New Year's Resolutions 2013

Resolutions.  We make them every year.  But how often do we keep them?

Honestly, I never made any New Year's Resolutions until I started this journey to healthy living.  Fear of commitment?  Maybe.  Fear of  failure??  YES!!  I don't want to make a resolution and then be guilty of not following through with it.  However......

This year I have a few resolutions:

1. No More Rules!!  I've decided that my children shouldn't have to follow a bunch of man made

   

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   rules!  In fact, I told them that.  You should have seen their faces light up! 
   
   If they take issue with a rule and they can prove that it is not valid based on the Bible, I will throw it out.  This way they have to study their Bibles for themselves and they will understand that we do what we do to please God rather than men.
   
2. Honoring One Another!!  I've decided that if we, as a family, could work on honoring one another above ourselves, everyone will benefit and the fruit of these lessons will last for years and affect more than just our family relationships.  I have 2 Bible verses that I've asked my husband to print out so I can put them on the fridge: 
   
   Romans 12:10 ~ Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour prefering one another; not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord. 
   
   Jude 22 ~ And of  some have compassion making a difference.
   
3. Homemade Bread!!   The ladies at church gave me a wheat grinder for my birthday!  I've wanted one of those for several years and now I have one, so one of my goals for this year is to find bread recipes that we all love and making it all myself - every bit of it!  No more store bought breads of any kind for us!! 
   

   

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4. More Music!!   We will be replacing our piano - it's having issues.  We bought a guitar for our oldest for Christmas, so she'll be taking basic guitar lessons as well as piano lessons.  The younger 2 will be starting piano lessons in the fall and the second will continue with her piano lessons as that seems to be her "thing". 
   
5. No More Plastic!!  I hope to have replaced all plastic serving utensils and measuring spoons with glass and stainless steel by the end of the year.  This is something I've been trying to do for a while, and we're almost there, but this year we will accomplish this goal.

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 These are my resolutions.  They aren't anything fancy or inspiring, but they fit my family and my budget - especially grinding our own wheat and baking our own bread!  Definitely a money saver!   I love to change a few little things over the period of year that will, in the long run, improve my family's health and well being!

What are your New Year's Resolutions?  I'd love to hear them.  I'm always inspired by hearing other ideas and maybe adding your resolutions to my list!!  ;)  

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Halloween At Our House

For years we told our children that we don't "do" Halloween.  That was enough for them.  They didn't really care.  I think they figured the only thing they were missing out on was candy.  I was very careful to make "harvest foods" that still allowed them to enjoy the season and have some sweet treats too!

This year, though the two older girls {ages almost 10 and 8} have been asking about it all.  They know Christian friends, who like us don't celebrate Halloween and they know Christian friends who do.   The other night on the way home from church the topic came up.  They wanted to know why certain people celebrate it if it's so wrong.

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I had to explain to them that  #1 - What they do is not our business.  We do what we feel is right and good, and we are not to "play God" and judge others for what they do or don't do.  They, more than likely, have other "standards" that we don't and, therefore, we each will answer to God for the decisions and the choices that we have made.  We will not answer for anyone but ourselves. 

#2 - We don't celebrate Halloween because it's the "Devil's Day".  My children often refer to it as this because they've heard us do so and not because they know the history behind it all.  Given their ages, I was careful not to say anything that would scare them, but I did tell them about the very first "Trick or Treaters", namely the Druids.

According to Pastor David J. Meyer, who is a former astrologer and occultist,  "As darkness set in on October 31st, the clan of Druids would put on their white robes and hoods. They would carry sickles and Celtic crosses as they began a torchlight procession. At the beginning of the procession, a male slave was killed and dragged by a rope fastened to his left ankle. The Druids would walk until they came to a house or a village where they shouted the equivalent of “trick or treat.” The treat was a slave girl or any female to be given to the Druids. If the people refused to a girl as a “treat”, blood was taken from the dead slave and used to draw a hexagram or six-pointed star on the door or wall of the village. Spirits of the “horned hunter of the night” were invoked by the Druids to kill someone in that house or village by fear that night."   

You can read more of what he has to say here.  And he does have plenty to say. 

After we discussed the darkness behind Halloween, we talked for at least an hour about the power of God and how He keeps us safe from these things.  We talked about the love of God and His protection on His children.  We talked about different miracles that God has done for missionaries that we've read about and even miracles that He's done for us.  It was such a good talk - and a long one!  It started in the van on the way home and ended in the bed room of my oldest daughter about an hour and half later.  By the time we went to bed we were all laughing and happy to think that the God of the Bible is our God too!! 

