Sunday, December 25, 2016

Stressed Out

Stressed out?

When we have a lack of faith in what God can & will do, we feel it in stress.

Psalm 37:8-9 (NIV)

^"Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret—it leads only to evil.For those who are evil will be destroyed,
but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land."

In Matthew 10:19-20 shows us the Holy Spirit helps us.

Matthew 10:19-20(NIV)

^"But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you."

With Luke 12:22-34 shows us other ways to resist to worry about what is in God's control.

Luke 12:22-34 (NIV)

Do Not Worry

^"Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
“Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them.But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Philippians 4:6-7 points us to turn our worries & stress into prayers.

Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV)

^"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Also try reading:
Psalms 100, Psalm 18, Psalm 93

Psalm 23New International Version (NIV)

A psalm of David.

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
    He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
   he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever.

He leads me to still/quiet waters, what does that mean?
God's peace & rest for us to have. He brings us to it & it is up to us to choose to enter in to it. Some of us are unable to enter in to it. What do we do then? It sometimes take practice making that choice over & over again.

If what I offer here is relevant to you in any way, please consider donating. As I tend to my family (disabled hubby and homeschooled kids) I write in my free time. No knitting here but I love Taco Bell now and then and your donations help keep the spicy food coming. Every donation is appreciated!!!

Donations are not tax deductible.

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Washing Machine

This is the wash machine that replaced my whirlpool front loader. I had the whirlpool front loader for about 5 years before it stop working completely. There were lots of problems with it along the way. It started out great! I did enjoy the washer. But it did have it's moments of the water pump not wanting to drain the water for one reason or the other. That was very much a pain. Since we have gotten this Electrolux Washer, I do not have any problems. I have owned it for about 6 months now. I have used it on all types of laundry & dirt. No problems with it. It runs like a champ!!! Very quiet!

There is a light on the inside of the washer. Very nice to have. I don't miss any clothing items when removing it to the dryer. The washer machine is very powerful on the spin cycle. The clothes come out near dry, so I don't need to run the dryer as much.

I still have the whirlpool dryer for now. That is still running. Both washer & dryer are stackable. When you are living in a small space that is a winner feature!! The Electrolux washer was taller than the Whirlpool washer which made the dryer an inch or two taller. That was nice too.

The settings on the Electrolux washer stumped me. I never had so many choices to do laundry with. Then I tried out all the settings. I was impressed with them. I do enjoy the sanitizing setting for the towels. It makes the towels soft again. Something with that cycle works on return the towels back to the soft thick brand new towels.

I do use my homemade laundry soap. You can look through House Stuff posts to get the recipe for that. I do enjoy washing clothes with the Electrolux washer.

Donations are not tax deductible.

Sunday, December 18, 2016

Rejected

Do you feel rejected or unwanted?

When we are carrying around the feeling of rejection or unwanted it can be a gaping hole in us. Nothing we do, people say, eat, or amount of people we surround us with will fill the hole.

What do we do then?

First you would want to see where the feeling is coming from. While you are doing that, The Sapphire Leadership Group, Inc. has free audio that will help build up the inner you, here is a link: http://theslg.com/content/148-free-cd-album-downloads-category. Listen to Baby Blessings: Names of God; Blessing Your Spirit: Beloved Son; Blessing Your Spirit: Precious Daughter;Blessing Your Spirit: Friend. If you can put the on in the back ground while you go through your day or while you are sleeping. The volume does not have to be loud. It may take sometime to build the inner you up.

Donations are not tax deductible.

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Taco Night!!

Taco Night at our house is the most favorite happiest time. We try to have it once to twice sometimes more a week.   We make our own beans, rice & meat. When we do, we make a lot so we can reheat & have a fast meal.

We use hard shells & soft burrito shells. Some of us like the crunch & some like the soft. Sometimes someone will do both!

For the meat, we use 1 pound of ground beef to 2 pounds of ground turkey with our own taco seasoning.   Some folks might be wanting to walk away at this point about the turkey.   You can't even taste the different.   Subbing the turkey meat cut cost big time.   Could drop the beef all the way but beef is not all bad. I got growing men here & they need whats in the beef to be health strong men.

