Merry Christmas!

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101 Things Update

Here is my 101 Things Update from August:

Finish reading the Old Testament

I finished the book of Nehemiah. What a great commentary on godly leadership!

Finish paying off debts

We are now completely debt free! Stay tuned for a post about our debt-free story.

Finish my list of songs organized by literacy concept

Although this will never truly be done, I have a great reference list for every rhythmic, melodic, and comparative concept I teach.

Memorize an entire chapter from the Bible

I am working on Matthew chapter 6.

Find a pair of jeans at a thrift store that actually fit me

I found a brand new pair of Gloria Vanderbilt dressy jeans at the flea market. They are too long, but they fit everywhere else. I say that counts.

Read 24 new fiction books

I read The Secret, The Missing, and The Telling by Beverly Lewis. New total 13/24.

Read 12 new non-fiction books

I read The Ultimate Cheapskate's Roadmap to True Riches by Jeff Yeager. New total 8/12.

101 Things Update

Here is my 101 Things update from July.

Start a Bible Treasure Box

I have started my box by writing a weekly Bible verse and daily prayer requests on index cards. Mom is bringing me an antique wooden recipe box when she comes to visit.

Finish reading the Old Testament

I finished the book of Ezra.

Finish paying off debts

We are now $3,500 from being debt free!

Learn how to make homemade crackers

I tried them and they were great the first day but lost the crunch on the proceeding days. I'll have to work on that!

Read 24 new fiction books

I read The Shack by Wm. Paul Young and The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis. New total: 10/24.

Read 12 new non-fiction books

I read Best Practices for Children's Ministry by Andrew Ervin, Crossing Over by Ruth Irene Garrett, The Cheapskate Next Door by Jeff Yeager, and My Lucky Life in and Out of Show Business by Dick Van Dyke. New total 7/12.

Make Cream of Anything Soup Mix

I have made this but haven't tried it yet.

Re-read The Chronicles of Narnia

I have read the first 3 books.

Beans: A Love/Hate Relationship

For as long as I can remember, I have disliked beans. Much to my mother's chagrin, if I even suspected beans might be a part of the dish set before me, I quickly went on a search and destroy mission before they could ruin the rest of my food.

This continued into adulthood. Enter my quest for a frugal, more natural lifestyle. I remember the day my relationship with beans took a turn for the better. I was reading The Tightwad Gazette, aka the frugalista bible, and there it was in print: You will never be able to hit a rock-bottom grocery budget unless you incorporate dried beans into your diet. (My paraphrase)

If anything could convince me to give beans another try, this was it! That statement hit me right in the pocket book!

I started with lentils because they are so small and tend to take on the flavor and the consistency of whatever food you combine them with. I hit a roadblock, however, when I couldn't think of anything else to do with them besides putting them in soup. When an occasional idea did come to mind, I would end up not wanting to mess with re-hydrating the beans (even through this isn't that difficult with lentils) and would end up just leaving them out. Don't laugh. I know that re-hydrating lentils is no big deal, but you have to understand that my brain is still looking for any little excuse to forego those little buggers!

As I began reading about homemade convenience foods, I saw that a number of families create their own "canned" beans buy cooking dried beans in bulk and freezing them so that they can throw them into whatever is on the stove without any prior planning. I decided to give this a try by following directions I found here. I am looking forward to adding my pre-cooked beans into not only soups, but also skillet dishes, casseroles, and ground beef. This will stretch and add nutrition to many of the common meals we fix. What's not to love about the convenience of canned beans at the price of dried?

Do you like beans? How do you prepare them? What foods do you like to freeze and have on hand?

Make Your Own...Disposable Towel Mop Refills

When buying cleaning products for the home, I generally ask myself two questions. 1) Is this something I can create using items I already have at home, and 2) Will buying this item require ongoing "refill" purchases?

Several years ago, before I began to consider these things, I bought a "disposable towel mop" (I'm not a fan of using brand names, but I'll give you three guesses at the common brand name) and would buy a box of refills every couple months. Yes, it was convenient, but it also had an ongoing cost that is not emphasized in the marketing of the product. When I stopped buying the refills, the mop just sat for a while until I realized I could create the refill cloths myself at very little cost.

