Our housekeeping routine in pictures

Good morning Y'all!!      I hope wherever y'all are this morning that you are all snuggled up inside and out of the cold.       It is in the lows 20* here this morning with the high of 31 to be expected.   I guess that's ok, because elsewhere, there is lots of snow and all the misery that comes with that.     So, right now, I'm just thankful to be warm this morning.     That makes me feel blessed for sure.   

Ok, so what I wanted to share with y'all today is our housekeeping routine.     Sounds funny, I know.  But if you are like me, you may need something to help keep you on track.      I used to be able to think about all the things that needed to be done and just do it, but it's not that easy anymore.    So if I have something to keep me on track, no matter how far I wander, it's easy to get back on track.  hahaha

On the daily lists, you will notice things with pink dots beside them.  These are things that my sweet husband does or helps me do.   I have back issues, so he does the things that have a tendency to mess my back up and a lot of the other stuff also.   Since he is retired, he loves to help do a lot of this stuff and with us working together, it doesn't take but a few minutes to an hour each day to keep hot spots down and keep the house pretty clean and picked up.   No, it's not perfect, but it's far ahead of what it used to be.   

You will also notice that on every day in the daily section there is an item that says "during winter months check window sills for moisture".    We have a couple of windows that are not above air vents and they have a tendency to get a little moisture in the windows, so I just want to have the reminder to check those windows and wipe down any moisture.  It's never much, but I just like to make sure it's checked.     So, since these cleaning routines are used year around, it's on all of them all the time, and I'm fine with it.    You can make yours to suit your needs just as I have made ours to suit our needs.

I have had this system for several years.   It works.    When I had an achilles tendon injury back a few years ago, I also had a major back injury as a result and was unable to do much of anything for a LONG time and everything went to pot!!!!   When I did get back to where I could do a little something, I was so overwhelmed with the mess that I had no idea where to begin!!!   I had put my notebook out of sight because it was a source of anguish because I couldn't keep up with housework and my husband was working long hours and 7 days a week and it just got out of hand and I felt like a complete failure as a human being, much less trying to keep the house clean.

A long story short, my husband is now retired and the first thing on the top of his to do list was to help me get our home back.   It was all his idea and God bless him for that!!!!   I must tell you, he actually done most of the work in getting our home back in order.   Only God knows the number of happy tears I have shed along with a few tears of sadness over our home getting in that shape to begin with.

At one time, I had a routine that I done every day and kept my house clean and orderly.   The older I got, the harder it was to keep it up.   So, at one time a few years ago, we worked on getting this system set up and going for us.  Just doing daily, weekly and monthly things breaks up the monotony and keeps the cleaning moving forward daily.   It works for us.   I hope there is something here that will for someone else.   This is the 4th in the calendar.   

There will be a total of 5 weeks that can be used accordingly.   When all of these are used, plus the sheet that has the quarterly activities on it, the house will have been cleaned from ceiling to floor in a 3 month period.  Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.   

For now, the pictures are self explanatory.   You see an erasable marker, a pen and a pad.   That is for taking notes of anything I run out of and need to put on a grocery list or maybe an activity that needs to get done that day.   I can mark on the protector sheet with the erasable marker and at the end of the day wipe it off with a paper towel.  That way we know what has been done.   We have all day to do it too.  I will get the other weeks up as soon as I get pictures made of them.   Click on the pictures to bring up the large picture that you can actually read.

My tip for this blog post it just start where you are.   I was blessed that my husband helped me, I know that.   But wherever you are in the process, just start with one day and move on to the next day and the next and it won't be long till you have made a difference that is noticeable.

I really hope that this helps just one person.  If it does, it will have been worth sharing it with y'all.  Remember while doing your housework, just thank God that you have a house to keep clean.  Remember that He loves you and loves to hear from you.     Praise God for everything!!!     Sing praises to Him!!     He loves to be serenaded!!      Have a blessed day and just know that I love y'all too!!!   hugs, patty

What Motivates You?

I seen a question this morning: "What motivates you to take care of yourself?"

It looks to be a simple question. People with children might say they want to see their children, grandchildren grown. Others might say that they want to accomplish "xyz" in their life. Yet others may have a bucket list they want to complete.

Me, I don't have any of that. So then, what is my motivation? I realized that my motivation to take care of myself comes from a place of selfishness, if I'm being honest.

I want to grow old with my husband. I want to laugh for many years to come. I want to share my love of Jesus simply through smiles to other people. I want to share my love of Jesus through my ability to help others when the opportunity arises. I want to share my love of Jesus through looking for ways to help others. I want to share my love of Jesus by being the best representation of Jesus that some may ever see. I want to wake up every day with a renewed sense of excitement about what the day holds for myself and those that I may encounter. I want to live each day with a sense of urgency that people need to see Jesus every day, in those that love Him. I want to live my days with the heart, hands and feet of Christ and I can't do that if I don't take care of myself.