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So, you're probably wondering what we do on Halloween night??  Here it is:

We usually go out on the town - eat out, do something fun.  It's actually a great night for family fun because everyone else is roaming the streets in search of treats and we're getting into restaurants without waiting!!  :)  We leave our house dark, no lights on inside, no porch lights.  I have friends that give out tracts or invitations to church along with candy on Halloween night and that's fine if that's what you chose to do, but I'd rather just not have anything at all to do with it.  :) 

Other fun "Harvest Time" ideas:

1. Pumpkin Bread or Muffins
2. Caramel Apples
3. Apple Cider
4. Hot Chocolate
5. Funnel Cake 
6. S'mores
7. Roasted Hot Dogs
8. Potato Candy
9. Harvest Cookies 
10.  A Chilli Cook-Off

There are so many fun thing to do around this time of year!  Autumn really is one of my FAVORITE times of year!!  But, we don't have to spend it celebrating darkness and evil.  Let's spend this Fall praising God for His goodness in the beauty we see around us, for giving us 4 seasons to enjoy, and for allowing us to know the truth behind this day we call Halloween so that we can know better how NOT to celebrate it.   

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How to Dry Herbs From Your Garden

Drying herbs is one of the easiest things ever!  I've seen it done several  ways including brown paper bags, ovens and even microwaves.  I don't use any of these methods.

Here's my preferred method:

Pick your herbs in the morning when they contain more oils...especially you're planning to make essential oils from them...which is altogether a different post entirely.  :)

Know your herbs.  Some herbs, such as spearmint should be dried before they flower.  Don't use any herbs that are past their peek because they won't be as tasty or potent. 

I cut my herbs with scissors just to be sure I'm not damaging the plant by pulling to hard. Pull and discard any brown, withered or bug eaten leaves.

Wash in a bit of cold, running water.

Be sure you pat your clean herbs dry so they don't mold while they're hanging there....and it just makes since...why hang them up dripping wet when we're trying to dry them?  ;)  

Tie together at the tip.  I use plastic hair bands.  I used to use string or twine, but herbs and flowers shrink as they dry and tend to fall out of the twine.  I could never tie it tight enough.  My herbs {and flowers} would fall in a heap and crumble up.

One day I couldn't find any string but I did have a few of these little hair bands on hand, so I decided to give them a try.  They were super easy to use and they shrunk along with the herbs I was drying.  They worked so well, I buy them especially for my herbs now!.  They will eventually dry up and fall apart, but not before we have a chance to store them away the we want them.

Don't tie too many together in one bunch and the air will not be able to circulate around them all and they won't all dry evenly.   Several smaller bunches of drying herbs are much better than one large one.

Hang your herbs in a warm dry place to dry.  To much humidity or cold air won't help your herbs dry as successfully.  I just hang mine around in the kitchen for a few days.  I hang them is very small bunches so it doesn't take as long.  For bigger bunches I hang them in my basement or the garage depending on the weather. 

You can also hang flowers to keep. They look pretty and help us remember those special occasions.

The small pink corsage represented my oldest daughter at my Great-Grandma's funeral.  She was the only Great-Great-Grandchild at the time.  The three single roses were the first roses my husband ever gave my daughters and one of the rose bouquets were given to me after one of my miscarriages.

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The BEST Bread & Butter Pickles EVER

My husband pastored a church in North Atlanta for a while.  It was my first time ever living in the South...well, that far south anyway...  {I had only lived in ND, IL and AZ...and TN for Bible College...before this.}  There's something to be said for "southern cooks".  They may not always fix healthy food, but it always tastes good!  I like to tease that we moved back up north because I couldn't face the "competition".  :P

Here's a recipe for Bread & Butter Pickles that was given to me by one of our deacon's wives {Mrs. Betty Cox is one of the BEST cooks EVER!} 

 

You need:

• 4 quarts of cucumbers {cut into chips}
• 6 medium white onions {chopped}
• 1 green pepper {chopped}
• 1 red pepper {chopped}
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1/3 cup salt
• ice
• **Vinegar, sugar and spices are listed below**

Prepare above ingredients and layer with salt.

Cover with ice and let soak for 3 hours.

 Discard ice and rinse salt off your veggies.  

In large stock pot mix:

• 3 cups distilled white vinegar
• 5 cups of evaporated cane juice {sugar}
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons Turmeric
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons celery seed
• 2 Tablespoons mustard seed
• Your rinsed veggies

Bring mixture to a boil.  **Notice the nice white color.

Continue boiling until cucumbers change colors.  

**You can see how the cucumbers have change to a lightly darker color.

Once color changes you can put them in your jars.  Put hot cucumbers into hot jars and seal tightly.  Be sure all lids seal themselves.  If they don't, you may want to put them in a water bath for a few moments just to be sure they seal.  We don't want to waste all that food or time put into it!  {That would be a real pickle!!} 

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And the Winner Is....