I bought a stack of plain white cheapo wash rags that I use for various cleaning tasks. All I have to do is take one out of the drawer, fill up the sink with cleaning solution and water (until my cleaning solution runs out, at which point I'll use the ever-versatile vinegar and water solution), soak the rag, and wrap it around the mop head. When it begins to dry out, I stick it the sink, wring it out, and apply it to the mop again.

The other day as I was mopping, it occurred to me that if I wanted the scrubby strip Swiffer refills offer, I could simply buy some of those rags with the scrub side built in, which would achieve the same purpose when folded over the top of the mop.

This method is no less convenient than using the real deal refills, and it eliminates the ongoing cost of owning a disposable towel mop.

By the way, steam mops operate using pretty much the same principle. They come with several cloth mop heads that you detach, wash, and reuse. My mother-in-law got me a steam mop for Christmas that I love, but I still use my disposable towel mop once in a while when I want to clean the floor with some kind of solution.

You don't need a lot of fancy products to clean your home. You just need to allow yourself to think outside the box!

Memorable Quotes from The Shack - Part III

If you missed Memorable Quotes from The Shack - Parts I & II, click here to check them out! Here is the final installment of thought-provoking quotes from this mind-blowing book by Wm. Paul Young.

ON WHY GOD "ALLOWS" EVIL IN THE WORLD

"'All evil flows from independence, and independence is your choice. If I were to simply revoke all the choices of independence, the world as you know it would cease to exist and love would have no meaning. This world is not a playground where I keep all my children free from evil. Evil is the chaos of this age that you brought to me, but it will not have the final say. Now it touches everyone I love, those who follow me and those who don't. If I take away the consequences of people's choices, I destroy the possibility of love. Love that is forced is no love at all.'" (p. 207)

ON RELIGIOUS RULES

"'It is true that relationships are a whole lot messier than rules, but rules will never give you answers to the deep questions of the heart, and they will never love you.'

'...I'm realizing how few answers I have...to anything. You know, you've turned me upside down or inside out or something.'

'Mackenzie, religion is about having the right answers, and some of its answers are right. But I am about the process that takes you to the living answer, and once you get to him, he will change you from the inside. There are a lot of smart people who are able to say a lot of right things from their brains because they have been told what the right answers are, but they don't know me at all.'" (p. 215-216)

ON THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

"'Why do you think we came up with the Ten Commandments?'

'...I suppose, at least I have been taught, that it's a set of rules you expected humans to obey in order to live righteously in your good graces.'

'If that were true, which it is not,...then how many do you think lived righteously enough to enter our good graces?'

'Not very many, if people are like me,' Mack observed.

'Actually, only one succeeded--Jesus. He not only obeyed the letter of the Law but fulfilled the spirit of it completely. But understand this, Mackenzie--to do that he had to rest fully and dependently upon me.'

'Then why did you give us those commandments?' asked Mack.

'Actually, we wanted you to give up trying to be righteous on your own. It was a mirror to reveal just how filthy your face gets when you live independently.'

'But as I'm sure you know, there are many,' responded Mack, 'who think they are made righteous by following the rules,'

'But can you clean your face with the same mirror that shows you how dirty you are? There is no mercy or grace in rules, not even for one mistake. That's why Jesus fulfilled all of it for you--so that it no longer has jurisdiction over you. And the Law that once contained impossible demands...actually becomes a promise we fulfill in you.'" (p. 220-221)

GOD WANTS ALL OF YOU

"'You see, Mackenzie, I don't just want a piece of you and a piece of your life. Even if you were able, which you are not, to give me the biggest piece,that is not what I want. I want all of you and all of every part of you and your day.'

Jesus now spoke again. 'Mack, I don't want to be first among a list of values; I want to be at the center of everything. When I live in you, then together we can live through everything that happens to you. Rather than the top of a pyramid, I want to be the center of a mobile, where everything in your life--your friends, family, occupation, thoughts, activities--is connected to me but moves with the wind, in and out and back and forth, in an incredible dance of being.'" (p. 226)

This book has enriched my relationship with Jesus in a very special way. I pray that you will seek out God's Word, first and foremost, but that you will also open your heart to literature that points the way to Christ, the Living Word, and allows you to grow in your relationship with him.

Will you give yourself to the Lord Jesus today? You are his precious child, his treasure, and he is ESPECIALLY FOND OF YOU.