Happy Halloween! Have a safe and enjoyable evening trick or treating or going to your fall harvest activities.
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Monthly Archives: October 2011
October 31, 2011
October 30, 2011
Kristin Buursma, regular contributor to Everyday Mom, myself, and some of our friends composed a list of survival tips for cold and flu season. I have found some of these helpful. All three of my kids have been sick in the past week, but thankfully are on the mend. 
- When doing laundry during the day, don’t put anything else in the washer before going to bed. Keep the washer open in case you have to put in dirty/soiled sheets or clothes first thing in the morning or during the night.
- If you have a child that is vomit prone, lay their bed with large beach towels or items that can be easily stripped and washed. Making and re-making a bed (especially at 2 AM) can be exhausting.
- Keep a record of what kids took which medication at what dose and what time. Doctors or nurses will ask for this when you call. Write it on a white board or even the bathroom mirror with dry erase markers. If you have a lot of kids or everyone is ALL sick, this is really important.
- I live on Gatorade when I get sick. For some reason I can keep it down better than Sprite or Ginger Ale. Buy a bunch at Costco and keep it in your pantry during cold and flu season.
- Depending on your kids’ ages, keep tylenol and cough medicine in your medicine cabinet at all times. This will avoid late night runs to the store. Check for and throw out expired medicines every few months. Always follow dosage instructions.
- Once kids start feeling better, do not assume they can keep food down. Follow the BRATY diet. BRATY = bananas, rice, applesauce, toast & yogurt. My kids usually start with saltine or oyster crackers first.
- Quarantine. We know with five people living in close quarters, more than likely someone else is going to get it. We still have the sick person stay in their own room all day until they are up and around. We utilize the guest room for those who share rooms and disinfect afterwards.
- Use disinfectant wipes or spray and utilize the high traffic areas. Spray or wipe door knobs, light switches, remote controls, and cell phones.
- Your kids might be disappointed if they miss a special event because they are sick. Do not discount their disappointment. Reassure them there will be other events and it is OK to feel sad. I usually tell them about the time I was seven years old and got chicken pox on my birthday.
- Follow church nursery/day care/mom’s groups procedures. Wait until your child has been well for at least 24 hours before exposing them to other children. It is draining staying home day after day, but make use of your “home time.” I usually watch movies or get extra cleaning done.
October 29, 2011
The following was written by Trisha Faber, mother of two.
I absolutely love fall. The colors, the smells, and especially decorating my home for the season. A home enveloped in the colors, scents and textures of fall just feels so cozy. Let me preempt this by saying I am not into the whole jack-o-lantern, skeletons and cobweb scene of Halloween. But I do love to fill my home with leaves and pumpkins, and the things naturally found in the fall.
Here are some tips, ideas and inspiration for decorating your home for the fall.
The Entryway/Outdoors
I love to make my home look welcoming from the outside, as well as the inside.
- I always sweep and hose down my steps and front porch area. I love a clean slate to work with.
- Replace summer pots with mums or plants in fall hues. Pumpkins nestled into corn husks or gourds and other natural elements can also be placed in pots or urns. Window boxes can be filled and decorated in the same way.
- Dried corn stalks tied with burlap, twine, or ribbons add a decorative touch to the front of a home.
- Mums placed in galvanized buckets, apple baskets, or just tied up in burlap look so pretty gracing an entrance.
- A few pumpkins and gourds in difference shapes, sizes and colors add a nice pop.
- The last few years, I paint Welcome or our last name on a large pumpkin on our porch. You can use a permanent marker to do this as well. I love a personal touch.
- Straw bales, lanterns with battery operated candles, wheat and faux leaf sprigs or branches also help create a welcoming atmosphere.
- A leaf garland around the door and a fall wreath are great finishing touches. You can go the traditional route of a leaf wreath, or surf the web for some more unique ideas.