The beans, we make a couple different ways it depends on what we have on hand when we make it. We have ground our own dry beans.   That takes time a lot of time to get it very powdery.   Less chunks the better.   Then we would add the hot water & seasoning. Plus we add onions & cheese to it. YUMMY!!!! If we have refried beans in the can we add seasoning, onions & cheese. Then there is the dry mix of refried beans you can buy. That seems to be the favorite. We still add onions & cheese & seasoning. We add all the other stuff to make the beans taste better. Let's be honest, beans taste like dirt by themselves.

The rice we have different ways to make that too! Just like the beans depends on what we got when it is time to make them.   We have used plain white rice then added whatever we wanted to make it our version of Mexican Rice, which equals cheese & spicy!! We will use yellow rice package stuff. That is our favorite. We still add stuff to it!! Then there is the can mexican rice. Its good but not as good as the yellow packaged stuff.

You can top your tacos with whatever yummy stuff you like. We use mild sauce brand from Taco Bell. We have tried different companies, not as good. We could make our own version. May be at another time. We also use, which is hard to find in the stores Taco Bell Bold & Creamy Chipolata Sauce. That is yummy!!!

You have noticed I did not give the full recipe to anything. Did that on purpose. Some family secrets need to be kept. May be at a later date I share some of the recipes. Would need to do a family meeting for that. Keep checking back for updates on Taco Night Recipes!!

Donations are not tax deductible.

Sunday, December 11, 2016

Overwhelmed

Feeling overwhelmed?

It's very easy to get overwhelmed when we pulled our sight off of God & onto everything that comes at us & what we are dealing with.

Don't worry about details beyond your control, Genesis 7:16 (NIV)
^"The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in."

What cause us to forfeit peace with God, Genesis 21:7( NIV).And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

When you are feeling overwhelmed what do you have your eyes on? Is it on the waves that are crashing down on you or on the One who can pull you up out of the waves? Once our eyes are on the waves that keep pulling & pushing us down, it may not be easy to adjust our eyes off of them. With help we can look above & start to walk out a different view.

Donations are not tax deductible.

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

House Cleaning

I make my own household cleaner.   I have tried all the different cleaning products out there. Nothing compares to making my own.   My life is busy, I need things simple. Making my own laundry soap & household cleaners is worth it & simple.   Besides cheap!!!!

You will need: White distilled Vinager, Baking Soda, 1 pint glass jar, one 24 oz spray bottle, fresh orange peels, funnel & a strainer.

For your everyday cleaning of the counter tops, sinks, stove top, cabinets, refrigerate, walls, spot clean on floor, bathroom sink, showers, bath tubs, outside of toilet, mirrors, windows & trash cans.

Take one 16 oz mason jar fill with orange peels. Then top off with vinegar. Let sit in a dark place for at least 2 weeks & shake it everyday. If you can let it sit long great!! After sitting for at least 2 weeks, pour vinegar out through a strainer. I use a 2 cup measuring cup to hold strainer vinegar. Now you can pour that vinegar into the spray bottle.   May want to use a funnel. Then top off with Distilled vinegar. Shake & start cleaning!!!!

For a degreaser & harder to clean spots, add baking soda to the dirty area, spray the orange cleaner & scrub a little. Repeat if you need to.    After using the baking soda, you may want to follow up with more vinegar cleaner. It will help remove the chalky residue.

For toilet & floor cleaner, I use 1 cup baking soda to 1 cup vinegar in a bucket of warm water.

When I started making the cleaner, we all noticed the non chemical smell, our eyes, nose & lungs felt better. Plus you don't ever have to worry about chemicals near your food.

Since we started cleaning with the cleaner, we also noticed less ants & to no ants on the counter in the summer. Our very used older stove looked brand new after using the orange cleaner & baking soda on it. It removes soap scum from the bathroom.

Donations are not tax deductible.

Sunday, December 4, 2016

Any Health Problems

Our health is very important. Staying healthy can be hard if we have a family history of sickness & disease. There are steps to stop the flow of family history of sickness & diseases. It's more than eating right, getting plenty of rest & exercise. Those 3 steps are key players. We can do more to have better if not great health.

You may feel that you have been ill for so long, you have no idea what healthy would even look like. If you gave up on health & came in agreement with sickness, disease & death but want out of that agreement there is a way.

Some might feel that they are not worthy of health. Their life choices have locked them in to sickness & disease. That could not be so far from the truth. Jesus did not come for everyone else & skip you.

Donations are not tax deductible.

Unencumbered Life