Laundry Signals

Hi Mamas. I have some sad news. My dryer caught emphysema and died a couple weeks ago. It was painful for all of us, especially when my children had to hall loads of clean wet laundry around the corner to their cousins house to borrow their healthy dryer. Those three days were long ones. But it's okay, no condolences needed, we're over it now.

Why the callous attitude, you say? Well this new dryer has revolutionized my life, and I'll tell you why.

First let me introduce you to the beast. Let's call him Sal. As you can see Sal has is a lovely shade of...tan. So pretty, right? He's not much to look at for sure, but he does work!

Sal came to us from the garage of some wonderful friends who live a couple blocks from us. Sal was peacefully waiting for a new family to take him home and put him back to work. Our friends picked Sal up at the Sal-vation Army thrift store for about ten bucks sometime in the mid 90's (make note of the red Salvation Army sticker Sal still wears). Where Sal was prior to that no one knows.

 

Sal has worked hard for many a year, and after his rest in our friends garage, he was ready to get back to work drying our jeans and socks and sheets and softball uniforms. Sal's barrel is smaller than my old machine and this was quite a bummer of a realization when I discovered we'd have to wash smaller loads in order for them to dry in one load. Grateful to not have to tote laundry somewhere else or make a hasty purchase I wondered how I'd stay on top of all the laundry my household generates.

On the plus side, Sal was state of the art back in his prime. Made by General Electric, Sal is a Five Cycle Dryer with Automatic Dryer Control - Extra Care and Signal. Did you catch that? Signal. Translation. LOUD BUZZ noise at the end of the cycle. Now this isn't a new feature to me. My old dryer also had an alarm. It was an awful sound and like most of you, it was turned off. And here's where Sal has changed my life. Sal's signal can not be turned off until you open the door of the dryer!

At first, I was not thrilled about this new sound merging into our lives. I can no longer throw another load in before bed, because the signal will wake the household. This was really going to cramp my style! But Sal just isn't the cramp-your-style-kind.

I had always thought I was pretty on top of my dyer cycles. I listened for that low rumble sound with the clicks and clinks of the clothes spinning in the dyer and when it had stopped I'd change over a load. Efficient, right? Wrong! I have discovered with Sal's immediate and quite alarming signal, I change over more laundry in a day. So much so, I haven't had dirty laundry in the two weeks since Sal was installed in my laundry room. I find myself searching for towels and changing sheets much more often than previously, simply because I have an empty washer and dryer.

And there you have it. Laundry revolutionized. So today, on this sunny Wednesday, I challenge you to TURN ON the dryer signal. If your dryer is too far away to hear it, use a kitchen timer. Seriously. It will change your life. At least your laundry cycles!

Cooking Tips

1. Freeze your meat in marinade in a freezer bag. Saves one step when you pull the meat out to to thaw!

2. Trader Joes is your secret weapon. {Seriously, we could do a WHOLE other post on just Trader Joe's...hmmm...maybe I will!}

3. Don't use taco or ranch seasoning packets - they all contain MSG {which is a no no!} Instead make your own, keep it in a jar and use as needed. {Here's a launching spot if you want to try this - I've made my own taco & chili seasoning for over two years now! All Recipes Taco Seasoning I}

4. Put your avocado in the fridge to stop {or slow down} the ripening process.

5. Try cooking beans {black or pinto) in the crockpot, then freeze in ziplocks to use later. Blend to make refried style! {I have not yet done this, but its on my list, tutorial anyone?}

6. Put a layer of sour cream on your quacamole in the fridge to stop the browning. {Someone was hankering for some mexican food when we wrote these lists!}

7. Save water from boiled chicken for cooking rice. {This gives the rice a little yummy seasoning!}

8. Use a tea infuser for dusting cupcakes with powdered sugar.

9. Basic White Sauce: saute 1 tbsp flour with 1 tbsp butter, then add 1 c. milk. From here you can add other spices, cheese, wine or whatever flavor you like. {To make it a little creamier, use heavy whipping cream - Pioneer woman style!}

10. Ready to eat that avocado from #4 now, to ripen it or other fruit place in a brown paper bag on the counter. {For more avacado tips, read this article.}

11. Put parmesan cheese wedges in with your cheddar to keep them moist.

12. Tomatoes will last longer if you store them on the counter instead of the fridge.

13. Want to make your mac & cheese a little more fancy or save a little time? Add some frozen pea's or carrots into the boiling water for the mac noodles.

