I really think in our society today that we skip over the possibility of there being any consequences for our actions should we fail God. It is almost as if we think we can live our life any way that we want. I am not really talking about the big obvious sin that people can have in their lives. It is the seemingly smaller things. 

I have been asking the Lord to transform my thoughts, my thinking. Negative thoughts, discouraging thoughts, anxious thoughts, fretting thoughts, worried thoughts....all these thoughts!! I am asking the Lord to turn my thoughts into prayer, fervent prayer...prayer that blesses both others and myself (just by praising and having uplifting thoughts.) 

"The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression." (Numbers 14:18a)

The longsuffering and mercy of God when He forgives us is the blessing that we may receive when we trust and have faith in God. Our problems are smaller than giants to God. We need God's perspective on our situation(s) instead of the perspective of a grasshopper. Grasshopper vision is extremely limited as all a grasshopper can see is the ground!!

~Judith~

Titus2sday

Hearts 4 Home Thursdays

No Meal Plan?!

Oh no!! It is 5 O'clock and I forgot to take the meat out of the freezer!! Meat?? No meat in the freezer?? FORGOT to grocery shop?!?!?!?!

Ever gotten swept away by what is urgent at that moment...babies? toddlers? teenagers? laundry? a full day of homeschooling? and suddenly (yes, suddenly) realized the time??

It is because of days like these that I try to have a plan. Sometimes my 'plan' has been sketchy and other times over the years it has been loosely planned but yet it is a plan. 

Here is a casserole that I found recently with a few "tweeks" to make it tasty for our family. 

Upside-Down Pizza

My recipes are put together at "Plan to Eat"

Plan to Eat

I am having to remember to cook less!! In the past year-and-a-half our family size has decreased by four people!! There was a time, not so long ago, that I needed to cook two boxes of pasta. Any leftovers would get eaten the following day for lunch. Now, I use half a box and end up with leftovers that do not get eaten!! Someday I will be cooking for two again...and what does that look like??!!

I am "Making My Home Sing Today" by doing the meal planning for this week. It is going to be a very busy week and I think I just better have some ideas for suppers. I try to do this on Friday, but didn't find the time...now I need to get moving and make a plan!!


~Judith~

Making Your Home Sing Monday

I'm an organizing junkie

Meatloaf for Supper!!

This recipe and picture is from my dear cyber-friend Jillian over at "A Joyous Home"

My Husband's Favorite Meatloaf

How often do you read about this or that on a blog or internet but never 'do' it?? 

 When my children were little, they used to watch an educational program for toddlers. They were supposed to 'interact' with the program and toss the ball or touch their toes; but they would just sit like zombies. How often do you also NOT do what you see suggested on a blog, but you have good intentions?? If you are like me, LOTSA times!! 

When I was a little girl, like many of you ladies, I did NOT like meatloaf!! For some reason, my wonderful husband does!! I used to make a delicious meatloaf using Cheese-Whiz with the meatloaf wrapped in frozen bread dough. I used to, because it doesn't work so easily with home-made bread. Well, here is a recipe that I read about and DID!! 

Jillian over at "A Joyous Home" tried this recipe. I hope you hop on over to her blog as she has so much wisdom to share. I enjoyed what she shared about her meatloaf. It happened to have been tasty and won my husband's heart that night!! :-)

I neglected (neglected but did not forget...just didn't get around-to-it) to thaw my meat soon enough and  this recipe was supposed to be cooked in a crock pot. So instead,  I picked up more ground meat at the store (I really, really wanted to make this for my husband)!! Then, I put it in a cast-iron pot and baked it in the oven for an hour-and-a-half. My sweet husband's happy comment was..."Do I smell meatloaf??"...I love surprises, so I would rather not have owned up!!

Later, while we were eating, he said, "this is melt-in-your-mouth-meatloaf!!" He had no idea that was the name for the dish. To say the least, he loved it and those of us who are not big meatloaf fans enjoyed it too!!

I put this week's menu together using:

My Husband's Favorite Meatloaf

Hearts 4 Home Thursday