In the Home
One of the lessons I have learned in decorating my home for the holidays is to use the elements I already have and tweak them for the season. For example, I might replace the candles on my candle sticks with little pumpkins or an autumn hued candle instead of replacing the candle sticks all together with a new fall decoration. This helps in having to store a lot of seasonal décor.
- I love to bring texture out in the fall. You might throw a really soft blanket over a chair or add a pretty velvet pillow in a fall color to the couch.
- I love displaying quotes and the words of fall. You can buy them, or get crafty and make your own banner or wooden signs. Some examples: Harvest, Autumn, Blessed, Thankful, Give Thanks etc. There are tons of great quotes about fall too. Just do a google search.
- Replace current photos with a few favorite fall shots of your kids or family from previous years. You could also use fall nature photos you have taken. Even framed leaves could be pretty.
- Replace floral arrangements with branches, wheat, leaf sprigs, or fall flowers.
- Fill glass vases or candle holders with leaves, acorns, candy corn etc.
- Tiny ornamental gourds or pumpkins look beautiful setting around. It is amazing how many varieties and colors these come in now.
- Raffia ribbon looks beautiful tied around the stems of pumpkins, candle sticks etc.
- Visit your local craft store to find all sorts of berry sprigs and faux leaves to add tiny fall touches to shelves, picture frames etc.
- A wreath hanging on a large, decorative mirror, or even a leaf garland wound along the top of it looks beautiful in a living area.
- There is nothing better than the scents of fall. You can light a fall scented candle, or just simmer fall spices like cinnamon sticks, cloves, nutmeg etc. in a little water on the stove.
- Burlap is very popular right now and is perfect to decorate with for fall. It makes a great table runner, you can wrap mums in a square of it and tie with a ribbon, or even stencil a cute fall banner on burlap.
- If you are looking for inspiration, there is tons of it on the internet. Sites like Pinterest and Etsy are full of ideas. Also, take a look at your local gift shops and specialty stores and pay attention to how they put together their displays.
- Happy Decorating!
(All photos via Pinterest)
October 28, 2011
I made these for the mom’s group today and the six year old’s soccer team. Very easy! I have a half a can of pumpkin left so might make a gluten free batch this weekend.
What you need:
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup canned pumpkin
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease and flour muffin pan or use paper liners
- Mix sugar, oil & eggs. Add pumpkin and water.
- In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt.
- Add wet mixture and stir in chocolate chips.
- Fill muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes
October 27, 2011
The following was written by Kristin Buursma, mother of three, and regular contributor to Everyday Mom
I’ll confess – I’ve always been an extremely independent person. This personality trait worked just fine through high school, college and my first job. I was seen as a quiet, determined person who always got the job done.
And then I became a parent. My first two children weren’t too much of a problem. Despite sleepless nights and long days, I was able to keep things under control. (Of course, I will never belittle the help I had from my mom, in-laws and husband to provide me with breaks during the week)
Then Baby #3 came. It wasn’t that he was a difficult baby. He was a great baby. But as he approached toddler-hood and life got even more “full”. I came to a realization – I am not always the best solution for my children. My constant attention and care are not enough. And sometimes, if its been a long week, my care and attention possibly cause more harm than good.
Case in point. My children have just spent the entire day together, playing at home and doing housework with me. The kids are getting sick of their toys and their fuses are getting shorter and shorter. And then Grandma stops by. Grandma doesn’t do anything special. She’s simply a new voice to hear, a new set of ears to listen. And suddenly, the whining diminishes, the crying stops.
Second case in point. Bedtime approaches. Having again spent the day with the kids, I’m in the zone to get the kids to bed as absolutely quickly as possible. I’m almost military in my desire to put on pjs, brush teeth, read stories, give kisses, GO TO BED. And then, my husband steps in. Suddenly bedtime is fun. Pjs are put on upside down and the kids giggle uproariously, teeth brushing turns into a game, stories turn into amazing adventures narrated by dad about pirates and cowgirls, kisses turn into tickle times. And finally, the children fall asleep to the sound of his gentle songs.
