31 Days to Clean Challenge

I'm so excited to be joining a group of ladies online for the 31 Days to Clean Challenge. It originated from a book called 31 Days to Clean. The book is subtitled Having a Martha house the Mary way. I thought that was so cute. Anyhow, my house is by no means dirty, but it's definitely "lived in". I don't mind cleaning my house. I just don't always make the proper time for it.Cleaning may come natural for some of us but some of us might need a little motivation. I'm hoping to get some good motivation from this book. 31 Days to Clean is about the “why” and the vision and the heart for taking care of our domains. So what's the deal with the challenge you may ask?


After each days reading, you will be given two challenges:

The Mary Challenge -Something you do that encourages/engages your heart

The Martha Challenge – Specific cleaning tasks

Then you write a comment about it on the Challenge website. You can also write a post on your blog and link up with the website every Friday and other participants can read your thoughts about the challenges on your blog.


So if you want to take the challenge with me it starts today. You'll need to do two things. 

*First buy the book: 

 


I bought the PDF version of the book. You can get it right now for $2.50. Just enter the code Homemaker when you checkout. Click here for the PDF version http://31daystoclean.com/

The Kindle or Nook version is $4.99.

Click here for the Kindle version http://www.amazon.com/31-Days-to-Clean-ebook/dp/B004W3UK4M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1302603204&sr=8-1

or here for the Nook versionhttp://search.barnesandnoble.com/31-Days-to-Clean-Having-a-Martha-House-the-Mary-Way/Sarah-Mae/e/2940012496706?itm=1&USRI=31%2Bdays%2Bto%2Bclean%2Bhaving%2Ba%2Bmartha%2Bhouse%2Bthe%2Bmary%2Bway

*Then click on the link in the upper right hand corner of my blog to join in the challenge.
I hope you'll come join me. Happy cleaning!!!!

Zucchini Round up ~ Banana Zucchini Bread ~

Mmmm... another Zucchini recipe. This bread is so sweet. I love that the recipe makes two loaves of bread. You can either share with a friend or you can freeze the second one. Which also reminds me. Did you know that you can freeze your Zucchini. Just shred it, measure out 2 cups (that's what most baking recipes call for), squeeze the extra water out of it and put in a freezer bag. Then pop it into the freezer.

Banana Zucchini Bread


4 eggs
2 c sugar
1 c vegetable oil
2 mashed medium ripe bananas
3 c flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1-1/2 tsp baking soda
1-1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1-1/2 c shredded unpeeled Zucchini
1 c chopped pecans or walnuts

• In a bowl, beat eggs. Blend in sugar and oil. Add bananas and mix well. Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and slowly mix into the egg mixture. Stir in Zucchini and nuts. 
• Pour into two greased 9in X 5in loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes. Remove from pans to a wire rack to cool completely.(skip this part if your impatient like me)

Wrap and freeze one loaf or share with a friend.

But all of the other kids have one

It has come to my attention that my children are becoming just a tad bit spoiled. When I was growing up we never would have expected something because other kids had it. We were lucky to have food on the table and clothes on our back. Our clothes were hand me downs or bought from Kmart. There was no American Eagle or Aero. We had a few good outfits and that was it. My children have so many clothes in there drawers that I can't even close them. Not that I want them to grow up poor or I'm not thankful for all the clothes that they have but I want them to be grateful for the things that they have not just expect things. Have you ever been to a child's birthday party and the kid rips into his gifts, tosses the card to the side and then throws the gift into a pile with the others? He doesn't stop to thank anybody, probably because he has no clue who it's from because he tossed the card. That's the vision that I get in my head when my kids pitch a fit about getting a new toy because someone else has one. I have to proudly say that my children are not that bad, but when my six year old wants to toss an entire Lego set because he's missing one piece and then in the same breath asks me for a different set... that gets to me. So after this has all brewed in my mind for a while I had this great idea. An awesome, spectacular, glorious idea.
  I thought that this Christmas instead of buying my children 6-7 gifts each, I would only buy them a couple and then have them choose gifts to donate to a family in need this year with the money that I saved. Then they would be thankful for the few gifts that they received and would get a great lesson in being giving. After all isn't that the end goal. Don't we want our children to be thankful and giving. I don't want my children growing up to always want something more or better. I don't want them to have bitter and selfish hearts. The cold hard truth is; life is tough. The world doesn't owe you a thing and maybe we should be preparing our children for it instead of trying to shield them from it. Just sayin!

With a thankful heart,
Teresa

Zucchini round up ~dessert ~

OK now it's time for some dessert. The kids wont even know that there's veggies in these.


Zucchini Whoopie Pies

1 C shredded zucchini
1 C sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
½ C shortening
1 egg
2 C flour
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ground cloves
1 tsp salt
½ C milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 C nuts (optional)

 

Mix zucchini, sugar, shortening and egg. Add dry ingredients. Mix, alternating with milk. Combine and stir in vanilla and nuts. Drop by teaspoons on greased pan about 2 in apart. Make sure you only do a tsp because they double in size.  Bake at 350 deg for 7-10 minutes. I substituted the Vanilla Extract with Almond because I like it better. I didn't use nuts because I didn't have any and I used a can of cream cheese frosting from my pantry because I was low on confectioners sugar. Next time I will definitely add the nuts and make my own filling.

 

 

Filling:

4 oz cream cheese
3 T softened margarine
½ lb confectioners sugar
2 tsp vanilla

Cool whoopie pies. Spread filling on a whoopie pie than top with a second pie, like a sandwich. Then eat up.

