A Christian Woman Thinks (And It's Dangerous)

Do your Christmas shopping from home, supporting small businesses ... shop with your fellow bloggers! Click on the button below to find other bloggers with home businesses.

And if you have a home business, stop by the HSB Front Porch to add your name to the Mr. Linky.

CHRISTmas Questions Part II

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? YES! lol Usually bags for friends and wrapping for family. Don't know why, it just ends up that way. My FAVORITE wrap is brown paper tied w/twine or raffia w/some sort of CHRISTmas Stampin' Up stamps.

2. Real tree or Artificial? We used to do the real ones, but I pick up quills ALL year, so we have used a fake one for years. Last year, however, we got the most wonderful tree!! It's very rustic - just the way I like it - it has just a touch of "snow" (so it doesn't look 'cheap') and pine cones and we put only vintage and rustic ornaments on it. LOVE IT! I hate to take it down!

3. When do you put up the tree? If not the day after Thanksgiving, then the weekend following.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Hmmm...my Barbie Dream House. I'm old enough that it was the second edition, still cardboard, but it was WAY cool!!

7. Hardest person to buy for? My mom. She's very well off and has 2 of everything.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes; it's the one my family has had since I was about 3 years old and is starting to fall apart. I'd like to get replacement Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus and a few animals from the company that does the wooden angels for all occasions (shoot, can't think of the name). While I'm at it ... I CAN'T STAND to see the wise men in a nativity scene!! They didn't find Jesus until He was 2 years old, for Pete's sake...so put them waaaaay over on the other side of the house that they can make a journey of it!

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Both. If I have your e-mail address, you'll probably get an e-mail; family and friends w/o e-mail get cards.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? OK...I'm serious here...no joke...My dear grandma was a very frugal gal, having lived through the Depression she was always thinking of USEFUL things to give. The first CHRISTmas we were married she gave us a can of Crisco w/a bow on top!! lol

17. Favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night and I Wonder as I Wander. I have a really beautiful arrangement of 'I Wonder...' that I worked out on my hammered dulcimer.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? We have our OWN family CHRISTmas on CHRISTmas Eve morning - when the girls were little we were always rushing all over the place and we weren't making OUR OWN memories and they couldn't enjoy their news clothes or toys. So, when our oldest was about 5 we started our own tradition on the day before.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year. The emphasis on Santa and stores putting up CHRISTmas - eh hem - I mean 'holiday' decorations BEFORE halloween!!

CHRISTmas Memories

The holidays are near so I want to know...

1.
Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Hot chocolate!

2.
Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Nope, never did the Santa-thing. Jesus supplies the gifts – that’s what we’ve always told them.

3.
Colored lights on tree/house or white?
White

4.
Do you hang mistletoe?
yes

5.
When do you put your decorations up?
always right after Thanksgiving :)

6.
What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
My mom’s stuffing.

7.
Favorite holiday memory as a child:
When I was about 11, I couldn’t sleep one Christmas Eve night and I had my radio on. It was about 2a.m. and Nat King Cole’s “Chestnuts Roasting” came on while huge, fluffy snowflakes floated down outside my windows. Ahhhh.

8.
When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
2^nd or 3^rd grade.
9.
Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Yes. So that OUR family can make our own Christmas memories, we open our own presents on Christmas Eve morning so that it’s not interrupted by having to leave to go to someone’s house.

10.
How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?
We got a new Christmas tree last year that is very real-looking w/just a little ‘snow’ and pinecones on it. We put away many of our more trendy ornaments for the girls to have one of these days and now only use the more vintage and backwoods-looking ornaments. It’s very rustic and I LOVE IT!!
11.
Snow! Love it or Dread it?
I love snow...especially when I’m inside looking out!

12.
Can you ice skate?
That’s up for interpretation…I’ve roller skated all my life and only ice skated once.

Christmas of 1998, Ty got me my hammered dulcimer!!

14.
What is the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
Remembering God's gift to us in His Son Jesus and having my family all together for Christmas.