I’m their mom and I love them dearly. But I need to remind myself, I don’t need to be the only careperson in their lives. It’s okay if other people hear the stories, heal the owies and help them have fun. If anything, this broadens their experiences and makes them better kids.
October 26, 2011
This is part of a series of living debt free I started last Wednesday. Catch up from last week if you missed it.
Before Rob and I went hard-core with the Dave Ramsey plan, I knew what a budget was. I had been on enough church committees or held leadership positions. I knew the budget allotted a certain amount of money for specific categories. Yet I saw the budget as “Don’t spend more than this amount–” almost like it was some sort of restraint.
I heard Dave Ramsey say that a budget tells the money where to go. It is like giving each dollar a name. So rather than the panic of purchasing items we could not afford, we have found freedom NOT restraint. You know exactly where your dollars are going and there are few, if any, surprises.
Every month Rob and I have “budget meetings.” He uses Microsoft Excel to create our monthly budgets, but there are so many other programs you can use. Rob has our expenses divided into four categories: Basic Household Expenses, Utility Bills, Saving/Investing & Special MonthlyExpenses. Most of these items do not change from month to month or else vary slightly.
A sample budget
We also use the term “allowance” on a regular basis. Rob and I each get an allowance every pay period. That is our personal money to use whatever way we desire such as to put towards a hobby, go out to coffee with a friend, buy clothes etc. I know people who call it “blow money” or “hobby money” or “personal expenses.” We have also used the term “hoarding allowance.” Sometimes we put all or part of our allowance into a personal savings to purchase something in the future. For instance right now I am saving a little bit of my allowance each pay period to buy a road bike. Rob just bought a mixer with his allowance. I find that when I take the time to save, the item has much more meaning. It has helped me with my “I want more stuff and I want it now,” cravings.
So basically if I were to go to the outlet mall and spend $200.00 on clothes today, it would have to come from my allowance or else be an item that we specifically put on the budget. This creates accountability. Again, no surprises.
I have always disliked math and I am not into accounting or numbers. I now love working with Rob on the budget. I did not always like it because it did feel like a restraint at times. Now when I see how much we have been able to accomplish working as a team, I am grateful. I have a much better attitude.
October 24, 2011
A couple of years ago when our oldest was two and our second child was a baby, we all got hit with some massive bug that our nurse friend thought was influenza. Our oldest had it and was over it within a couple of days. Then my husband, myself, and our baby son all got within 12 hours of one another. I still remember laying on the couch trying to give my two and a half month old son Pedialyte as my head was pounding and my arms and legs ached. On the other couch was my husband moaning in pain. He had to go to work that morning as well as do a funeral. He was absolutely exhausted. Our two-year old was freely roaming the house. It was the most terrifying feeling: “How do we do this?”
We had only lived in Oregon a little over a year. While we had a “church family,” we did not know people as well as we do now. It is difficult to ask for help when you are at your weakest point from someone you do not know very well. We had no choice.
We called two other families from church. It was a Saturday afternoon and they were both away. I called my friend who is a pediatric nurse and left a message. Her husband said I sounded so awful on the phone they could hardly comprehend what I was saying. She called back and said she could bring some Gatorade. I was too afraid to ask her if she could help me take care of the baby. I started crying and she said she would be right over. My friend was like an angel to us the next twelve hours. She took care of my son. She kept giving us Gatorade. She did our laundry and folded it. She fed the cat. She put my oldest to bed. She slept in our family room and helped me feed my son during the night.
What I learned from that experience is that if you don’t live near family (like we do) you need someone who can help you when these situations happen. It is so important to have supportive friends that can substitute for things your family would normally do. When my husband goes out-of-town for a conference or a business trip, I ask around if one of my friends is going to be home. I mentally want to make sure someone is on “stand-by” if I get sick or someone else gets sick.
