Happy Homemaker Monday - June 27, 2011

I'm linking up today with Diary of a Stay at Home Mom and Happy Homemaker Monday.

The weather in my neck of the woods:

It's is the 60s right now. Forecast is for high 60s and rain AGAIN.




Things that make me happy:

I'm purging one cabinet or drawer a day. I despise clutter, but is so easy to let it accumulate during the school year. Summer is my time to fling.

Book I'm reading:

I'm devouring Raising Your Spirited Child. It seems all of our kids would fall under one aspect of being spirited or the other. I'm finding it helpful to share it with Goat Princess, our fourteen-year-old. It's good to know you are not alone.

What's on my TV today:

Not much as usual.

On the menu for dinner:

I still have a portion of sturgeon left from hubby's fishing trip last week. Time to be creative with it. Far tastier eating it fresh than freezing it for later.

On my To Do List:

The u-pick fields are just now opening for strawberries. We pick an awful lot every year and freeze them. Today the girls have dentist appointments and one has a CYT Bible study right after dinner, so the trip to the berry field might have to wait until tomorrow.

New Recipe I tried or want to try soon:

The broccoli in the garden is ready. I clipped a recipe from a magazine with an Asian twist to try.

In the craft basket:

These are the coolest looking reversible bags/totes. I would love to find time to make them.

Source: sewmamasew.com via Connie on Pinterest

Looking forward to this week:

Getting those berries in the freezer, weekly activities with our church, and finalizing H-Bob's fourth grade curriculum for next year.

Tips and Tricks:

I use a tremendous amount of garlic in the kitchen and prefer to use fresh cloves than the bottled variety even though it's a pain to work with. The easiest way I've found to handle it is to thinly slice off the root end, lay the clove flat on the cutting board, smash it with side of the blade of my largest knife which then allows me to just slip off the skin so that I can begin chopping. Works for me.

My favorite blog post this week:

This isn't a new post, but new to me...great looking social media icons that I updated my blog with. Now to find one for Pinterest...

Blog Hopping:

SmileMonsters.blogspot.com

No words needed:



Lesson learned the past few days:

It is wise to just stop what you are doing and be sure your child knows you are intently listening to what they are sharing with you. By far too easy to just, uh-huh, yeah, right, and then...what did you say? I've been guilty far too many times. It's not worth it.

On my mind:

I've been realizing that it is my job to know my kids inside and out. There is no one else who has been given that responsibility other than me. If it means I need to take the extra step to see things from their point of view, then so be it.

Devotionals, Scripture Reading, Key Verses:

From my devotional that I have sent to my feed reader daily:

Allowing frustration to make us impatient with others can tangle up our lives in a hurry. It creates messes that we have to go back and clean up later. How much better it would be to respond to someone’s unkind or thoughtless remark with kind words or even silence, rather than with a hurtful or mean reply. With the Lord’s help, we can do just that. Whatever situation we are presented with, we can respond by following the instructions given in God’s Word, and then wait patiently for Him to do the rest. It pays to be patient!

Enjoy your week!