Mrs. Mom’s Blog
One Moment
On a normal bases there is so much for a mother to do. There the cooking and the cleaning. The tending and the mending. There are always things that have to be done. It can get a little bit overwhelming at times and that’s the truth. Yet I am also reminded that there is another truth. God will never put more on me than I can bare. Yes times may get hard and we may struggle, stumble and fall. Do you know what we must remember? There is someone readily available with outstretched arms to pick us up at any time.
It is so hard sometimes to remember that we are not alone, but it’s true. We are not alone in anything. There isn’t anywhere that we can go away from the presence of God. Now I don’t say that to sound cliche. Instead I say that a recognized truth in my own life. I have been through some hard times. Afraid to discuss them I hid and felt alone, but He was there. He was always tugging on me to take a minute to come to Him. I was kind of afraid. I had been hurt by so many people that I didn’t want Him to hurt me too. What I needed to realize was that He would never hurt me. In spite of all that I had ever heard from another individual, God isn’t like that.
He cherishes me. I am special to Him. He says that I am the apple of His eye. Do you know what that does to the life of an individual that feels like everything is falling apart? If not, I’ll tell you. It give them hope. It says that someone cares and that is important. There were times when I felt so small and wanted to give up, but He just won’t let me quit. What a loving God! He always finds a way to encourage me.
Today I want to encourage you to stop and realize that you are loved. You are not alone. If you need anything ask the One who can provide it. He is faithful. I can’t even count how many times He has helped me. There have been so many times where He would just tell me that He loves me. I know you may be wondering what I mean. But in my heart I would hear the sound of the Lord telling me that He loves me. The great thing is that He has enough love to share. He loves you too!
Mom-Moment Encouragement
Can’t Wait
Today my heart is full of so much anticipation. You know what it’s like when you are looking forward to something and it just isn’t happening soon enough. Well, that’s kinda how I feel except that I am about to get started and I can’t wait to we the results. I wish I could say more, but it’s probably best that I keep it quiet for a little while untold things are moving forward a bit more.
What I can say is that it’s going to be great and I can’t wait.
Until next time…
I’m Feeling…
This morning I woke up and I smiled. As I ironed my sons clothes for school and thought about my day, I just smiled more. My husband asked me why I was smiling so big. At first I wasn’t sure. Then I realized it was because my daughter had slept all night. She didn’t get up one time to ask me to put the blanket on her. She didn’t wake up to ask me about her favorite Violet. Since she slept all night, so did I. Not only did she sleep all night, but she didn’t wake me up either. I am so thankful. A full night of rest has done my body good.
In the past I would wake up tired and moody. Not getting enough rest was really taking a tole on my body, so I began to pray and ask God for some help. I just could not figure out how to get her to go to sleep peacefully, stay asleep soundly, and wake up joyfully. It turns out, that was not my job. It was God’s and I am so glad that he did it. I just stuck to the sam routine that I have always done with her and he did the rest.
Rest…the body needs rest. It cannot function properly without it. I would stay up all night and wake up early and wonder why I was moody. Yes, honestly, I was moody. Last night I went to bed early. I had already completed my school work and didn’t need to stay up all night. Now I am able to take some time today to have fun with my kids.
We are going on a nice picnic with some other moms. I have never met them. They are a part of a mom’s group that my neighbor goes to. She invited me out and since I got all of my work done, why not. It should be fun. I am a little nervous about meet the mothers in the mom group. It has been a while since I was introduced to a whole new group of women who already knew each other. I used to attend the mops group back home. I miss some of my friends, but I’m sure that this is good for me.
My birthday and Valentines day are just around the corner. This is always an exciting time for me. I get to start a new year of my life. This is when I normally reflect on the past year of my life. I am so thankful for all that God has blessed me with. He has given me a wonderful husband, great children, awesome family and friends. Not only that, but there is nothing that I honestly have to want for. He provides everything that I need and want. I serve an awesome God. I just really enjoy this time of year because it is a very happy loving time when we all show each other how much we care for one another. I’m not only looking forward to a great weekend, but a great two weeks. Next weekend, we are taking our kids to see the Fresh Beat Band. It should be cool. We all really enjoy the t.v show. They have been waiting weeks to go and I am excited about taking time away where I don’t have to cook or clean. I can just relax and enjoy the scenery.
The other day I received some roses from my father in-law. It was really sweet, but the best part is that he is overseas and thought about me and my daughter. He sent me roses from FTD and my daughter got a teddy bear, that she just loves. This is what I mean. It is the time of year when we all just show each other some love. My kids are even looking forward to the chocolate candy and cards that they are going to get. Love is so exciting…
Wow! I feel GREAT!!!