Obviously when your mom friends get sick or have sick kids, you are worried about coming over and helping them. You do not want to catch what they have and spread it to your whole household. I think I became more of a “germiphobe” after three kids. But don’t be afraid to offer to run to the store for a mom and pick up Gatorade or Tylenol or Pedialyte. We’ve had people do this for us. They leave the items on the back porch so they do not have to enter our home.
We are approaching a tough time of year for moms. Cold and flu season is draining! My former pastor always prayed for the young moms in the winter months as they dealt with colds and illness. We will all get through it!
October 23, 2011
I have had prayer partners and “prayer cards” before. I have good intentions of praying for the person I am assigned to. Somehow the card that gets tacked to the refrigerator gets lost in a sea of crayon colored drawings, Christmas card pictures and hot lunch menus. I forget to list my “assigned person” up in prayer.
I am on the leadership for our moms group this year. Our coordinator had us make prayer cards. On the front is a picture of our family. The back we wrote our names, the members of our family, and prayer request for the whole year.
My notebook that I carry everywhere with my prayer partner card tucked in the front
I asked myself how can I remember to pray for “my person?” Because I am a major list person, I started making “to-do” lists in a notebook I carry everywhere. It has grocery lists, task lists, reminders, prayer requests–just about everything. Tucked in the front of my notebook is my prayer partner’s picture. So every time I grab my notebook, check my list, or pull it out of my purse I constantly reminded to pray for my person. This has been a wonderful experience for me!
I know I have tons of my own prayer requests, but it is renewing and humbling to take someone else’s requests to the Lord and pray for them.
October 21, 2011
For this “Food Friday” I am not going to share a recipe like I usually do. Instead I am going to share how we “meal plan.” Since I became a mom blogger, I am intrigued by what meals people are making, how they organize their pantries, and tackle grocery shopping. So this is our system…
When we first got married in 2001, we had no system for meal planning whatsoever. Cooking was very intimidating to me. It was not that I did not enjoy it. I just felt overly inexperienced. Finding a recipe, finding ingredients, and making the meal was a daunting task for me. I would spend a whole morning or afternoon pondering, “What am I going to make for supper tonight?” I wasted precious time searching through cookbooks and running to the grocery store.
Around our fourth year of marriage (right before we had our first child) we started making a meal plan. That year my husband did about ninety percent of the cooking because I was not home from work until 5:30. He was home between 4:30 and 5:00. He said it made more sense for him to come home, cook and have supper ready for when I got home.
I often wondered when I became a stay-at-home mom if I would do all the cooking. But my husband still cooks about fifty to sixty percent of the time and I am grateful. As a stay-at-home mom, I firmly believe you cannot do it all and I am happy to share meal preparation with my husband. He loves to cook and he’s good at it! And now cooking is less intimidating to me. I enjoy it SO much more than ten years ago.
Rob and I sit down usually on a Friday morning (his day off) and make a two-week meal plan for supper only. We don’t meal plan for breakfast or lunch. Breakfast is almost always cereal, toaster waffles, and/or toast and then pancakes on Saturdays. Lunch is almost always sandwiches, soup, mac and cheese, or supper leftovers. We choose who is going to make which meal and it is often based on that person’s schedule. We use everything from old cookbooks to recipe websites to favorite meals when it comes to planning. We try to utilize what we already have in the house especially when it comes to meat and chicken.
Rob records what we need for meals as well as the regular staple food we need. He made a master list and the food is listed by grocery section (frozen, bulk, produce). The sections are listed in the order he shops for them in the store. This list is always hanging on the refrigerator with a highlighter. Whenever we run out of something, we highlight the item on the list.
