Happy Homemaker Monday November 19th

Happy Thanksgiving! This is my favorite time of year - Thanksgiving into Christmas. Thanksgiving may very well be my favorite holiday because it is all about the best things:  family, food, and gratitude. And for me, gratitude comes from recognizing the Lord's hand in my life, and everything He has given me. Well, not EVERYTHING, because I don't think it's possible to recognize all that He does for us.

Please see Sandra's blog for more Happy Homemaker Monday!

The Weather

Brrr! There was frost on the windshield this morning for the first time this season. Our high today will only be 49 degrees, but the sun is shining. The world around me is already brown and gray, though, so I cannot wait to start seeing Christmas decorations to brighten up my surroundings.

Right Now I Am

Running my first laundry load through the washing machine, making plans for the week (Thanksgiving is at my house), hoping to stay focused and keep on schedule because there is lots to do.

Thinking

About how grateful I am for my family. Both of my parents are still alive, and they and my only sister live nearby. I love getting together with them, even though we are not perfect, we have grown to appreciate one another, and we love each other dearly. I am also meeting them for lunch today aaaannnndddd - Saturday is ladies day out! Every year my mom, sister, and I, and now my daughter too, take the entire day. We go to a mall that we don't shop at any other time of the year. We eat lunch, dinner, and sometimes breakfast out. We look in every window, browse through every store that has anything worth looking at, and even do a little shopping. I shop more and more on-line these days, and just joined Amazon Prime so I get free shipping, so I shop less and less at the mall, but we still have a great time. I do not do a lot of shopping any other time of the year, so this is special for us.

On My Reading Pile

We are covering Luke 13-15 this week. Soon the Christmas books will be out. We picked up a Chicken Soup book with Christmas stories, and I would like to read The Autobiography of Santa Claus again. I highly recommend this book. It is written in such a way that it is for believers and non-believers alike. It discusses his history -starting with the life of St. Nicholas and ending to our present day traditions. It explains how certain traditions got started while giving us a great history lesson. He tells us which part is fact, which part is fiction, and which parts are pure magic. This is one you can read to your children - no matter what age they are.

On My TV

We watched Sleepy Hollow (the Tim Burton version) which was entertaining but gruesome. Johnny Depp was delightful, and it includes many people from Harry Potter, so it was fun figuring them all out. We have The Descendents - but I may just send it back.  My daughter watched it and said it was really depressing. Now starts the holiday movie season, and we always start with Scrooge (the musical with Albert Finney). We try to watch that Thanksgiving night. Then on Friday we have a church movie night and will be watching The Forgotten Carols.

On the Menu

Will be using up food in my fridge and freezer this week to make room for the Thanksgiving food.

Monday - pork tenderloin, leftover mashed potatoes, lipton noodles (not enough leftover mashed), zucchini

Tuesday - chicken breasts, rice, green beans

Wednesday - pasta or pizza

Thursday - turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, sausage stuffing, cranberry sauce, carrots (a dish that my sister makes with onions and butter - yummy), green bean casserole, rolls, pumpkin pie, cheesecake, apple pie, chocolate cream pie. Everyone makes food, so this is not all on me!

Friday - pasta or pizza - whatever we did not have on Wednesday

Saturday - girls day out - boys on their own

Sunday - probably leftovers, if not, I have tons of hot dogs in the freezer

On My To Do List

Laundry, clean house, buy food, make food, eat food, decorate house for Christmas (on Friday), shop!!!, pretty much everything.

Homemaking Tip

This won't be anything new to you, but it is to me. Don't mash your potatoes, whip them with a hand blender. Especially when making large amounts for a crowd - it is much quicker.

Looking Around the House

Things to put away, but it's not terrible. I have my oldest home to help today. Lots of dusting and vacuuming to do. Bathrooms need attention, but they will be dirty by Thursday, so I will clean them and then have my kids do a touch up with wipes Thursday morning.

From the Camera

What we did today in seminary

Let me explain the dung=omelet:  Six years ago when I was teaching seminary, we were talking about how prayer, reading the scriptures, and attending church helps us. One of the students blurted out, "that's our answer for everything. How do you make an omelet? Pray, read the scriptures, go to church."  We had a good laugh over that, and ever since, "omelet" has become our code word for praying, reading the scriptures, and going to church. The dung part has to do with the parable, where the worker told the vineyard owner that he would dig and dung around the fig tree in order to give it another chance to produce fruit. This was our interpretation of what work we can do in order to produce the fruit of faith and a strong testimony of Jesus Christ: pray, read the scriptures, go to church, serve others, and keep the commandments.

On My Prayer List

All of my kids, my church leaders, my family, the hurricane victims, some special friends.

Bible Verse

The end of the parable of the fig tree:

"And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down." Luke 13:8-9

I asked my students what lesson they could learn from this parable. There answer was that Jesus is on our side.  Enough said.

Have a great week and a wonderful holiday!