14. Home Made Red Enchillada Sauce: Purchase a bag of dried chile (California or New Mexico pods). Remove the stems and seeds and put dried chiles in the blender with 2-3 cloves of garlic and about 3 tbsp of chicken bouillon. Slowly add boiling hot water and blend. (Blender should be full) You can add a little powder masa to thicken. {Now that sounds delicious!}

15. Apples and pears turning brown after cutting? Just put a little 7-up on them!

16. To prevent boiling over, place a wooden spoon across your pan. {This totally works!}

Your Tips! Starting with Cleaning...

So over the next couple of weeks I'll be posting your tips on Cleaning, Cooking, Organizing and Saving Money. We collected these this morning at our GUM meeting and I'm compiling them here for you - feel free to send me more and I'll add em in before I publish!

I'm starting with Cleaning Tips - because well, that's where *I* need the most tips! {Can I get an amen out there?}

1. Got dog slobber on your sliding glass or (if you're like me) car windows? Use KABOOM shower tub & tile cleaner to get the slobber off. {Evidently soap scum is similar to dog slobber!}

2. Clean the bathroom when the kids are in the bathtub. {What a great multi-tasking idea!}

3. Clean your floors with a a simple solution of vinegar and water. {Check out this blog for more Vinegar cleaning tips: 101 Uses for White Distilled Vinegar}

4. Tea Tree Oil - its great for blemishes, fungus, small cuts, cleaning and its natural! {Just a dab 'il do ya! Visit your local health food store to pick yourself up some oil from the tea tree!}

5. Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. {Enough Said!}

6. Use cleaning gloves and save your hands from those harsh chemicals. {Keeps your hands in holding shape and who doesn't need a little more hand holding?}

7. Oxi powder cleans cloth diapers {Amen sista! Considering cloth read my rants on it here: JKOsborn}

8. Dryer sheets will removed deodorant marks on cloths. {FOR REAL? I'll be putting this to the test the next time this happens to me!}

9. Faded jeans making you blue? Mrs. Stewarts Blueing liquid (MSB) - keeps your whites from getting yellow and your jeans from fading. {I had to look this stuff up. Apparently according to their website, "Not only does it whiten whites, it also brightens colors and does so without harsh chemicals, prolonging the life of any garment." Amazing right? OR try re-dying your jeans at home in your washing machine. Tutorial found here!}

10. Wood furniture looking a little drab? Just polish it with a little vaseline! {Read here for more uses for first aid, beauty and the entire household!}

11. Baking Soda - clean your dishes, clean almost anything, really! {Check out these tips for cleaning with Baking Soda!}

12. Don't leave your husband to watch the kids for more than 2 hours!

Okay, so maybe that last one isn't {or is} true in your house, but let's remember the spirit of his help and the stage of life we're at. Raising kids is messy! Hopefully you'll be able to implement or try a couple of these tips and find your cleaning duties getting a little more manageable. I sure hope so.

Next blog post: COOKING TIPS!

Pinterest

I'm not quite sure what's sparked the Pinterest craze lately. I've been on Pinterest a really long time now. But almost everyday I hear or read about someone else's less than love affair with Pinterest. What for? It's not like Pinterest is trying to take over the world (wide web).

What's the big deal? It's just another website. Don't get me wrong. I'm an avid Pinterest user, but what I don't get is all the hoopla! You can't hardly throw a digital stone into my blog pool without hitting a blog that's talking about or hating on Pinterest.

The other day I found this pin:

Seems to me we could all use a little more self control. "Whatever is true, whatever is worthy of respect, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if something is excellent or praiseworthy, think about these things. {Philippians 4:8}" If you can't help but send yourself into a spiral of despair and a wretched case of the "Gimmes" while on Pinterest, then by all means, log off and close your account. But I find Pinterest to be much more useful than detrimental!

Beyond the haters are the confused. And though I don't understand what all the discontent is about, I can help those of you who just don't get it.

Let's start with some mental imagery. Imagine a bulletin board in the middle of a wall. On this board you "pin" articles, pictures, website links and the like for all sorts of different things you want to remember or reference again.

Pinterest is an online version of this. Any web image can be pinned to a board. The image carries with it a website link to where it was pinned from. When you want to reference it again, you open the board, click on the picture and visit the link. Simple. Clean. Paperless.