I realize that some days, I don't want to smile. Even some days, I don't want to help anyone. Some days, don't look at me for representing Christ in a positive way. Some days, I don't have a lot excitement about what the day holds. Some days, the sense of urgency may not be there. And, some days, my heart hands and feet just aren't in the right place.

But even on those days, the desire to live for, love and serve Christ is deeper than the desire to do nothing for Him. No, I won't ever be a world changer in big scheme of things. But if Jesus will help me change the world for just one person, then my pitiful existence will not have been in vain.

So, being as honest as I know to be with myself, this is my motivation for trying to take care of myself. My prayer is that Christ will give me a renewed excitement for getting healthier and putting Him up front in everything I do.

What motivates you to take care of yourself?

Just my morning musings. Be blessed today and remember that God loves you!!  So do I, patty

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!    I hope and pray that where ever y'all are that you have had a blessed day thus far and that the rest of it is filled blessings also.

We just got back in from Ky and I must say that we had a wonderful time with family.    At one time I looked around to take in all the faces and you know how you can have flash backs of days gone by.    In that single moment, many many many of the Thanksgiving Days that I can remember flashed thru my memory.    It was one of those times when I would loved to have had those memories on a dvd to pop into a player and share them with everyone there.

You know, things change.      They just do.    We can't stop the changes from happening.    The best we can possibly do is ask God to help us thru those changes.

I seen us all in the house out in the country that all my brothers and I grew up in.   The place we called home for longer than I have been on planet earth. Momma in the kitchen cooking and getting the meal ready for no less than 8 to inhale in one fell swoop!!    hahaha    I see all of us eating the best turkey and dressing that anyone was ever blessed to eat.    Momma still the makes the best turkey and dressing and today proved that point.

I seen the many times after the meal that my Dad and brothers would get out in the yard and after Mom and I got the kitchen cleaned up, maybe we would end up out there too.    Sometimes it might be rainy and cold and we would all be inside, but where ever we were, we were full and there was always some laughter taking place.

One time, when we got older, just before my brothers started getting married, they had their girlfriends, soon to be wives and after lunch we all went to Split Rock.      It was just a field with this humongous rock in it that was split right down the middle.    The rock was 10-15 feet tall above ground, and the footprint of the rock was huge.    We went and would work our way through the rock. It was a tight squeeze for all of us way back then and I couldn't help but grin today when that thought ran thru my mind, "we would just have to look at it today, because I don't think any of us could get thru the split!" I wish I had pictures of that rock.     That was back before cell phones and all I have is memories.

2011 was the last Thanksgiving and Christmas that we had as a family of 8.    Dad had gotten sick and was in Creekwood at Russellville.    One of the churches in the community had the dining room reserved for their services after church and that church offered to give their church service time to my family so we could have Thanksgiving together and we accepted that offer and spent the day up there with my Dad.    Then when Christmas rolled around, they gave us the dining hall again to celebrate Christmas.    That was one of the memories that popped into my mind also.    The kindness of other people allowed my family to have 2 special events with our Dad that we wouldn't have had otherwise.    That ended up being the last of the family celebrations that included all 8 of us, the original crew.

Today, we still have our beautiful Mom and she is still one of the best cooks in the country!!!    When she cooks, you can taste the love in it!!    I think it's fair to say that she's the glue that sticks us together.    I know of no other mother anywhere that is any more loved by her children than my Mom. That is a strong testimony to her.

And, as I think about all that I have to be thankful for, family is at the top of the list.       I think about my 5 brothers.    Each one of them are good men.      Above average by the worlds standards.    They are hard working men with works ethics that can NOT be matched, by anyone.    They are and have been good providers for the families.    Thinking of the 6 of us siblings, we all are a lot grayer than we were a few years ago.    There's probably more weight on each of us than there should be.    We each have our own aches and pains that get worse with each passing year.   But, one thing stays the same.      I can shut my eyes and by all the laughter taking place, I can still put a young face with each different laugh that I hear.    When I open my eyes, I am right, only the face that I am looking at may be a little more lined from age and the hairline may be receding a bit; there may be glasses where they hadn't always been.    But there is always a familiar, smiling face.    The face of men that used to be boys.    They are now husbands, fathers and grandfathers.    And they are my brothers and I'm proud of them and thankful for each and every one of them!!