15.
What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
Pumpkin pie and red velvet cake.

16.
What is your favorite holiday tradition?
The big family meal – everyone together and happy.

17.
What tops your tree?
A rustic star

18.
Which do you prefer giving or receiving?
Definitely giving

19.
What is your favorite Christmas Song?
O Holy Night and I Wonder as I Wander

21.
What do you want for Christmas?
A digital camera

22.
Do you attend an annual Christmas Party?
Ty’s work and – if can call it a party – our annual Christmas Eve service.

When I was little we dressed up for the meal. Now we just wear ‘nice’ jeans and maybe a ‘dress’ blouse/shirt or sweater.

25.
Who do you normally spend Christmas with?
Our family ~~ Christmas Eve day is for our own family; the weekend before Christmas day is w/Ty’s side of the family, Christmas Day is usually w/my side of the family.

Wishing I had more time to post here to ya'll

We are living here in Linden, or should I say south of Linden. Its beautiful here in fall but boy it sure feels more like winter already. Tonights low is 15 and we have been 2 weeks with no furnace due to the electrical fire in it . We have rented a 14x60 2 bedroom 2 bath. Now imagine me trying to sort through all the stuff that we brought with us from our 2200 sq ft house, after getting rid of half of it. We only brought our beds and my sewing stuff and my soap stuff and my homeschool stuff, crib, changing table, porta crib, high chair, fold up tables and 2 folding chairs, 2 bins of toys that were left of the girls ( baby dolls and tea set, little people house and farm, noahs ark and play set.) All the bathroom, kithen stuff and what food I could bring with us. I am sorta set on baking supplies for a month maybe less and it seems that I only run low on milk and meat, potatoes and those things that come from a garden. Since we were moving we didnt really plant a huge garden as we wouldnt be there to can things. We left for TN Aug. 2nd. I did have meat in the freezer but it was not able to travel down with us , what I tried to bring spoiled on the way down though packed good. Yes I brought my electric sewing machine and serger and vacume and our computers. ( 2 desktops and one laptop with wifi capabilities)

Well the point is we thought we were coming down with less and yet in the RV and in this smaller home it seems like alot of stuff. So what is really needed anyways ? Well as I sort through it all much is going in boxes to be sold. To raise money for other needed things. ie. land, cabin or small home, wood cookstove. After all that was the idea, to move here and eventually get land and homestead more then we had been in NY. Somehow living the countrylife no longer seems like homesteading once you have visited many here that life off the grid and have built their own home, rustic as they are, they are home and boy they seem nice to me. What is life all about anyways ? Was it about nice rooms with painted and papered walls ? Was it about having a nice bathroom with all the fixtures and such ? No, it is nice to see an outhouse now with paper holder, a light in there and ya know what ? copies of countryside and a real toiet seat !!!! Fancy huh !!!!

Some here have solar, some are living no electric substitute at all and each encourages us to strive toward whatever the Lord tells us is for us to do and each gives "My use to be DH who said we will never go non-electric and we will never live like the Amish" A new vision for our lives. The first goal was to live on what money we do have or can make and live on less or with less. Unless it can make you more money or serves a purpose that is useful, it has no real value here. ( I will admit I have my country tins, crock, and rooster things with me, but they serve a purpose too. My rose bowl and pitcher and my tea set will be used not just sit on a shelf for looks anylonger. Here DH has a shed to keep his tools in and we can keep our goats here. All the new ways are blessings and those we meet are the best blessings in our new life here in Linden TN. The likemindedness is in the fact that Jesus died for each of us and though we are each different in our degree of living the life of plain and simple living, we are all sharing the fact that Jesus died for us to save our souls.

Wensday night we attended a local sing, the glorious sound of our blended voices while we blend our lives in friendship I am sure is the most wonderful thing to the Lord God.

Trigger Memory Systems -- Clean N' Flip Charts

I've heard about the Trigger Memory Systems Clean N' Flip Charts for several years, and I'm glad I was finally able to see them and try them with my children.

