On today's agenda... Steak dinner and a dining room spruce-up!

Today I tackled two large projects before 11am!

First, I started a meal for the family in the crock pot. But far, the most used appliance in the house. We have six kids, so we have two. Today's meal is a crock pot ribeye steak, with a wine reduction. A new recipe, so we'll see how it is, but sounds DELISH! I took the recipe from allrecipes and mixed it up and made it my own.

 First, you fire up the crock pot. I set mine to cook for 10 hours. Then, we found steaks on sale at the local grocery store so I bought SIX earlier this week. They were pretty nice looking steaks, which I seasoned with salt, garlic and Montreal Steak Seasoning. 

To the bottom of the crock pot I added a cup of cheap red wine (Cabernet works well). 

Just a cup... 

Then, I added the beef bullion cubes (three) and dissolved them in two cups of water. Stir them good, mash them up... See? Simple...

Then, pup the steaks in the crock pot, just layer then in... Then pour the dissolved bullion mixture. If you don't like bullion you can use beef stock. 

Then I layered baby carrots on the top.

The finished product..... Coming soon!!!

The SECOND major project was a dining room spruce-up! We ARE having a ninja themed birthday party on Saturday, so I went for simple and uncluttered. I took the Home Organization 101: A bowl full of lemons challenge!

Here is the before.... The messy reality of having six kids... 

And here is the AFTER!

In the back there, that's a bookshelf with our art / homework center. We have school supplies for all the kiddos and crayons, markers and paints.

I hope you enjoyed the dining room redo! 

Talk to you soon friends!

J

When it rains it pours!

A few weeks ago I was in a car accident. I was rear ended by a young female driver on Waco drive on my way back to the office after a client meeting. Thank God I was in a beast of a vehicle. Don't judge me on the gas mileage because (a) I have to have a huge vehicle to cart the family from school events to church outings to scouting campouts and family trips and with six kids a compact car just won't do and (b) clients dig the cushiony seats and spaciousness as I take them to lunch or out on a work site and (c) the very vehicle I resent due to the high cost of gasoline very likely saved my head from hitting the steering wheel or the windshield as I was informed by the EMS as I was being taken away to the local ER. Thankfully I was only sore for a few days and though the beast sustained only $1,600 worth of damage, I thank God for beastie, she's a life saver!

There she is, before the accident with my 11 year old and our lab. Love!

So here's the organization tip of the day... We use dollars store pencil holders in the bathroom to keep the kids' toothbrushes separate. Each kid has his/her own cup! Makes teeth brushing time simpler. Just works....

Have a great day friends!

Organizing Efforts

As many of you know, I have been sending out organizing tips pretty much every day. I don't send them out because I am SOOO organized or because I am one of those annoying "together" people. We have SIX kids. We HAVE to be somewhat organized or our life would be chaos. Just would...

So here is the first few ones: 

Organizing tip of the day:  Unexpected guests? Clean the kitchen and bathrooms first! The, straighten the house and you're ready for company!

Organizing tip: keep a hanging file for kids memorabilia, we keep one file folder for each kiddo and at the end of the year, we pull out the favorites and keep the, in the keepsake box (one for each kiddo).

Organizing tip: terrified of Holiday shopping? Make a list and make a PLAN! Many retailers offer online coupons and free shipping at www.retailmenot.com. You're welcome!

More tomorrow!

The Pantry

With six kiddos and a never ending school and extra-curricular schedule I came to the realization tonight that I needed a system to get my pantry organized. Quick! It was in such bad shape...

So, I started at the local grocery store and picked up mainly canned goods and pantry staples.

Then, I went to Target and found these cute storage bins with red lids.

After that, we headed to Michaels and I found some cute chevron labels and used a sharpie to write the contents of each bin. 

Then it was just a matter of cleaning and organizing. 

I almost forgot to mention, I picked up two cute steel containers at Lowe's. One for Onions and the other for chips.

So after weeks of working and hunting for the right tools, I'm finally DONE! Praying that the family will keep it that way! :)

Here's the after...

Kind of an ah-ha moment if I say so myself! 

Happy Organizing!

J

The closet...

Well... my half, anyways. We spent ALL weekend dealing with the Garage Sale, and the end result is a well organized closet FREE of clutter and $500 cash!!! I got rid of over HALF my wardrobe and I couldn't be happier! It takes a fraction of the time it used to in order to get ready in the mornings now. Happy Momma!

Before....

Sad....

After...

Sigh.......

That is all...

J

Motherly Advice to having step ONE: FAITH

I am jumping out on a limb here, but I wanted to share this with you.

FAITH...
Faith is more than believing that something will happen. It's wholeheartedly placing the trust of things we cannot control to another. I want to talk about Faith in two areas. Faith in God, and faith in others.