I am thankful to God for all the blessings that He has heaped upon my family!!!   I am thankful for all my nieces and nephews and their husbands and wives and all their children!!       When I look at them, I realize that our family is in good hands.    There was 4 generations there today.    I realize that a lot of families have more generations than that, but I am still thankful for the 4 generations there today.

I said earlier that family was at the top at my list that I am thankful for.    But, at the very top of my list, above family, is Christ!!!    Without what Christ has done for me thru His shed blood, nothing else matters anyway.    I am thankful that Christ loved me enough to die for me so that I could be in right relationship with God.    I pray that as I go forward in my own life, that I am forever thankful and grateful for Christ and that I can share that thankfulness and gratefulness with others.  Sometimes it just takes the blink of an eye to realize just how abundantly blessed one is and that is exactly what happened to me today in just the moment of a split second.    Blessed and highly favored comes to mind!!   Thank you God for the many blessings that You have bestowed upon my family!!!

I hope that each of y'all made memories today that will bring you joy in the days to come.    And maybe, just for the blink of the eye, there were no empty chairs around the table.

Be blessed and thankful y'all!!   Just know that God loves y'all and I do too!!      hugs, patty

November, a new Tip, and a few pictures

Good morning Y'all!!!    I hope and pray that where ever y'all are, on the face of this planet, that you can say it is great to be a part of this day that God has created just for us to enjoy.    This is the first weekend in November!!!   Can you believe that?   Here we are with another year just about wrapped up!!    I just can't believe it.   I don't know where this year has escaped to.    It has vanished, just like the vapor hanging over a body of water on an early morning when the sun finally reaches it.   It just sort of disappears without making a big deal.   This year has been disappearing without making a big deal too.    I guess it is fair to say that it has been a pretty good year if it can start wrapping up without much of a big deal.   That certainly means I have a lot to be thankful for!!!!   So, for November, I will be thankful and grateful in it.  

God has certainly blessed me in this life of mine and in this year.   I can never thank Him enough for His watch care and protection over me and the ones I love.   I can honestly say that I have never been hungry in my life.   Oh, I've had my tummy growl because a meal was overdue.   But I have never been hungry and not know where my next meal was coming from.   Thank you God!!!!    I have never been without clothes.    Oh, I've never had the best that money could buy.   But I've never had the desire to have the best!!    I just want to be able to cover my nakedness and there has never been a time that I could not do that.   Thank you God!!!   I have had a wonderful life with my husband for the last 39 years.   It has not always been easy, but it has always been right.   For that, I am thankful that God has always been the deciding factor in our marriage.   Thank You God!!!   I have never been without a roof over my head.  There was a time, between selling one house and buying another that we lived in a motel for a short time.   Laying my head on the pillow at night was a little uncomfortable, but that didn't last long.   For that short period of time, I can actually say that I know what it felt like to not have a home to call our own and that was very uncomfortable, but it wasn't a permanent situation.   For that, I can say, Thank you God!!!   I am not the picture of perfect health, but I am also not the picture of someone who is desperately ill and has no hope of every feeling better.    Oh, I have my aches and pains as most people do, but I know that I could be so much worse off than I am.   The last 2 years have actually been good years for me getting a little bit healthier.   So, for that, thank You God!!!!!    Through the years I have lost a lot of people that have meant a lot to me in the process of living and dying.   My life is better for having known them.   With all the losses, I still have some pretty wonderful people in my life that I get to do life with.   Thank you God for those precious people that are my family and my friends.

So, as I look back at what I just wrote, I realize that although this year hasn't been really eventful, it has been a blessed year!!!   And I am so thankful to God for it!!!   I hope and pray that as you evaluate where this year has brought you thus far that you can come away from the evaluation with a "thankful and grateful" heart, and a heart full of praise and adoration for The One who responsible for it, that would be our God!!!   No matter what has come our way this year, we have to know and realize that it could be worse.   God loves His own!!   God never leaves His own!!   God never forsakes His own!!   Now us, on the other hand, we fail to love God, we find it easy to leave God and we find it easy to just forsake and walk away from God.   Even when we do those things, He is still there, waiting for us to come back Him.   I am so thankful to God that He is ever present and never leaves us.   So, for the rest of this month, I plan on finding ways to thank God for all He has done for me and the people in my life.   For those of you who read my blog, I pray that  God will bless you in a mighty way and that you will be thankful for His presence in your life.   Praise God from whom all blessings flow, praise Him all creatures here below!!