I use to use digital bookmarks. I had so many I had folders for my bookmarks broken up into categories. Some bookmarks I used regularly, links to sites like Hotmail, Cozi, Mvelopes, Google Reader, Facebook and Pinterest. But some of them I was only referencing a few times a month or less. When I was planning an event, say one of my daughters birthday parties, I created a folder with links to ideas, invitations, supplies, games, you name it. Sometimes I printed stuff I really wanted to use or reference again or when the printer wasn't working, transcribed it - blech! This was so time consuming!. Now I use Pinterest for anything that's not used daily.

Alrighty, so now that you understand a little bit more about what Pinterest does and why you would use it, lets go a little deeper into the functionality of it.

When you create your Pinterest account you start by categorizing some board names. Currently I have boards named: Intentional Parenting, Makeable, Bakeable, Holiday, Good to Know, Printables, Summer Fun/Rainy Day. You might have some of the same or 40 completely different ones. Start with just a few, as you start pinning you'll catch on to what needs its own board and can create more at anytime.

Once you've set those up you're going to want to download the Pin It button into your web browser. You can do this by clicking on About and then Pin It button in the drop down menu on the top right of your account screen. Pinterest will give you simple instructions for the browser you're using.

Once that's all done, you're ready to start pinning! the next time you find something you want to pin you simply click the Pin It Button in your web browser, select the board and description you want in the pop up window and Pin It! You can find it on your board the next time you want it.

Once you've got the hang of it, you might start using Pinterest more like a search engine, or perhaps you'd like to browse the things your friends are browsing. When you open your Pinterest account all the pins in that feed are from people you know. You can follow all of their boards, or only some of them, or none of them at all. I have several friends who like to pin interesting vacation spots or beautiful homes. I'm not interested, and therefore I don't follow those boards. But I also have several teacher friends and lots of home-school friends who pin TONS of stuff about lessons, activities and teaching ideas. Some of this gets re-pinned for future use, lots of it I skip.

Pinterest has a search option so if you want a new recipe for a dessert, or a valentine project, you can enter your search and come up with tons of options. Lots of stuff is repeated because its been pinned by more than one person, but its still very simple to scroll through a whole host of search results until you find what you want.

Okay. That's it! Pin away! Go forth and pin prosper. Hopefully, you have a better understanding at least! And if not, you might try watching this video.

GUM Fundraiser!

Where have the months gone?

Wow, too many months since my last post. This blog is sorely neglected - I'm sorry! My only solace is that the group on Facebook is not - lots of action happening there; recipes posted, holiday crafts, reminders, and some general chatter. So I apologize to those of you who aren't on FB and can't access that part of the GUM community. If you are on FB, and aren't part of the community, let me know and I'll send you an invite!

So where have the months gone?

Well, we got our cookbook published!

You can purchase your own copy here. Or if you're local you can purchase a soft cover one in the church office for only $15.

Devotion

You know when you have those moments when you're pretty sure the Holy Spirit is whispering in your ear and you think, oh right, I should do that, and then life happens, and a child calls you and your dinner boils over and then, the nail in the coffin, you forget!? And then lo and behold, the Holy Spirit kind of ups the anti so to speak and smacks you upside the head?

Yea, I had one of those moments this morning. But before I get there, let me back up and start with this. About a month ago I finished a really good devotional book written for moms. It's called, Don't Make Me Come Up There! Quiet Moments for Busy Moms and it's written by Lisa Welch. I think it was the title that actually caught my attention, likely for obvious reasons to you my frazzled mama friends. And so I got a kindle version and I began reading it every day. I had to stop myself from reading more than ONE a day so that I could really savor the goodness of each devotion and lengthen my time in it. But alas, the day came when I finished the last devotional.

I did some research and looked for another devotional and then relented that I'd better start reading the Psalms again because frankly at this stage of my life, a few minutes in his word is so much more beneficial than none. Except I didn't. I didn't pick up my bible or open my NET bible application. I'm sure you've been here before. And pretty soon, I forgot I should be doing it at all.
Until a couple days ago.

A couple days ago that still small voice whispered, "Hey Karen, get back in my word." And I literally thought, "oh, right, I should be doing that. No I want to be doing that." And then the kicker, "I'll get serious about it again after the holidays."

LOL. WHAT?! Wait a minute. AFTER THE HOLIDAYS? What in the world kind of wicked logic is that? But then my kids called me, and my dinner boiled over, and you know the rest of the scenario.