Rob has always done the grocery shopping from the very beginning. It’s not that I cannot do it or do not want to do it. He has his own system and he is very good at it. He usually takes the kids and I often wash the kitchen floors while they are gone or tackle some cleaning project. Rob usually shops at the discount grocery stores. We’ve gotten some produce from our garden (depending on the year). We also bought a 1/4 of a cow which supplied us TONS of meat that lasted a whole year. I highly recommend doing that if you have the opportunity.
Rob cooking
Before you think I am a total slacker because I do only half the cooking and very little of the grocery shopping, keep in mind I probably do about five to seven hours worth of volunteer work for our church (where my husband serves as senior pastor) each week. Some weeks it is more. I also am on our MOPS leadership team. I have a small news writing job. I would probably drop at least two of those if Rob did not help as much as he does. I see it as teamwork. It may not work for every marriage, but it works for us.
October 19, 2011
With our economy right now, living “frugal” is in. We have been living that way for almost ten years now. It was not easy. Being a spender is in my DNA and I had to change some unhealthy habits.
Dave Ramsey, the Christian financial guru said “a spender” marries “a saver” I found that to be true. I love the feeling of leaving a store with a bag of full of new things. I get a thrill out of looking at my purchases. I enjoy the rush of winning an Ebay auction and waiting for my package to arrive in the mail. If I would not have discovered Dave Ramsey on my own nor married a “saver” I would probably be in major debt. Instead I amwe are debt free!
Rob and I got married in 2001
The year before I married Rob I lived paycheck to paycheck. I was able to pay most bills by their due date and have money for the necessities. I was not paying the full amount of credit card bills and I was fearing I would never get caught up. This kept me up at night. Had some unforseen thing happened like a medical emergency, car accident, or my apartment burning down (which I feared because my neighbors burned candles unattended) I would have been in trouble.
I was looking forward to being married and having the money shared with someone else. I knew Rob was better at money management than I was. However, I learned very soon into our marriage that differences create conflict. It was no big deal to me to take extra money out of the ATM so we could go out to eat. Why was Rob scared of us spending money? Now I know you absolutely have to get on the same page or you will have those fights over and over and over.
Somehow (and I say it was a “God thing”) we got on the same page months within our marriage. I was driving somewhere and had the AM Talk Radio station on. The Dave Ramsey Show was on and he was talking to a gentlemen who had bill collectors calling frequently. It seemed intriguing and entertaining. As I listened more, it peaked my interest. I asked Rob if he had listened to the financial show that was on in the afternoons. He told me he had been listening to it for a while. He was afraid to bring it up to me. He assumed I would have my nose in the air about it and refuse to try the “Dave Ramsey” principles. I hate to say it, but he was probably right. I had to discover Ramsey on my own and choose to manage money a new way. Not my way. Not Rob’s way. But OUR way. Which for the most part is similar to what you will learn if you take the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University Classes that are offered at churches all over the US.
We never took the classes actually. We learned all the principles from listening to his radio show. Back then, we spent much more time commuting and driving places so we often listened to the show in the car. We also went to a full day seminar in Grand Rapids, Michigan hosted by Dave Ramsey. The seminars now are called Live Events. We walked away with a clearer understanding and a reinforcement we were managing our money the best way we could.
We really felt that God called us to live this way. I spent considerable time in places like Romania, Indonesia, & Mexico where people have very, very little. Then I would go back to the United States and get trapped in the “I need more stuff” mindset only weeks after coming home. When I got some stuff, I wanted even more. It never seemed to end. But I discovered an even greater joy in having financial freedom. We have been able to do things I never dreamed possible like buying a car and pay for it in full using cash. I thought only crazy penny pinchers did that! Well now I am one.
It is such a great feeling buying a vehicle with cash!
Rob and I very rarely argue about money. It has not always been easy. There have been times of struggle and even times we started to revert back to the “spender/saver” conflicts. I will share more about our walk into financial freedom in future posts.
I would love to help others someday because we all know too many couples that suffer in their marriages due to financial problems. Honestly, that could have been us too if we did not get on the same page.