When we received the Clean N' Flip Charts, my children said, "We don't need those. We know how to clean the house." I looked at them and said, "Then why do I always have to point out things you missed or need to re-do?" Well, a few days later we were able to put it to the test. I informed the children that I wanted the entire house cleaned, and vacuumed! My 11 yo organizer quickly ran for the charts and put herself in charge.

The children raided my laundry basket stack and went to work. They cleaned the living room together, following the system. Then they moved into the dining/school room, and the kitchen. They even picked up their bedrooms! As a room was cleaned, the assigned person went in and vacuumed the room. My 7 yo son emptied the trash in each room, as well. He's been keeping an eye on the cans and emptying them ever since then ... a miracle since my children usually pile the living room trash can so high it overflows onto the floor.

And the best part was ... I didn't have to say anything. I didn't have to follow them around or point out things they had missed. There weren't toys lingering under chairs or in the corners of the room. It was clean. My children are known to respond to a direction to pick up by saying, "What? It's clean already. Why do we have to pick up?" Then I have to point out the mess to them. So, it was a blessing to have them truly clean the house, without any effort on my part.

As an added bonus, my 13 yo daughter has decided to try to do the laundry for me. She still wants me to watch her load and start the washing machine, but the Laundry for Kids chart gave her confidence that she could do it herself. Now I just need to simplify my array of laundry products for her.

I'm sure that it won't always be this easy. In the future there will likely be feet-dragging and complaining again. But the Clean N' Flip charts do work. They break the task of cleaning down into easy to follow steps for our kids.

I have friends who have made their own "how to clean a room" charts. They've printed them and laminated them, or put them in page protectors in a 3-ring binder. They've then taught them to their children, and actually used them. I know it can be done. But I am full of good intentions and not always the follow-through. It can also be difficult to discern how to break it down into steps without being too detailed, or leaving things out. Trigger Memory Systems has done a good job of dividing the jobs into easy clear steps ... and they followed through with creating the system, so I don't have to.

There are three sturdy write-on/wipe-off spiral bound flip-charts: Zone cleaning for Kids, Bedroom Cleaning for Kids, and Laundry for Kids. Zone Cleaning for Kids covers the living room, dining room, kitchen, and bathroom. A set of all 3 is available at a savings for $29.95, or you can buy them individually: Bedroom Cleaning for Kids or Laundry for Kids flip charts are $7.95 each, and Zone Cleaning for Kids is $17.95.

Right now, Trigger Memory Systems is offering a special. If you order their Times Tales Deluxe OR the Zone Cleaning for Kids chart, you get one Bedroom Cleaning for Kids chart FREE. You just need to enter FREEFLIP in the comments section during your order process. Not in the coupon code section, but the comments section.

(Psst! I did the math for you. If you buy the Zone Cleaning for Kids, and the Laundry for Kids, then get Bedroom Cleaning for Kids free ... it is even less than the cost of their 3-pack. Or if you don't think you need the Laundry one ... just buy Zone and get Bedroom free ... for $18. That's a great price! Maybe your kids need some stocking stuffers ... or better yet, maybe MOM needs some stocking stuffers. Speaking of which, these would make a great Mother's Day gift.)

Click the banner at the top to read more reviews on this product by other Homeschool Crew members.

It's giveaway time again! A Christmas Package

I posted once before about all the "free" stuff I receive in the mail from many organizations and charities that I sometimes donate to. Well once again I have an abundance of items that I will not be using. This times it's Christmas cards and gift labels. I am not the type of person that throws ANYTHING away. I always try to find another use for it or another home for things.

So I thought with times being the way they are and just yesterday on the blog someone mentioned that they can not afford to buy or mail cards this year, I thought I would offer a package that may be helpful to someone.

Sorry I don't have a picture, my camera is still not working, I'm so lost without it too. So if anyone is interested in these items just leave a comment here on my blog. If I should get more than one comment I will draw a winner from the bunch. I will let this ride over the weekend and pull on Monday morning. Hope this is helpful to someone.

Recipe Hit List: 12 Homemade Bread Recipes...TIPNUT!!