Congratulations,

Emily Kellett!!

You are the winner of last week's Flexi Clip Giveaway!!

 You can contact Paula at:  lrpaulamiller@yahoo.com to select your FREE Flexi Clip!

You can go here to see all of the styles and colors they have!  Have fun shopping!!

I hope you love yours as much as I love mine.

Thank you so much to all that entered our giveaway!!

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10 Things I Never Buy at the Store

**Sorry for the lack of pictures!  I couldn't get them to work for this post for some reason...I have NO idea why...???***

There are a few things I don't ever buy at the store anymore.  Why buy them when you can make them and save yourself the money??  And then you consider the health benefits...you can't beat it!! 

1. Laundry Detergent & Dryer Sheets
   I can't even begin to tell you how much this has helped us with our "skin issues"!!  And I don't have to worry about "extras" that are added by the commercial companies or those synthetic fragrances - which is probably what was causing our skin problems to begin with!  And, did I mention that I only spend about $12.00 - $15.00 a year on laundry detergent??  For a family of 6, I'd say that's pretty good! 
2. Fabric Softener
3. Deodorant 
   I was having the worst problems with deodorants breaking out my underarms!  As I said, we have sensitive skin over here...I was miserable!  I had bleeding, oozing sores cause by a certain deodorant that I had been wearing for nearly 12 years...I guess it was finally catching up with me.  When I started making my own deodorant, the problem went away!  I'll never go back to the other stuff.  I always make it now, or buy the unscented, all natural, Arm & Hammer stuff
4. Dish-washing Detergent {for dish washers}
5. Salad Dressing ~ I always thought I was being "healthy" by feeding my children fresh veggies with ranch every day....until I read the ingredients on the back of the ranch container....  So, I found a recipe and tweaked it to fit my taste and now we don't have to worry any MSG or preservatives in our veggies!  {This is not hard and it costs less than store bought bottles of dressing not to mention you can do more with it ~ like season meats and potatoes!!}
   • Italian 
   • Ranch
6. Bread ~ I've been praying for a wheat grinder for several years now, and God answered that prayer!  The wonderful ladies at our church gave me a Kitchen Mill for my birthday this year and now I have a new goal - make all the breads and goodies for my family!  I'm very excited about this new adventure and I plan on sharing lots of my favorite recipes and even some failures with you!
7. Cream of Chicken Soup ~ Once again, if you read ingredients you will find MSG and added preservatives in creamed soups.  It gets very frustrating, but when I tried making my own, I discovered that it really wasn't very hard at all.  And, it freezes nicely too!!  Like me,I think you'll find that eating naturally isn't that hard when you change little things at a time. 
8. Jam ~ These are so much fun to make with your kids!  Picking berries and fruits and then making jams is the highlights of our summers!  We love to mix fruits and come up with our own favorite flavors.  This summer we mixed black berries and blue berries - try writing that on the top of a canning lid!!  ;)  We also made strawberry, peach and we're planning on making apple jam/butter here in the next few weeks.  One of my favorite things about making jam myself is that it doesn't have any high fructose corn syrup as the store brands do, and it costs half as much!! 
9. Pickles ~ We love to make our own pickles too!  They are soo good for you and make great snacks!  We make spicy ones, Bread & Butter, Lime and Cinnamon pickles.  Can't have too many.  If you get tired of one kind you can always try another for a while!  Stay tuned to Hidden Treasures for a few recipes and tutorials on how to make your own pickles at home!!
10. Apple Sauce ~ I used to buy the small, individual container of apple sauce for my children.  I thought it was so convenient and it was way cheaper than baby food when they were babies.  I was careful not to get the kind with added or fake sugars, but it was still very expensive!  I discovered that making it myself is very satisfying and much cheaper.  I love to know that I have 12 quarts of apple sauce in my basement - plenty to last the winter and NO SUGAR in any of it!  Healthy snacks = healthy kids!!  I'll post an Apple Sauce Tutorial as soon as I can too!  {My kids love the fall...}
11. Sauerkraut~ this is a first for me, but I'm very excited about it.  I love sour kraut, even though I may be the minority around here, I plan on making myself a few pints anyway!!  Now my favorite husband won't have to fuss about my spending all the grocery money on things "no one in the world" likes!!  :D
12.  Paper Towels ~ I hate to spend all of my grocery budget on things like toilet paper and garbage bags, so I try to cut as much of that out as I can by cutting up old towels to use as paper towels.  I can always wash them and use them again - no running back out to the stores to buy more every week!! 

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