The God thing...

Faith is more than the hope that we should all have in the cause effect relationship that exists as a result of certain actions. If I do "A" then "B" is logically to follow. No, it's more than that. It's having faith that even if I fail to do "A", I have faith that I am not alone. I have faith that there is a pervasive force at work in my life that will help all the pieces fall together. By Jesus' witness, I know that I am not alone, no mater what. He is with me, I just have to allow Him to be there.

Faith in Others...

How many times have you looked at your life and said, "I am such a mess, how could anyone love me?". For most of us these doubts started to creep in during our teen/preteen years when we started to question everything. This self doubt has, for some people, entered into our adult lives, and as mothers, it can be very destructive. It can tear apart our families because we don't trust, knowing that they will be there for us like we are there for them. I submit that you should trust your family with your whole heart. All of it. Realizing that I made many mistakes with my first marriage, having since relinquished control in my life to God, and trusting in Him to work things out for good. And, having wholeheartedly placed my trust in Jesus Christ, I am now able to fully and completely surrender to my husband without remorse or worry. I know that he is worthy of my trust, and even when i worry that he may fall short, part of God's promise in the marriage covenant is that we should trust our spouse because that is what God intends for us as a couple. Complete trust.

As far as FAITH, once we have faith in God, and our spouse, the next step is sharing that faith with others. The best and most obvious way to do this is to witness by the life we lead so that people will know who we are. This sharing may also come from blogging (like me) or from conversations with people. it's important that we share what we know, especially with our children and invite them to learn more for themselves. We should always be EXTREMELY careful to avoid hypocrisy. Don't cram your beliefs down someone's throat and be sure you lead an honest life with integrity. Show people grace.

Have faith.

Motherly Advice in SIX EASY STEPS!

The last few months have again gone by in a WOOSH.... But now that we're moved, and settled into the new casa I thought it would be prudent to give some motherly advice. I have been mom to SIX beautiful children now for over a year. Though we're a huge, happy, blended family and we're not without our flaws, for the most part things are going very well. Two in Junior High, two in Elementary in and two in preschool. We have a house full!

The intention of this blog is to offer a little window into my life and hopefully serve as a mentor to other moms facing family blending issues as well as medical challenges that we are facing in the wake of two diagnoses over the last few years. So here's my best advice....

1. HAVE FAITH.
If you believe in something, believe in it with your whole heart. Worship your God. Grow in the teachings of your religion and share those beliefs with your children. They will remember what you do and only about 50% of what you say, so go to worship, charitable events and show them that you believe in giving back.

2. LIVE.
Sounds simple, but may come as a surprise that most of us aren't out there LIVING. Put down the I-device or computer and GET OUT THERE! That's one gift that has been awarded me by my wonderful husband and children. I used to get so wrapped up in things that I forgot the one essential component to life; and that's to LIVE. Get out there. Coach the soccer team, run a race, draw on the concrete with sidewalk chalk, do things with your kids. Fly a kite. LIVE. Life isn't a dress rehearsal, make this life count!

3. FORGIVE.
The greatest gift you can give yourself and your family is forgiveness. But, forgiveness shouldn't be reserved for those who are closest to you. We all have deep scars from things that happened to us a long time ago or are currently happening. I encourage you to forgive. Do it now. Don't do it for the person that wronged you, do it for yourself! And... the other component of forgiveness, is asking for forgiveness when we mess up. Where would I be if my family didn't forgive my shortcomings and love me anyway? Nowhere, that's where I'd be, because I'm certainly far from perfect.

4. HAVE HOPE.
When S was diagnosed with a cancer-like disease, we thought we were facing a doom and gloom scenario. That's not at all how it's played out. I assure you if we didn't have hope, we'd be lost. I have hope that my kids will all grow up to be strong and healthy, contributing to society with their thoughts and actions as adults. I can visualize their lives. I encourage you to practice closing your eyes and trying to envision what your children will look like as adults. Don't push them to be YOU. Push them to be the best (insert their name here) that they can be!

5. DO THE WORK.
"Anything worth having is worth working for!" How many times did I hear that old adage growing up? Well this one is so true. When you think about your life, your debts, your problems, your fears, many of them can be helped with a little work. Whether it's time management, those last few pesky pounds or paying off debts, we must WORK for what we want in life. Nothing is going to be handed to us. And if you get organized and do the work, you'll reap the rewards!

6. REST.
Sleep deprivation is hard to avoid sometimes, but I encourage you to REST. Take time for yourself, get a manicure, massage, or take a weekend away or a date night with your significant other. You will reap the words by being a more balanced Momma.

More soon... "Motherly Advice to having Step One: FAITH"