Recipe Hit List: 12 Homemade Bread Recipes

Freshly baked homemade bread, still warm with real butter and topped with some homemade strawberry jam or slices of thick cheese, delicious! Homemade bread is not only heavenly, it’s a frugal treat made with wholesome ingredients and no added preservatives. This week’s Recipe Hit List is a collection of a variety of breads: White, Oat, Rye, Whole Wheat and more. Enjoy!

Cold Here in Montana

We have had such a temperate fall that cooler temps and a tiny bit of snow makes for a change. The woodstove is even more appealing on these cold days and nights. I'm thinking this winter I will do more cooking on the woodstove.

Today I did some cleaning for an 80 year old friend as I do every other week. She is preparing for some Thanksgiving guests and wants her house to be in order. Although she has family in town, her husband has Alzheimer's disease, so she enjoys some conversation. She is very intelligent and has a great sense of humor, so spending time at her house is a pleasure.

She lives near Jonny's school, making it easy for me to walk over and have lunch with him.

I talked with Maria on the phone last night. She and her two assistant cooks had just finished their end of the semester "Christmas" banquet at Montana Wilderness School of the Bible. She said it went well and everyone had lots of fun. There were plenty of desserts left over and she froze them. I told her to please keep them up there because they would be a terrible temptation for her dad and me, not to mention her brother. She said that baklava was the favorite dessert and some of the others were: coconut bonbons and chocolate covered cherries. All were handmade. Oh my...

We will drive to MWSB on Sunday to loan Maria a vehicle. Last weekend, she was driving and hit a rock, tearing a hole in her oil pan. When her engine ran out of oil, the vehicle stopped moving. She will need a new engine in order to use the car.

We all had visions of dollar signs in our minds, but her insurance will likely pay all but $500 of her repair bill. When David called her to tell her the good news, she said, "Oh, Jesus loves me!"

The library won't be open next Thursday, of course, so I will take this opportunity to wish you all a very blessed Thanksgiving.

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat!

Maybe no one else sings that song, except my sister and I. But we sing it around this time of year, whenever we are thinking about Christmas, and preparing for Christmas.

I've been filling shopping carts and browsing online today. I've got sisters, parents, two nieces and a nephew to shop for. It's fun to window shop from home. I just fill a huge cart and wait for Steve to get home and help me put stuff back on the shelf, figuratively speaking. He helps me set spending limits and decide what to buy, after I've done the brainstorming.

I do enjoy shopping in physical stores, but as our family has grown, and we've become more busy, I've begun to prefer shopping from home, via the internet. It saves me from dragging my kids from store to store in the cold, as they grow more tired and more cranky. I can't lose a toddler or preschooler when I'm shopping from home, either. We don't have to stop to eat out, or waste gas. The kids watch a movie, or play, and I shop. What could be better?

As I speak, my Amazon cart is full, waiting for Steve to review. I wish I had unlimited funds. Most of my kids' toys would be replaced with better quality, more basic, educational, imagination-building toys. Well, one birthday and holiday at a time, I can do that over time.

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat. Please to put a penny in an old man's hat. If you haven't got a penny, a ha-penny will do. If you haven't got a ha-penny, then God bless you!

Hmm ... my guineas are getting fat, but we're not going to roast them. I hope every one else is having a wonderful time preparing for Christmas, too.

A Christian Woman Thinks (And It's Dangerous)

It's time to shop with the bloggers again!

CHRISTmas Questions Part II

CHRISTmas Memories

Wishing I had more time to post here to ya'll

Trigger Memory Systems -- Clean N' Flip Charts

It's giveaway time again! A Christmas Package

Recipe Hit List: 12 Homemade Bread Recipes...TIPNUT!!

Recipe Hit List: 12 Homemade Bread Recipes

Cold Here in Montana

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat!

Great Quote...Benjamin Franklin

About Me

My Time

Links

Categories

Recent Entries

Blogging Buddies

Blinkies!

Blinkies Credits

Graphics

Click above for good online reading for Christian Women - Plus blog goodies

A Christian Woman Thinks(And It's Dangerous)

Copyright 2006, 2007

Christine Slover