One Small Leap

Hi Followers- 

If you're looking for the latest post, you can find it at My New Blog. It'll be the same good stuff, just using WordPress instead of Blogger. At the questioning and prompting of my husband as well as this post over at Money Saving Mom, I decided to make the jump. 

Check it out! And be sure to leave me your opinion. 

Thanks! 

Trust Me!

If there is anything that God has consistently reminded me of over the last several years of following Him, it's this: Trust me! 

I found this quote on Pinterest a while back and tracked it down to here, where you can also download the pdf for FREE! Enjoy! 

I am planning to print it, frame it, and put it on my mantel as part of my Valentine's Day decorations. Where will you display it? 

P.S. How are you coming with your goals? I've made progress and am already making a mental list of what next week's goals are going to be. :) 

Weekly Goals - yes, I know it's Tuesday!

I'm the kind of gal that likes to makes lists. I like lists of books, lists of recipes I want to try, grocery lists, freezer inventory lists, lists of spiritual goals, etc. etc. etc! I came across this post over at Money Saving Mom and decided to try out setting weekly goals myself! In the past, I've tried to pick just one thing to do each day- usually this is a dreaded task, like paperwork or ironing my hubby's work pants- and with some success, I've been able to accomplish it. It might be a snowball effect "thing" where when you meet one goal you want to keep at it and meet more. Who knows? 

So here are my goal for the week- albeit they are a day "late"-

1. Iron Hubby's work pants- I think I dread this so much because I don't have an ironing board and often have a hard time finding a flat, clean surface I can iron them on. I did see this pin on Pinterest, so I might give that a try or just keep my eye out for a used ironing board via craigslist or my local thrift store.  
2. Wipe down drawers for desk project with vinegar- I read today over at Young House Love about how they wiped down a thrift store piece of furniture with vinegar to get rid of the smell. Going to have to give it a try. More info about the desk project later. 
3. Drop off substitute teaching application- There is really no excuse why this isn't done yet. I just hate filling out paperwork, so that's my excuse! 
4. Attempt to organize the Porch area- We have a enclosed porch/room at our half-double, which is a nice bonus space, but it doesn't have heat or A/C. Since it has been so cold, it has kind of become the catch-all for random stuff that I'm not sure what to do with- like the vacuum cleaner, and a table we currently aren't using but hope to refinish and use, and left-overs from our garage sale this summer that we decided not to donate, and kids toys/accessories that were given to me from an old nanny family, and other random stuff. 
5. Move toward organizing my office- though I'd hardly call it an office these days. After I finished my student teaching, everything sort of just got dumped in there. It's really a disaster area. I keep the door closed because I don't like to see how messy it is. 

Well, that's it. Five simple goals for the week. I'll let you know how I do. 

Easy Meal Monday

Here's a simple, quick, and relatively healthy dinner idea for you. 

Easy Chicken Stir-fry

1 bag of Kroger Stir-fry Vegetables with Noodles 
Image credit 

1/3  to 1/2 bottle of Kikkoman's Stir-fry sauce 
(give or take a few ounces)  

Image credit








1 cup of shredded chicken- you can use canned, fresh, or frozen. I use frozen because I buy my chicken in bulk, cook it, shred it, and then freeze it. If you use fresh, you'll need to cook it first. You can shred or cube- whichever is easier for you. 

Image credit




Just cook the veggies and noodles according to package directions, adding the cooked chicken near the end. Add the stir-fry sauce and stir. Serve and Enjoy! 

This recipe is so quick! It literally took me longer to write this blog post than it did to cook dinner. 

My 2013 Book List

Recently, I've read a couple of blogs with book lists and decided to make my own book list for 2013. I made a goal of reading 12 books this year, but then figured I'd have more success if I made a list of the actual books I want to read. Some of them are "in progress," as in, I've already started them and just want to make sure to finish them. 

Here's the list: 

• The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Martin
• Love and Respect:The Love She Most Desires; The Respect He         Desperately Needs by Emerson Eggerichs
• Teaching With Love and Logic by Jim Fay and David Funk
• Because He Loves Me by Elyse M. Fitzpatrick
• Simple Living- 30 Days to Less Stuff and More Life by Lorilee Lippincott
• For the Love of God by  D.A. Carson 
• How to be a Best Friend Forever by Dr. John Townsend
• Grace for the Good Girl by Emily P. Freeman
• Frumps to Pumps by Sarah Mae
• The Resolution for Women by Priscilla Shirer
• 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman
• The Peacemaker by Ken Sande 
• Come to the Table by Neta Jackson 

And because its 2013, I decided to make it a list of 13, instead of 12.  I think it will take me all year to get through this list because most of the books seem to be "heavy" books. "Heavy" books are ones I like to take time to process and journal about while I am reading. These books don't really lend themselves to reading multiple chapters at a time. The exception to this might be the one by Neta Jackson. I tend to read her books in just a couple of days. 

LOVE is in the Air

If you've been on Pinterest lately, you know that there are a ton of cute Valentine's Day foods, crafts, and ideas. I decided to try my hand at one. I recently decided that I wanted to decorate the mantel for the big LOVE day, so I scoured through Pinterest and found a couple ideas. Like this one or something simple like this canvas or like this since we had a bunch of hearts left from our wedding last March. But then I went rummaging in the basement to see what supplies I already had on hand as I've been on a budget lately. I found several black frames that I had attempted to spray paint and then "rough up" which I wasn't sure how I felt about. I also remembered I had a big stack of construction paper in the closet upstairs. I didn't like any of the plain colors so I went to JoAnn's to see if I could find something I liked. I didn't want anything too pink/bright red/basic. I found some scrapbook paper that had a nice texture to it that was a nice red / black mix. Perfect! At $0.69 each, I bought 4 of them. I hadn't decided on which frames I was going to use and wanted to make sure I had enough. I ended up only using 1 of them, but oh well. So, the process of making them was quite simple. I decided on the frames, traced the glass from the frames onto the scrapbook paper so I would have them the right size, free-handed some letters, cut those out and assembled it all together. This is the end result! And, because I had most everything on hand, it only cost $0.69 for this little Valentine's Day addition!

We are pushing our children...but towards what?

I saw this documentary earlier this year about the dark side of the achievement culture. It made me stop and think. We are pushing our children more and more in today's society, but what are we pushing them toward? Personal achievement? Personal success? A "me-centered" individual? How does that jive with the equality and community we are trying to create in our classrooms?   It's worth watching. It's working thinking about. It's worth being the change. 

"Featuring the heartbreaking stories of young people across the country who have been pushed to the brink, educators who are burned out and worried that students aren’t developing the skills they need, and parents who are trying to do what’s best for their kids, Race to Nowhere points to the silent epidemic in our schools: cheating has become commonplace, students have become disengaged, stress-related illness, depression and burnout are rampant, and young people arrive at college and the workplace unprepared and uninspired.

Race to Nowhere is a call to mobilize families, educators, and policy makers to challenge current assumptions on how to best prepare the youth of America to become healthy, bright, contributing and leading citizens.

In a grassroots sensation already feeding a groundswell for change, hundreds of theaters, schools and organizations nationwide are hosting community screenings during a six month campaign to screen the film nationwide. Tens of thousands of people are coming together, using the film as the centerpiece for raising awareness, radically changing the national dialogue on education and galvanizing change." 

See the film. Be the change. 


This  blog post is also related to the topic. What students want the nation to know about education.