Creating Stress Free Meals
CREATING STRESS FREE MEALS
From the house wife to the busy executive, everyone has to eat, but most people don’t seem to have the time to slave over a stove for hours to make a meal for themselves and their families. Boggled down with daily activities like meetings, important phone calls, agendas, caring for kids, personal goals, cleaning, and other family or household responsibilities, the last thing that a normal individual has time to do is cook a well balanced meal.
Instead most people end up spend more of their hard earned money on food that they either don’t need or will never eat. The problem is that this lifestyle becomes very expensive when you choose not to meal plan. This is a normal lifestyle for most American families. Across the country dinners at McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s is normal. Because of the normality of this lifestyle, the average family has been given more options. Instead of wasting money on gas to get to the fast food resturants, an family could just order in. Pizza and chineese seem to be the pime choice for most families. Although these families often eat out, they still take trips to the grocery store. Still, those prices add up. Shopping becomes a daunting task that ends in purchasing an excess of unneeded groceries that end up going to waste.
What is a family or individual to do? The answer is meal plan. Now that is a very simple answer, but if you don’t know where to start, it can become very difficult.
Choosing Meals
The first step in meal planning is to choose your meals. There are many resources out there. Cook books are available at many different venues. You could borrow, purchase, or get a cook book from the library. Another resource is the cooking magazine. There are many cooking magazines on the stands. They normally include tips on making a meal, purchasing the products needed to create that perfect meal, and much needed coupons. Some magazines that may be useful are Taste of Home, Rachel Ray, and Food Network. If none of these resources are available you can check out tons of new recipes on the web. After you have gained access to these resources, take your time to go through them. Pictures often time help decide which meals to use.
Meal Calendar
Once you have chosen the resources the you will be using, it is time to start planning. You can base the length of your meal plan on the date that you plan on going grocery shopping. To begin with you will need a piece of paper or a computer. You want to list the days of the week with the corresponding date and a space for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for each day. If you normally find yourself eating snacks throughout the day, you should add a section for snacks as well. As you go through the resourses choosing meals for each day, list the location of the meal. If it is in a magazine, you will want to list the year and month of the issus as well as the page number. Make sure that you include the website, card, or book title and any corresponding information to assist you in locating the meal when it is time to cook.
Once you listed each meal and it’s location, you will want to decide where you will post this menu. It is good to have it in a visible place that you see everyday. Some helpful places are the refrigerator, a chalk board, or a poster board. Placing the menu in these locations serve as a reminder. Those who will share your meals with you will be glad to know what expect to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Shopping List
After you have created your menu, you will need to use it to create your shopping list. There are applications on the iphone and the android phones that will assist in this step. If you don’t have access to those apps can make a list on either a computer or a piece of paper. These applications will allow you to track your grocery list history, prices of items that you buy, and order the list by isles in normal grocery store.
Creating a grocery list will help to keep you on your target budget for groceries. You have to commit to sticking to the list. Remember, you listed your snacks and meals for the time period that you determined.
Cooking it
In order to complete your stree-free process, you will need to cook the meals. On any given day, you have a guide to help you. Every morning you should take out the meat and the appropriate ingredients for the dinner that you will prepare that evening. Breakfast and lunch should not require much defrosting, so this isn’t normally required.
The plan is to check the meal plan as well as the recipe. Follow the instruction. Cook the meal and relax. These are the steps that you can take to plan stress free meals. That’s right! No more wondering what you will eat and if you have to take an unexpected trip to the grocery store. If there is any other stress that you find in your life, it will not be because you lack time, enegry, and a plan for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
Staying On Task?
Making a schedule isn’t the easiest thing to do when you are a mother, wife, and a student. There are just to many variables. So, I sit down, plan it out, and start moving forward. I may or may not do exactly what the schedule says, because of the potty dance interruptions and the requests for scissors and glue, but I do my best.
Today was my second day back at school and my professors have given me a lot to do. I think they want to make sure that my every waking moment is filled with Literature and Language. I was up all night reading the syllabi and scheduling my tasks. Well, I tried to anyway. I was doing fine until about 2am when I could no longer function. I found myself looking at the planner and paper wondering what to do next. Finally, I went to bed.
This morning I knew I had school work so I did some house work before and my hair before I got started with my reading assignments.
Eventually,I sat down and began reading and although the story was very interesting, I was tired…so, I took a nap. I did get a lot of work done, but I have other things that I need to do in order to make sure that my family is on task. Thats the thing about being a mother. Staying on task isn’t just about me. Its about my whole family. I’ll make it work. I think I am going to try and apply a technique that I have been learning about. I am going to put my big rocks in first. That means that I am going to attack all of my important tasks first thing in the morning so that I have the energy do them instead of waiting until later on in the day when I’m tired. This should be very helpful.
Well, I’m off to the grocery store.