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For my tip today, I would like to revisit the wonderful Air Fryer.   I use mine just about every day and love it!!!!    I do have to keep it clean or at least try to.    One tip for helping keep our air fryers clean is "do not spray cooking spray in the basket of the af".     The lecithin in the formulation of the non stick spray actually sticks to and makes the af hard to clean.    Whatever I cook, I always spray the food items before I put it in the af with my non-stick spray or I brush olive oil on it before hand.  But if you do get a build up of oily gunk, run a sink full of hot water with good dish soap and sit the basket in it and let it set there for a while and then use a small brush with a small head on it to scrub lightly around the vents in the basket.   Do that every time you use it and it won't be long till the cooked on gunk will be gone.   If you have an af, use it and enjoy it.

Another tip I will give you is this.   If you haven't got one yet and you are looking at getting one, I would get the largest that my budget will actually afford.   If you don't have the funds right now to get a large one, start putting back a couple of dollars a week or save your pocket change till you can get the largest one possible, without going into debt.   I got a small one and realized that it wasn't large enough.   So I got another one and blessed a friend with the small one.   Now, I really wish I had the largest one on the market!!!   But, I can't afford the largest one now, maybe some day.  I'm saving for it.   So take my advice, and get the largest one you can possibly afford.   You won't regret it.   The next one I want to get is the Paula Deen 8.3 af from Evine.   I think that is the largest on on the market right now.    If it is just you, one person, then the small one may be perfect.   But for 2 or more in a household, larger is better.   Everything you cook in an af is so much better!!!!   My husband and I have got to where we can't eat a lot fried foods away from home.   The grease in it will make us sick.   But food cooked in an air fryer doesn't have much grease if any at all.   The only reason you would want to use any spray or oil at all is just so foods that should be browned, will brown properly.    I recently bought some avocado oil in a pump spray bottle and it is awesome!!!   It is expensive, but I did get to use my Ibotta app and got back a dollar for it.   So look for ways of being able to purchase items that you may not be able to otherwise.   For me, it is by using Ibotta.

Another small tip is this.   Use the Ibotta app!!!   That is a great way to save money!!!   The money that I get back in the Ibotta app is my money to spend on my crafts!!!   Thanks to my sweet husband!!  He said that I earned the money and since he has retired, our finances are pretty tight, but this app makes it possible for me to still be able to craft.   So this is also on my list of "thankful grateful" praise for the month of November!!!   There is always a lot to be thankful for.

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I do have a few pictures I would like to share with y'all and I hope you enjoy them.

This is from a walk on our greenway here in town.  Part of it is actually out in the country.  This is at the place where the old water plant for our town used to be.

This is a close up of the above picture.  We had a lot of rain and the creek was high and some drift wood got caught in the undercurrent of the falling water and it made for a very beautiful scene.

This is a few pictures from our Quilt Show back in October.   It was a huge success and everyone enjoyed it so much!!

Beautiful quilts was all over the place.   Oh my gosh we have talented people that shared their labors of love!!

This is a very intricate quilt to look at.  It almost plays with my vertigo.  hahaha   The movement in it is awesome.   I think it's called a Bargello quilt, not sure about though.

I got to teach a class at Creative Day in an adjoining county in October and this is some of the pins that the ladies made.   Each one was beautiful.

Each one is totally different also.   I really enjoyed doing that and hope that I get to do it again sometime.

 This is a shot of my butternut squash fries that I made in my air fryer.   They were so delicious.

 A close up of them.  Don't drool now, it's not nice.   hahaha

This was Hat Sunday on the last Sunday in October at my Mom's church.  I took an "us-ie" of us before we left.   I love this picture because on the wall behind us is the last family picture that was made while my Dad was still alive.   That picture was made Dec. 25th, 2011 and we laid him to rest on Jan. 25th, 2012.   The picture wasn't planned, but we was happy it turned out like that.

I hope y'all enjoy this little sampling of what I have been up to this Fall.   I do have some craft pictures I want to share also, but they are not on this computer yet, but I will get them on here so I can do that.  I think y'all will like them.

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Well, that's just about it for today.   I hope you enjoyed your visit here today.   I do pray that we will all take this month to reflect on what we have to be thankful for.   Whether you are in the states or not, we all have a LOT to be thankful for and now is as good a time as any to thank God for all His undeserved blessings.   I hope that is you have an air fryer, maybe my tips will be beneficial to you and maybe if you don't have Ibotta on your smartphone, you will check into it.  Everyone can use a few extra "free" dollars.   I hope you have pictures that you can look at to help you remember the blessing of everyday life.  If not, I invite to look at mine.   Tell someone you know that Jesus loves them and that God is the answer to all their problems.   Makes no difference what it is, He can help.   You just got to want to be in relationship with Him through the shed blood of His Son, Jesus Christ.   I am so grateful to Christ for all He has done for me!   I know He is waiting to hear from you.   Have a blessed day and just know that God loves y'all!!!  I do too!!   hugs and thankful blessing to you all, patty