Happy Homemaker Monday- 10-1-2018

Posted on by Mary

Happy

Happy Rainy Monday!!!

As I look outside my window::: dark and dreary.  No moon.  no Stars. Rain running down my window.

Right now I am::: finishing this up and then heading to bed

Thinking and pondering::: I’m thinking a lot about Esther as I revisit my ladies talk I gave back in May on The Power of Your Influence.

On my bedside table:::books upon books upon books. cough drops and water

On my tv::: Faith, Love and Chocolate

On the menu for this week:::I haven’t really had a chance to finish planning that Thats on the list for first thing tomorrow.

Monday – Pasta

Tuesday – Chicken and Salt Potatoes

Wednesday –

Thursday -Lasgana

Friday – Family night

Saturday – Pizza

Sunday –

On my to do list::: clean the kitchen and bathroom down stairs

What I am sewing, crocheting, knitting or creating::: Curtains for the craft room

My simple pleasure::: SaltedCaramel ANYTHING!

Lesson learned the past week::: ummmmm 13  year old boys do not handle the restrictions that come with a concussion well….at all!!!!!!!

Looking around the house::: ugh that is all

From the camera::

:summer memories

Prayer List::: friends and family going through stuff!

Bible verse, Devotional:::

Pretty much the entire book of Esther.  That’s where I am camping for the next week as I write for the #write31days2018 writing challenge!

For more Happy Homemaker Monday posts Check out Diary of a Stay at home Mom!

Write 31 Days- Introduction to Influence

Posted on by Mary

Influence

Good Morning!  I’m Mary and I am excited to be joining in on this years #write31days2018 Challenge!  The influence of who we are can be the initial  impact on others.   How we look at our own lives speaks volumes to those around us.

So let’s go deeper into who I am before I tell you what I’m going to be writing about this month.

Who I Am

well I thought it might just be easier to do this in bullet points.

  • First of all I am a child of God and have been since I was 4 years old.   My relationship with Jesus has played an intricate role in my life and is the very reason why I do what I do!  At  16 I answered the call into full time ministry- at the time I thought it was missions but more on that later.
  • I am married to my pastor husband Ron.  we have been in our current ministry for almost  10 years.  we love our people and serve them with everything we’ve got.
  • we are parents to four amazing kiddos.  T is 13 (Boy) K is 12 (girl) J is almost 11 (boy) S is 8 (boy). J has autism Spectrum  Disorder and S has central Auditory processing disorder.  I tell you that for two reasons 1) it helps you, the reader understand the dynamics of our family. 2). when you read my blog you will understand that these are HUGE areas of influence in my life!!
  • As a teenager I lost partial eye sight.  I was diagnosed with age related Macular Degeneration at 13 and was the youngest documented child to have it in the United States at the time.
  • I’m not only a pastor’s wife!  I currently volunteer at a local Crisis pregnancy Center. mentoring in  two  areas  expectant mothers and Parenting.  I have there for 3 years and I love it.
  • I am a rafter.  I love all things creative.  I have been teaching myself to paint 9mostly watercolor) but I did my first acrylic painting last weekend.  I’m totally into paper crafting as well and have been  expanding my horizons by learning brush lettering. and I LOVE using my Cricut  for home decor. (that’s just a few things I love to create)
  • I love to Blog.  Though time and circumstances have played a huge role in me not blogging a lot over the past couple of years it is still a happy place.  I am currently working to bring this habit back into my life.
  • I LOVE to read and learn…..about anything really.  Though reading tastes have changed over time I love to be in multiple books at the same time.
  • I am an introvert.  I can be around people to but over time if I am involved with people a lot I can get burned out.  I have no problem being up front, and I actually prefer it.  I just need to recharge after  a lot of people contact.
  • I am an animal person.  we have one dog and 3 cats.  Rosie is our chocolate labradoodle and Daisy, Mia and Tia are our 3 cats.  BUT I have always secretly wanted some Crazy exotic pets.  Ya wanna know what they are….A chimp- as in a monkey. An otter.  Poison Dart Frogs (my fave animal of all in this entire world) a lemur.  cockateels.  a parrot.   a penguin.  On second  thought I should have just become a zoo keeper.
  • I have been on multiple missions trips.  3 to NYC and one that landed me half way around the world in a country that is closed.
  • I LOVE COFFEE!!  I have coffee pajamas, I have a donut coffee cup.  (but  my coffee MUST have creamer)
  •  I am severely lactose intolerant.
  • I have a Bachelors in Bible and Church ministries.
  • I love playing basketball!!
  • My favorite cities to visit are: Nashville, Washington DC, NYC, in that order!
  • I love to write….in journals,  on my blog, in my planner.   My fave is anything that involves a piece of paper and a pen bonus points if it’s pretty paper and a G2 pen.
  • my favorite household chore is laundry. (especially when the washing machine works..LOL)

The topic

Continue reading “Write 31 Days- Introduction to Influence” →

Cricut You Made My Day- My Rewards Points Story

Posted on by Mary

Cricut

Do you know what a Cricut  is?

