Cleaning out the trash

Challenge #3 for making my home a haven is about clearing out the clutter.  Uh oh.

As it turns out, Hub asked me, nicely, if I would mind paying a little extra attention to the housework this week in anticipation of his hosting a poker game.  Being the nice wife I usually am, I said, "sure."  As the week went on, though, I admit that I started to grow a little resentment over the task.  I mean, it's definitely sad that he has to ask me to do it.  That just shows you how much I've been excelling at housework lately.  But it started to bother me that he doesn't have the expectations for every day.  I'm not saying that I want him breathing down my neck. But I was all, "why doesn't he want it nice for US!?"

You might be laughing at me right now.  Because, of course, I figured out that (as usual) I'm the problem here.  I'm the one who doesn't think we're worth it.  I can pretend I'm too busy but really, I'm justifying myself.  Not in a good way, mind you.  I am pretty sure I could give up a day of Facebook and magically find the time to clean a whole lot of stuff!  I waste a lot of time.  I know that.  I promise that I'm working on it.

So as Courtney writes in her challenge, we're asked to clean out some physical clutter.  We should contain a mess, perhaps with a nice basket.  Or get rid of it.  I am of the getting-rid-of variety.  And so, really, Hub's request has come at the perfect time.  I've spent the last week decluttering.  And, honestly, it's been great.  I am big fan of less stuff!  My home looks nicer and I like being here more.

The second part of the challenge is decluttering our spiritual lives.  Oh dear.  That's a big one, isn't it?  So after reading this, I suppose one thing I have to confess is my bad attitude (as ever) and laziness.  Again, as always.  Oh, laziness.  That's a whole post in itself.

I'm looking forward to the last challenge.  I'm noticing a big difference in my attitude, and have definitely found myself praying over our home more than ever before.

  

Breakfast of Champions, Ya'll

Best picture I could get.  I'm a horrible photographer.

I was refilling my flour container and my sorghum jar was suddenly right in front of my face.  I love sorghum.

Are you wondering what I'm talking about?  I don't really ever see it around here, as I live in yankee territory. I think it's more of a southern food.  Sorghum is a tasty syrup that's similar to molasses.  Here's the wikipedia article.  My jar came from Missouri, but was made in Iowa.

I haven't tried subbing regular blackstrap molasses for the sorghum in this recipe, but feel free to try it.  Maybe maple syrup would work, too.  If you can get sorghum, this is a good recipe.  Would I lie to you?

Carrot Muffins
adapted from Maasdam Sorghum Mills recipe

1 1/2 c. flour
1/4 c. packed brown sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. shredded carrots
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 c. plus 2 tbsp. sorghum, separated
1/3 c. melted butter

Preheat oven to 350.  In bowl, sift together dry ingredients.  Stir in carrots.  In separate bowl, combine beaten eggs, 1/2 c. sorghum, and butter.  Stir wet mixture into dry ingredients just until combined.  Don't over mix!  Grease muffin tin and fill 3/4 full.  Drizzle remaining 2 tbsp. sorghum over tops.  Bake 18-20 minutes.  Cool 5 minutes, then pop out of pan.

The Flour Children LOVED these.  So did their mom.  Hub is still at work, so his are set aside.  Though Funny keeps threatening to eat them.

I'm a saucy girl

I've been making my own spaghetti sauce for a few years now.  I'm not talking about chopping and saucing tomatoes, as I feel that's way too much work and I like my tomatoes to be turned into salsa.  This recipe is SUPER easy.  Really, it's kind of lazy.  It's very good and also cheap.

Easy Pasta Sauce

2 giant cans of crushed tomatoes (I mean the Costco/Sam's size, here.  Mine are 105 oz. each)
whole head of garlic (yes, all the cloves from a whole head.  I guess if you hate garlic, you have bigger problems.)
pepper, to taste
salt, to taste
oregano (I used dried, about a tbsp)
basil (Again, I only had dried, about a tbsp)
1 tbsp. sugar

if you like them, and if you have them:
chopped onion (at least one whole onion, or more)
chopped peppers



I usually don't saute the veggies, as that seems like work with this recipe.

Combine it all in a giant crock pot.  I think mine is 6 qt, so obviously (I hope), you may want to halve this recipe for your crock pot.

Turn it on low and put the lid on so it gets hot.  Once it's hot (about 20-30 minutes), fix the lid so it's ajar in order to let steam evaporate.  I cook mine overnight for about 8-10 hours.  Once it cools, freeze in ziploc bags.  They'll stack nicely in your freezer.

By the way, these cans of tomatoes cost $2.69 each at Costco.  We'll say I've used $2 worth of other ingredients.  Maybe.  (I didn't have peppers this time.)  For less than $5 you can have something much better than you can buy at the store, and in greater quantity.

Make Your Home a Haven Week 2

I'm wrapping up week 2 of the challenge to make my home a haven.  Week 2 was all about gentleness.  We were to continue praying for peace, which I did, only I quit using the candle.  Yes, I'm just that cheap.  Would Courtney, our fearless leader, frown at that?  I don't know.

This week we were asked to play quiet music in our homes, and work on the way that we speak to our family.  I play music almost every day, anyway, so that part was so easy.  I used Pandora, and just played a couple of stations that I have made.  One of them was classical and the other was Christian, with artists like J.J. Heller, Sara Groves, and Chris Rice.

As for the gentleness aspect of the challenge...  I see that some people in my home are not talking to one another in a nice way.  I promise that I tried to speak in a gentle manner.  And I tried to encourage the kids to be gentle as well.  This one is really a challenge for me, in particular.  I have nothing to do but keep working at it.

The next challenge has to do with cleaning out clutter.  Uh oh.

Peace like a river

 I'm a little late following up with this.  Week one of the challenge was to light a candle and then every time I saw it, I was to pray for peace in my home.  I am a big believer in prayer, but I admit to thinking the candle thing was super hokey.  I have candles.  But they are for when the power goes out.  I don't normally just burn them to burn them.  They aren't cheap.  (I hold out for expensive non-toxic candles.)  But, I had agreed to do the challenge, so I did it.

I was shocked to learn that it actually made a huge difference in the tone of my home.  Go figure!

On Monday, I lit a candle and put it in the kitchen, because I'm in and out of there all day long.  Every time I saw it, I prayed, "Lord, give us peace."  Or, "Lord, fill our home with peace."  Something like that.  I noticed that as the day progressed, my prayer became, "Thank you for Your peace."  It seems that focusing all day on peace, and on being proactive, rather than reactive, had quite an impact.  The only day I didn't do this was Wednesday.  And Wednesday was horrible.  Instead of focusing on peace, I focused on myself.  That didn't work out too well.

There have been times in my life when I have pretended that I am just the mom, the cook, the chauffeur, the jailer, the teacher, the maid, etc.  The real fact of the matter is that Mom is the heart of the home.  I help create a peaceful atmosphere in my home.