This recipe makes about 40 sandwiches. It was hard to get a good count because the kids kept stealing them off the plate.

Did you hear about Suzie down the street?

Have you ever said something and then right after you said it thought "why did I say that"? So often our mouths get us in trouble. When we hear something bad about someone we automatically need all the details. It's like Eww... Suzie's crying. Why? What happened? Who can I tell about this? Why can't we just learn to keep our mouths closed at the appropriate time? So many times it gets us in trouble and yet we never learn. God must feel like we do as parents when we tell our children "how many times have I told you...." I think it's an issue with both men and woman but it tends to be worse with woman. Probably because we talk just a tad bit more then men. I also think that woman can be a bit catty too. I think that most of the time we say things bad about others just to make ourselves feel better about ourselves. Like for example when you are talking badly about Suzie and Joe Shmoe"s marriage down the street maybe the problem is in your marriage. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? Matt 7:3. The Bible gives us warnings over and over again about keeping or mouths closed. It refers to our tongue as a sword. Gossips are compared to murderer's. Just a few verses to get the point across.

Leviticus 19:16 – “Do not go about spreading slander among your people. Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life. I am the Lord.”

Proverbs 11:13 – “A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy man keeps a secret.”

Romans 1:29 – “They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips.”

1 Timothy 5:13 – “Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things they ought not to.”

Matthew 7:1 – “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.”

Proverbs 18:8 – “The words of gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man’s inmost parts.”


Deuteronomy 13:14 – “Then you must inquire, probe and investigate it thoroughly.”

Matthew 7:12 – “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

Ephesians 4:29 – “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

OK it was more then just a few. Just one more..last one I promise. This one is my favorite:
Proverbs 26:20 – “Without wood a fire goes out; without gossip a quarrel dies down.”
But you get it know right. Please don't get the impression that I never gossip. I'm just as much to blame as the next girl. I'm just becoming more aware of it and making it a point to watch what comes out of my mouth and removing the wood from the fire.

Peace Out,
Teresa

A Well Planned Day

Over the last couple weeks I've had the privilege of reviewing The Well Planned Day 2011-2012 Planner in PDF form. This planner is loaded with lots charts and lists. It's a list makers dream come true. The planner has a section in the beginning to paste a picture of your family and record special family moments. Then a section for contacts and a chart for budgeting. Then there are chore charts and daily schedules for both you and your children. I don't always stick to a schedule but it's nice to have one to keep you on track for the day. I've also learned as a mom and a home school/Sunday school teacher that kids like structure. So having something for my kids to go by is nice as well.
   Then for your homeschooling needs, there are pages to set your semester goals and and write down your daily assignments for up to four children. The slots are small if your using it for four kids, but it's doable if you keep it brief and write small. At the back of the planner there is a report card to fill out and there are attendance reports for each child as well. There's a monthly calender and a Year at a glance calender included. The monthly calender has a section at the bottom of each month to write down your bills that are due that month and books you may want to read. You can also record field trips and activities for the month. A Bible reading is listed for each day as well. There are also great articles to read through out the planner and shopping lists. You can plan your meals out right on your assignment and daily activities pages. I love knowing what I'm cooking for the week ahead of time. It takes half of the battle out of putting dinner on the table. My kids love it when I post that nights meal on the blackboard each morning. Last but not least there is a section for holiday planning, greeting card list, and gift giving. They really put a lot of thought into this planner. OK so no review is complete without a pros and con's list so here it is:

Pros                                                                                     
*you can totally become organized with this planner even        
if you don't have a organizing bone in your body.                        

* It's very stylish. The colors are beautiful.

* You can reuse a lot of the pages for years to come if you
buy the PDF version.

* You can customize the pages in Adobe with the PDF version.

* It's a good price at $24.95 for 230 pages.

Con's
* I didn't like that I couldn't take the PDF version with me anywhere. If I wanted to print it all out it would cost me $30 in ink. Then you have to buy a binder on top of that. If you buy the already printed version you can't reuse the pages and customize it.

* a table of contents would have been helpful. I had to flip through 200 pages every time I wanted to find a certain page.

In the end the pros outweighed the con's so I would definitely recommend this planner to you. If your interested in purchasing one for yourself here's a link: http://www.wellplannedday.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?search=action&category=0002

Zucchini round up

It's that time of year again when the Zucchini and Squash are plentiful. So I've been in search of some good recipes. This is my first post of a series of some good recipes to help use up some of your Zucchini and Squash stock pile.

My first recipe is for a Zucchini and Tomato Parmesan

You will need:

1 large Zucchini or 2 small ones
2 large tomatoes
1 1/2 c of Mozzarella cheese
1 jar of tomato sauce
4-6 tbl butter
garlic salt

Preheat your oven to 450

Slice up your Zucchini and tomatoes in 1/4 in thick slices. Saute your Zucchini in butter and place 1/3 of it in the bottom of a greased 9x12 pan, sprinkle with garlic salt, then layer 1/3 of your tomatoes on top of that, then 1/2 c sauce and 1/2 c cheese. Then repeat all that two more times. Bake in oven for 20-25 min until the cheese on top is browned and it's bubbling around the edges. It's going to look a little watery at first but the sauce will thicken when it cools a little. Serve over pasta and use the remainder of you sauce to put on top of the pasta. I used Ronzoni Garden Delight pasta. This is a great vegetarian dish. You wont even miss the meat.