I remember the first time I saw a Cricut..  It was 2009 and I was sitting on a hotel bed in Nashville Tennessee flipping through the channels when my inner scrapbooker landed on the Home shopping network or QVC or something.  And I was drooling!  NO JOKE.  See I have this problem.  I cannot cut things out with scissors!  they look HORRID! Well Cricut is a paper cutting machine, except since that day nearly 10 years agao it is SOOOOOO much more than that!  Fast forward about 7 years I had what is called a Cuttlebug made by the same company and it was a compact die cutting machine and I used that baby all the time (still do) and I was hunting for some dies for it . (they were getting harder and harder to find in stores so I took to Craigslist.

A sweet older woman I called said she was getting rid of all of her scrapbooking supplies and she was willing to sell them for all one price or individually.   So we took a drive.   When we arrived to this woman small suburban home I was in awe when I walked in her front door to a room filled with everything imaginable  papercrfating wise.  there were about 20 scrapbooks, paper to last a lifetime a HUGE friskers case, stamps, punches ink, .  You name it it was there, EXCEPT all the cuttlebug dies had been sold.  I have to admit I was kinda frustrated.   she looked at me and said I bought all of this brand new hoping to start a new hobby but I just never had time.  I will give it all to you for $200. My jaw hit the floor.  Hubby walked in as I am stammering like a fool.

What’s wrong? he said.

I explained

we talked about it it was too good to be true.

we decided to go for it as she said “don’t forget the Cricut. I nearly died. Never in my wildest dreams.  I got home and lugged everything upstairs.  I began to calculate and realized there was well over $1000+  in product I was floored and severely overwhelmed.  I quickly realized though that I couldn’t keep everything so I sorted and shared the blessing with others.

The downside with the Cricut was that I needed cartridges.  So I started collecting the ones I wanted that were on sale.   and the cool thing was that these image holding cartridges came with rewards points.  So I set up the account and started collecting them. 90 points here, 50 points there.  Yesterday I found a rogue  coupon from a cartridge soI hopped online to enter the code and collect yet another 50 points.

A few years ago I outgrew my Cricut I had ad hubby surprised me with one for Christmas…no cartridges needed.   you just upload your images you already had to design space and viola !

Well when I tried to get on the webpage it said there was an error, no sweat this has happened before! So I just called in.  Only to be told that Cricut rewards was no more.  I had not seen the email of this impeding shutdown.  I must admit I was kinda bummed because I felt like I had waster all those points (I estimated to the lady on the phone that I thought I had between 500-800 Points). She told me that they were honoring points on a case by case basis so she sent out a help ticket for me and that I would hear from her in the next 24-48 hours.

This evening I checked email and sure enough there was an email from the very mice lady who had helped me on the phone.  It said that I actually had 1,350 points which was enough points to give me Premium access for a YEAR!   That’s huge deal!  That is all the images on design space.  I have complete access to them for an entire year!

They didn’t have to do that.  I was late to figure out that they were closing the rewards program and yet they still  did.  I have loved working with this company on so many levels!  they fix their problems and they call or email prompt.

Last year I was working on a project and I bought a digital cartridge.  It was supposed to have 38 images but I could only access 12 of them.   I called them and I’m pretty sure the same very mice lady listened to my problem and then fixed it! and she called me back late the next day just to tell me it was all better!

What customer service!

5 Things.

Posted on by Mary

5 things

5 Things,That’s what I’m calling it fo at t least now.  Each week I’m going to post about 5 things I have learned.  I have been compiling a list all summer long and honestly I wasn’t quite sure what exactly what to do with this List..  I have been pondering it.  Basically these weekly 5 things posts are made up of tidbits.  Things that stood out while I was reading or listening to sermons or doing Bible study.

I really want to remember them and apply them. so each week I will share 5 from my list!  The cool thing is since I am constantly reading, studying and listening this shouldn’t be too complicated to keep going!

So here is this week’s five things!

  1. Reading Scripture out loud gets it into your brain 3 ways
  • speak it
  • hear it
  • see it

The point is th more you put in God’s word the more you will gain more from it.  Reading Scripture out loud just happens to get it in 3 different ways! (Speaker from Bible conference)

2.  Tell God your dreams and ask God how to get there. (Can’t remember where This one came from)

I guess I’m dense. No that’s not it.  So many times in our Christian circles we convince ourselves  or we are taught the its not “Christian” to have dreams.  That we must die to self and I agree, There are time though that God gives us dreams and we spend time floundering trying to make those God given dreams happen on our own.  But that is just all sorts of insane isn’t it?  God gives us those dreams wouldn’t it make a world of sense to ask Him to show us how and give us wisdom, strength and courage to follow him through with it!   Sometimes our dreams aren’t even really about us ( ok so they almost never are). They are about God.  He is writing our story in order to bring Glory to himself…..in a sense he wants us to make him famous! (Let. It. Go.)

