Challenges Update!

After a very busy week visiting family and celebrating the life of my dear Grandfather who went to glory last week, I am back into the swing of things. 

I am working on Courtney's challenge to create a harmonious home.  This week, the focus is on music. I thought I'd break our usual habit of sitting on the lounge and eating over the coffee table (yes, I know), and set the 'big' table, complete with my week 1 challenge candle. I popped on my ipod for some quiet background music.


We said grace.

We started to eat.


There was a sense of peace in the house


and then...


"Hun, do you mind if I put the news on?"


I stopped myself from laughing out loud!  Oh well, I tried!  Maybe tomorrow!


Do you ever plan something to benefit your spouse or family and then realise it might not be something that they value? 

I had a little more luck with my declutter challenges this week.  I started with my bookshelf. Here is the 'before':

Yes, there are books stacked on the floor. And everywhere else!  I pulled out everything and wiped it down, one shelf at a time. I have a large number of children's books that I use for work that have been in the wrong spot for years. I wanted them lower so the books I use all the time (my Christian books, exercise books and reference books) were at a more logical height. Doing one shelf at a time (that is, taking out what didn't belong and stacking in what I wanted there before moving on) made it a much easier process than pulling everything off and getting overwhelmed!


I was surprised how many bible study books and devotionals I had multiple copies of. Here are a few other surprises I found: 

• A folder (that I thought was long gone) containing every bank statement I had ever received for an account from kindergarten to the end of university!!
• Three years worth of sermon notes from university bible lectures. I thought I would look at them again some day, but I realised that without the sermon context most of my notes don't make any sense! They also had pictures of birds and elephants and stars drawn all over them... to help me concentrate I guess... The whole folder went in the bin!
• 4 years worth of subscriptions to a Christian apologetics and theology magazine. While this might 'one day' be useful to me, it will 'right now' be more useful to people who borrow them from our church library. 
• 20 or so Bible study leader books (copies!) which would be far more useful to our churches current youth and children's ministry than to my book shelf... 
• 4 bibles that don't belong to us!  Going back to their rightful owners!

I also found 6 items that would be useful for other people I know so they have been bagged up to be passed on as gifts too. 

So.... 50 mins later (yes, I was astonished how quick it really was!)

Oh how I love challenges that make me focus on getting things done! 
The second week of the challenge (I'm a bit behind) is to look at the master bedroom. I have only recently reorganised the bedroom, however this week is our churches annual spring clothing collection for Anglicare. So I took the opportunity to go through my cupboards, and despite having only recently sorted my clothes I still found some items I no longer need. Mr. Awesome has agreed to go through his clothes later this week. I will report on his progress! 


It is wonderful not to be so tied to our things that we hoard them. Giving things away to be used by someone else (rather than just sitting around!) is a great feeling! 


What 'one day' things could be more useful to someone you know right now?

Declutter, Beautify and Create Challenge!

Yep, I'm all up for challenges at the moment!


So here is yet another that I have joined!  


I am committing to the 10 week challenge to declutter, beautify and create in various spaces around our home. As the end of the year is approaching, and it is spring here in Australia, its time to clean the cupboards out!


I will be sure to take some before and after pictures for you. Want to join me on this challenge? Please do! You can link up on the Sunflower Schoolhouse page!


Here is this week's challenge:

Week 1
Front Hall Closet and Extra Closets

• go through your front hall closet and any hall closets.
• get rid of as much clutter as possible
• organize what’s left
• make your closets look more beautiful
• is there anything stashed in there that could be used to make a Christmas gift for someone? (pull it out and put it aside)
• share your ideas for frugal decorating and organizing
• tell us what you are getting rid of
• write a blog post and come back and link it up next week
• include before and after pictures of your hall closets if you can

My Personal Goals For Week 1

• Our hallway cupboard doubles as our pantry. So this week I will post pictures of how I have created 'sugarless' spaces for the food I can eat, and 'sugary' spaces for Mr. Awesome!
• As my pantry is 'up to date', I am also going to focus on my bookshelf (one of 4 bookshelves in our house!), and apply the same principles here!. 

Today is week 1 of the Making Your Home a Haven Challenge


Here is the challenge from Courtney's blog: Go buy an extra large candle and light a candle everyday in your home.  Each time the candle catches your eye, say a prayer for peace in your home


In Courtney's post, she speaks of the 'slow pace' we are to create in our home.  I nearly fell off my chair. Our home is far from slow-paced! 


Today is a public holiday in our city and rather than lounging round, I was up early (thanks to daylight savings!) and made a long list of things to be done today. I set about doing them, and when I had run out of tasks I could do on my own, I woke my husband and enlisted his help (and in reality I could have done those things by myself too!). THEN, after all that was done I sat down and too exhausted to finish the last two tasks, allowed my husband to finish them for me!  Hardly the restful, content woman I want to be for him! 


So I have lit my candle, and while he is out, I will try to finish a few more things so that when he comes home we can spend time together, and just rest! My prayer is to be a source of rest for my household, not the generator of stress!


Are you lighting a candle today? What will your prayer be?   

Menu Plan Monday

I don't regularly take time to plan ahead for meals, but this week I want to make sure that I have things organised as there is a lot going on in my family that I don't have control over.


Here's this week's menu plan:


Monday: Mini-Roast Beef with roast potatoes and vegies


Tuesday: Beef and cheese wraps with Lebanese bread and salad


Wednesday: Out of house night for me so cold sliced beef sandwich. Mr. Awesome is having soup and crusty herb bread from the freezer


Thursday: Slow cooker chicken drumsticks in a cacciatore sauce using sugarless tomato sauce


Friday: Chicken and pasta (leftovers!)


Writing it out might actually help me stick to it! 


Linking up for Menu Plan Monday at http://orgjunkie.com. If you are visiting from Laura's site a huge hello and welcome to Eyes Above. I am working on creating a sugarless lifestyle, and I am no longer consuming fructose or artifical/natural sweeteners including honey. Read more here.

Homemade Sugarless Tomato Sauce

This sauce has a think rich texture and is suitable for using in baked dishes such as lasagna and spaghetti bolognaise. It is suitable for freezing and you can substitute whatever vegies you like to use up left-overs in the fridge. 


Ingredients

- diced or grated vegetables - I used carrot, onion, celery 
- 4-6 very ripe to over ripe tomatoes
- 500ml of gluten/sugar/dairy free vegetable stock
- 1 bottle of passata (check the label for one with no sugar added. There will be a small amount of sugar in the percentage box as tomatoes contain natural sugar. 
- handful fresh chopped basil


Method

1. Heat a little oil in saucepan, add hard vegetables and sauté until soft
2. Add herbs and tomatoes, cover with stock, reduce to low and allow to sweat with the lid one for 2-3 hours
3. Remove from hotplate and allow to cool
4. Put vege mix into a blender and add 3-4 cups of passata, one cup at a time as you mix, until desired consistency and colour is achieved. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Store in an airtight container for 3-4 days. 
6. Store in freezer for 2 months in zip lock bags that can be thawed in the fridge overnight. 

A yummy alternative to commercial tomato sauces. 

Mr. Blinky - progress

Hmmm... I'm having a sewing day today! 


But I'm a little confused.  


I am trying to make one of these:


 


(Pattern Here) 


But I didn't get his face right.... so I'm back to the drawing board. I tried using calico for the face instead of felt, but it didn't work. I think polar fleece will be too fluffy... poor faceless Blinky. 


I shall post photos of completed Blinky... when he has a face.