I've moved!!

I decided to move things over to Wordpress.  All the same posts plus the new stuff will be on the new blog with a slightly different name. Hope to see you there!

You can find me here!  http://oursafehaven.wordpress.com/

I want to be fabulous!

A Proverbs Wife is challenging us to kick the frumpy mom look out of our lives forever.  The plan is to get dressed everyday as if you have somewhere to go.  Now, I do work outside the home as a preschool teacher. However, it's very easy to get into a slump with how you look.   I tend to go for the comfortable look...jeans, t-shirts, sweatshirts....pretty bland and boring.  But, skirts haven't worked for me because I am up and down off the floor with the children and have a hard time manuevering in skirts. For now, I guess I'm going to have to stick to pants for work.

I also have very thick, curly hair that is very difficult to work with so most days it gets pulled back into a pony tail.

                                 Not too fab looking, huh? 
I've used relaxers most of my life but decided a year ago that I wanted to stop putting the chemicals so close to my brain.  So....I need to figure to out a new look and somehow work with my own hair texture.

    This is my hair right after it's been wet and brushed out. (Sorry for the dark picture).

It's a lot longer and generally what I do is braid it while it's still wet and then take it out while still damp and fluff it. This keeps it from shrinking up so much.

I do have a really good electric flat iron that I use that will straighten it completely. It will last as long as I keep it dry. However, I don't do it very often because it takes a good 45 minutes to and hour to do it because I have so much hair. My arm gets tired! I've been toying with the idea of cutting it short, but dh likes it long. Plus, years ago I did cut it pretty short and everytime it got wet it shrank up past my ears! not a very good look....
I did wear it down several days last week and got lots of compliments at work. I think the change is good.
A Proverbs Wife is going to continue the challenge in March. I'm looking forward to it because I have some other changes I'd like to try.

Family Nutrition

One of my goals for this year is to eat healthier.  I deliberately left it a vague because I wasn't sure what changes I wanted to make.  I tend to start out with hugely drastic goals and then give up because it's too much.  This time I've picked one goal for for this month.  I want us to eat more fruits and vegetables.  So... I've put up a chart for each family member to check off how many servings are eaten each day.  My hope is that this will make us more aware what we are eating.

I'm linking this post up to Coming Clean: Confessions of An Imperfect Parent: Mission Family Nutrition.

Bible in 90 Days~Leadership

Has anyone noticed that a huge issue in the Bible is a lack of leadership?

How many times were things going well for God's people when there was someone in charge who kept reminding them to follow God's Laws.  But, as soon as that leader passed on another one would take his place....and the majority of them 'did evil in the eyes of the Lord.

It's Day 35 in the Read the Bible in 90 Days Challenge and we are reading in Nehemiah.  Nehmiah turns things around and gets the people to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and begin again to follow God's Laws.

But, what happens as soon as heads goes back to the kings castle?  One of the priests does something he's not supposed to do...from there it's downhill all over again....

The same thing is happening today.  The breakdown begins with the people who are in charge...they want to do whatever they can to keep everyone happy (lobbyists?).  If they have no set rules for themselves (how many of our leaders are faithful followers of the Bible?)  They end up going wherever the wind blows them (or the money directs them...).  This is when a country or city or even a family begins to fall apart.

Strong leaders are needed now more than ever to inspire and to guide....

730/365 Decluttering Challenge

It's already been a month since Amy over at The Finer Things in Life set up a decluttering challenge.  My goal is to do 2 items a day so that by the end of the year I will have gotten rid of 730 items.  So far I've said goodbye to 44 pieces of STUFF.  I know, I know...it should be 64 items by now...but, I'm getting there.  One thing I've discovered is that it's easier to help someone else get rid of their things than it is to get rid of your own.  Lots of sentimental value in our things...

I've been doing some organizing as I've been going along. I'll put up some pictures in another post.

Eat From The Pantry Challenge~Last Days

The Eat From the Pantry Challenge is now officially over, but, we could keep eating from the pantry if we needed to.  I'm feeling pretty good about that.  I did go over my $75 budget.  I knew that was kind of low...guess I was being a little overly ambitious.  I ended up spending $125.  That $125 included 2 days of eating pizza out...once because it was just an incredibly long and exhausting day and once because my knee was acting up so much that cooking was just not going to happen.  It also was because of an unexpected visit from family that required extra drinks and fresh veggies.  That is one of the best things about having a pantry...I was able to whip up spaghetti, biscuits, salad and a cake with 15 minutes notice that they were coming. 

My most important goal was to clear out my freezer and use up older items in my pantry.  I definitely succeeded there.  The last of the frozen meat I wanted to use up is in the oven cooking.  I also used up some flour and grains that were getting older.

Another goal was to get things more organized.  Still not completely there yet, but I have a much better idea of what I have to get to my goal of a year supply of what wee need.

Outback Restaurant

Dh took me to an Outback Restaurant last night for a date night.  This was a first time for me.  Can I just say that their food is outstanding!  They served us these little loaves of a dark bread first.  I remember looking at it and wondering if the bread was going to be hard.  Not at all.  It was soft and had a slightly sweet taste.  Dh and I ate almost 3 loaves of it.  Can we say...piggie, piggies? 
For the main meal I had a 7 oz. sirloin steak, garlic mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetable.  The steak had this exceptionally yummy seasoning and was so tender the meat practically shredded as I cut it.  The seasonal vegetables were a mix of the freshest broccoli, carrots and squash. And the garlic mashed potatoes?  Oh my, my... I am a huge mashed potato fan...could eat them everyday.  These mashed potatoes were outstanding.  Every bite was a wonderful mix of potatoes and garlic.  My hips don't want to know how many calories I had...I just know that I am definitely going back again! 
Big thumbs up Outback!