3.When mentoring (or in life in general) don’t ask questions that can be answered with a “yes” or “no”. (Becoming a Woman of Influence by Carol Kent)

this was a concept I learned in counseling classes when I was in Bible College.  But sometimes we forget in our everyday lives, whether it’s with our kids or people we minister to!

4. Even if there is nothing to apologize for do a random act of kindness for her.  (yep totally don’t remember where this came from).  This is a fantastic.  I have never even really thought about this before, but what amazing advice and I really  watn to implement this in the future.

5. Schedule a whole day (or part of a day) alone with God  a week/ month, different from your daily devotions.  this is a new concept for me as well.  I LOVE THIS IDEA!!!   and I have picked a day!   I’m shooting for once month to start and to build up.   I have this desire to grow.  and as I have journeyed throughout my life I have continually had a desire to grow. and part of growing is being willing to try new things.  this is different for me and I am going to try!

So what 5 things have you learned over the last few weeks? Leave them in the comments below!

Happy Homemaker Monday- Sunset 9/24/2018

Posted on by Mary

Happy

Have you ever stood and stared and watched a sunset as it changes. It’s like it’s a living water color painting.  I love sunrises too and they are the same way.  But as of late I have been watching sunsets and pondering them.  Every sunset os different and there are Many factors that go into that. A sunset os very similar to life.  sometimes it’s full of color and vibrant and other times it’s dull and gray.    The one thing we know and can expect is that nighttime is coming.  I the Bible we are promised dark and hard times, but we are also told joy comes in the morning which as you guessed it is something else that beautiful. a sunrise.  the thing is that just like life if we don’t take the time to soak up the beauty, we will miss it!  That’s what I love about Happy homemaker posts is that it makes me sit down and think about all that is going on around me!  So let’s get started!

The weather:::. Fall showed up on Saturday after quite the storm Friday night. But since then it has been bright and crisp.  The clouds started rolling in this afternoon and  now is overcast and ready to rain at any moment.

As I look outside my window::: I see my neighbors porch light and an occasional car whizzes by but other than that it is pitch black outside

Right now I am:::  sipping sinus soother tea and mentally  working on my #write312018 blog posts

Thinking and pondering::: about many things but I have really been pondering a challenge given by a speaker while I was at camp all by myself this summer.  My word for the year has been influence and it has been forefront in my mind but this speaker challenged up to write letters to those who have had an influence on us.   specifically ministry leaders who have poured into our lives so I have compiled my list and am preparing the preamble to those letters.

On my bedside table::: a whole bunch of books wanting my attention

On my tv::: nothing

On the menu for this week:::

Monday –  Chicken bacon Ranch casserole  (I tweaked the recipe so I could make it in the crockpot”

Tuesday – Meatball subs and salad

Wednesday – chicken pot pie (also in the crockpot- yeah we will see how that goes)

Thursday – grilled cheese

Friday – chili

Saturday – hayride 9there is dinner -kinda with that

Sunday – Hamburgers, salt potatoes and veggie

On my to do list::: well ya see I kinda made this mess, a VERY BIG MESS.  I kinda lost something and so I went on a hunt to find that something (with no positive outcome) and when I was done it looked like a tornado had hit the place.  Now I have to fix it.

What I am sewing, crocheting, knitting or creating::: I am starting on the curtains for my craft room this week.  I also have to sand and paint the trim and sills of my three windows in the craftroom. And I have a sign that is the theme thought for my room and that involves painting AND Cricut work.

My simple pleasure::: hot beverages.  I LOVE me some COFFEE but I also really enjoy tea and hot cider as well.

Lesson learned the past week::: oh I have two.  1) well on Sunday I was catching up from my missed devotions while I was away at a conference.  and as I read I began to see a pattern I a couple of different places waiting on God was forefront I my reading and then my secret sister gave me a cute ceramic pen holder with a very cute pink sloth on it and it says Take your Time.   Ok I get it.  So many times I think it should go on my time line and that I can fix it but in reality  I need to wait on God.  he has it all under control.  2). over the last month r so there has been some heavy stuff I have had to process through. and I have learned these last few weeks that sometimes you have to let go of self-imposed expectations and go with simpler disciplines and routines and build back to where you once were.  so That is what I have done.  I have gone back to my 3 minute morning routine I set up when I  read through Hello Mornings, and it has been a huge blessing.  Because God has met me in the simplicity and deeply fed my soul.  As much as I would like to say I am back to my old self , I can’t.   ButI’m getting there for sure.

Looking around the house::: UMMM did you read what I wrote on the to-do list part??

From the camera::

:sunset- happy homemaker

This was the sunset from behind our church Saturday night during youth group.  It’s unfiltered and I firmly believe that we have some the best sunsets around!

Prayer List::: unsaved friends and family and I have a bunch of friends and family going though some really hard stuff.

Bible verse, Devotional:::

Isaiah 40:31 English Standard Version (ESV)

31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
    they shall walk and not faint.

for more happy Homemaker posts check OutDiary of a Stay at Home Mom