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.

Memorable Quotes from The Shack - Part II

If you missed Memorable Quotes from The Shack - Part I, click here to check it out! Here are four more thought-provoking quotes from this mind-blowing book by Wm. Paul Young.

ON SCIENCE

"'That is the wonder and adventure of exploration, a piece of what you call science--to discern and discover what we have hidden for you to find.'

'So why did you hide it?' Mack inquired.

'Why do children love to play hide and seek? Ask any person who has a passion to explore and discover and create. The choice to hide so many wonders from you is an act of love that is a gift inside the process of life.'" (p. 139)

ON THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

"'I mean, look at this mess.' His gaze moved over the garden that surrounded them. 'But it really is beautiful, and full of you, Sarayu [author's name for the Holy Spirit]. Even though it seems like lots of work still needs to be done, I feel strangely at home and comfortable here.'

The two looked at each other and grinned.

Sarayu stepped toward him until she had invaded his personal space. 'And well you should, Mackenzie, because this garden is your soul. This mess is you! Together, you and I, we have been working with a purpose in your heart. And it is wild and beautiful and perfectly in process. To you it seems like a mess, but I see and perfect pattern emerging and growing and alive...'" (p. 146)

ON GOD AS SERVANT

"'Why would the God of the universe want to be submitted to me?'

'Because we want you to join us in our circle of relationship. I don't want slaves to do my will; I want brothers and sisters who will share life with me.'

'And that's how you want us to love one another, I suppose? I mean between husbands and wives, parents and children. I guess in any relationship?'

'Exactly! When I am your life, submission is the most natural expression of my character and nature, and it will be the most natural expression of your new nature within relationships.'" (p. 155)

ON MALES AND FEMALES

"'But you came in the form of a man. Doesn't that say something?'

'Yes, but not what many have assumed. I came as a man to complete a wonderful picture in how we made you. From the first day we hid the woman within the man, so that at the right time we could remove her from within him. We didn't create man to live alone; she was purposed from the beginning. By taking her out of him, he birthed her in a sense. We created a circle of relationship, like our own, but for humans. She, out of him, and now all the males, including me [Jesus] birthed through her, and all originating, or birthed, from God.'" (p. 158)

Memorable Quotes from The Shack - Part I

When my hubby and I went to the bookstore the other night, we agreed to pick out one book each. I chose The Shack by Wm. Paul Young, a book that has received plenty of positive and negative press. Not being one to turn away from controversy, I decided to give it a try. Just two days after I brought it home, I had read the whole thing. I couldn't put it down. It has given me a new perspective on how God relates to me.

Over the course of several blog posts, I would like to share some especially meaningful quotes from the book.

ON THE NATURE OF GOD

"The problem is that many folks try to grasp some sense of who I am by taking the best version of themselves, projecting that to the nth degree, factoring in all the goodness they can perceive, which often isn't much, and then calling that God. And while it may seem like a noble effort, the truth is that it falls pitifully short of who I really am. I'm not merely the best version of you that you can think of. I am far more than that, above and beyond all that you can ask or think." (p. 100)

ON THE NATURE OF THE TRINITY

"'But what difference does it make that there are three of you, and you are all one God?...'

...'it makes all the difference in the world...We are not three gods, and we are not talking about one god with three attitudes, like a man who is a husband, father, and worker. I am one God and I am three persons, and each of the three is fully and entirely the one...All love and relationship is possible for you only because it already exists within me, within God myself.'" (p. 103)

ON HOW GOD RELATES TO MAN

"'Now here I am telling you about my kids and my friends and about Nan, but you already know everything I am telling you, don't you? You're acting like it's the first time you've heard it.'

'Remember that choosing to stay on the ground is a choice to facilitate a relationship, to honor it. Mackenzie, you do this yourself. You don't play a game or color a picture with a child to show your superiority. Rather, you choose to limit yourself so as to facilitate and honor that relationship...We have limited ourselves out of respect for you. We are not bringing to mind, as it were, our knowledge of your children. As we are listening to you, it is as if this is the first time we have known about them, and we take great delight in seeing them through your eyes...Relationships are never about power, and one way to avoid the will to hold power over another is to choose to limit oneself--to serve.'" (p. 109)

IMPLICATIONS FOR RELATING TO UNSAVED PERSONS

"'Mackenzie, you cannot produce trust, just as you cannot 'do' humility. It either is or is not. Trust is the fruit of a relationship in which you know you are loved. Because you do not know that I love you, you cannot trust me.'" (p. 132)

*I am not a book reviewer or advertiser. I am writing about this book simply because I want to share what God is teaching me through it.

101 Things Update

Here is my 101 Things Update for the months of April, May, and June. Yikes! I'm behind!

Finish paying off debts

We are now about $5,600 from being debt free!

Watch the entire series of Lost

Done! I still maintain that this is the best TV drama ever made.

Finish the Harry Potter series

I have now read books 1-6. Just the 7th to go!

Complete my Kodaly Certification

I am now a Kodaly-certified music educator!

Hide a random love note for Seth to find

On Seth's birthday, I wrote "I love you" and "Happy Birthday" on his shampoo and body wash bottles with a Sharpie marker. I think it was a fun surprise for him!

Read 24 new fiction books

I read Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling, As Sure as the Dawn by Francine Rivers, The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis, and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. New total 8/24.

Have 24 date nights

We went to Evansville for a date a few nights ago. We often watch a movie together or cook dinner together, but I'm counting only planned, intentional date nights. New total 2/24.

Learn a new word and use it in a conversation

I learned the word debacle and have used it several times already. What a fun word!

Make hummus

This tastes pretty good and makes a great snack. I'm looking for a substitute for tahini, however. I left it out altogether and it definitely needs something. I've heard natural peanut butter is similar?

Re-read The Chronicles of Narnia

I have read the first two books. I'm enjoying them more as an adult than I did as a kid.

Make Your Own...Self Watering Flower Pot

Last year I bought several small flower pots on closeout for something like 79 cents each. Since developing more of a green thumb, I have learned that as cute as these pots are, they tend to kill plants quickly due to their lack of drainage holes. Pots with proper drainage, however, tend to be more expensive and not as cute.

Enter...yogurt tubs! We get a lot of mileage out of these at our house. In fact, I believe the yogurt tub featured in the picture used to hold homemade pizza sauce. Here is yet another use for them. Cut some holes in the bottom and si

des of the tub. Pot your plant inside the tub and then set the tub inside your pretty but impractical pot. This creates a self-watering container. I am sure this would work well with bigger tubs (like ones for bulk potato salad, etc.) and bigger pots, although I haven't tried it.

Now you can enjoy your pretty, healthy plant in its cute pot!