And then Thursday came. GUM day. Blessed, eat-a-meal-and-talk-with-mams-Thursday! Our speak this morning was Dottie McKissik. I've heard Dottie speak before, and if you ever have the chance again, don't miss it - she's fantastic! So here we are: it's Thursday, we're at GUM, with Dottie, and apparently for me, also with the Holy Spirit's two by four! Okay, message received - get back in my word!

I never cease to be amazed at how God works these things together, moving my heart and then giving me the tools to follow through.

Dottie spent time with us, encouraging us to take even just 5 minutes and teaching us three different techniques for bible study. She walked us through these techniques in Psalm 1. Nothing better than learning by doing! So for anyone who missed it, here's the breakdown of the three methods, try them yourselves this week.


Kathy's Method:
1. What does this verse/passage teach about God?
2. What does it teach about living?
3. What effect should it have on my life today?

The CoW-P Method:
1. Find a Command, mark the verse with a C.
2. Find a Warning, mark the verse with a W.
3. Find a Promise, mark the verse with a P.
4. Circle the verse number you want to focus on today.

Three Questions Method:
1. Make a true/false or fill in the blank question.
2. Make a multiple choice question.
3. Make a thoughtful, personal application.

I so appreciated the reminder: I don't have to have another devotional book to read every day, and I certainly shouldn't wait until tomorrow or after the next busy season of life. I can pick up the best devotional ever written, the Bible, and spend a few minutes going through one of these methods, right now.

Thanks Holy Spirit for bring Dottie, for preparing these words just for me, before I even knew I needed them. May we all take to heart, and put into practice something she shared with us today. Amen.

Hillside Women's Retreat

Two reasons to sign up now for the Hillside Women’s Retreat
coming October 14 &15 on campus.

One: Fresh Perspective and messages geared just for women.
Two: Time to Listen and Extended Worship.

Did you catch that mamas? TIME to LISTEN & WORSHIP.

This hillside COD Women's Retreat is going to be a great way to defrazzle!
So sign up now by calling the church office and plan to attend:
Friday: 6 - 9pm, Dinner included
Saturday: 8:30 - 3pm, Breakfast & Lunch included

You can find more information at the COD website, also make sure you Like the Church of the Open Door Facebook page to stay up-to-date on church events!

Frazzled

Have you ever gone to the grocery store, only to come home and realize you forgot one of the ingredients for tonight's dinner? -FRAZZLED much?!

Have you ever run around the house looking for the straw that goes in the re-useable fair cup, using a loud voice at your kids cause you know they took it off the counter even though you told them not too, finding it after you're already late, only to arrive at the fair and realize the cup is still on the kitchen counter? Oh, was that just me?

Yay, right, ladies! You know you've lived these moments, or ones like them! Right?

Hello? Hello? Am I all alone in this? Oh, wait what's that I hear, a resounding, YES!

I thought so.

frazzled past participle, past tense of fraz-zle (Verb)
1. Cause to feel completely exhausted; wear out.

Does that not sound like motherhood to you?

How about this one, have you ever picked up your prayer journal to realize you haven't used it in the last week? (Or longer?!) Are then you realize you aren't quite sure you've spent any real time in prayer (other than the quick "Lord help me find x, y or z" kind?!) anytime recently?

These are signs of a frazzled life. And I DON'T LIKE IT!

This year in GUM we'll be talking about these things. Focusing on finding peace in the midst of daily life. Because life isn't going to stop for you. Or me. And let's face it we have lots of things going on, loving our husbands, growing our children, maintaining a household, feeding everyone, ministry, etc, etc, etc.

I sure hope you're looking forward to this study - I am!

What's got you frazzled lately?

GUM starts Sept 15th

Calling all GUM Mamas! Mark your calendar, the start of GUM is coming.

We'll be back in our regular Fall schedule starting at 8:45am on Sept. 15th. Start inviting friends! You can pick up a registration form from the GUM table following the 11am service.

Price break-down: $45 - no children, $55 - 1 or 2 kids, $65 - 3 or more kids

Right off the bat, we've got a special Pint Sized Adventure to the LA County Fair on Sept 22nd. More details to follow!!

This year we'll be doing a study called, Victoriously Frazzled. "Victoriously Frazzled will help any worn out, burned out, and stressed out woman understand the Spirit God has given her." We'll have books available for purchase at GUM.

I hope your routines are coming back together after a wonderful summer break!