New Nostalgia

3.18.2012

My Week's Recipe Roundup From Pinterest

I'd love you to join 15,279 others and

This week, at least part of the week, I will be doing a juice cleanse. It is my first one and I'm a little nervous about it! I will, of course, post about how it goes.

Because of this, my menu plan this week is focused on meals I can quickly make for the rest of my family. I don't want to spend much time in the kitchen around food this week, so I chose recipes that would be easy to throw together and forget!

Source: budgetbytes.blogspot.com via Amy on Pinterest

"Non Refried" Beans in the Crockpot.--I'm going to buy a bunch of tortillas and make this recipe for my girls to make themselves an easy bean burrito. This will be good for one meal and a bunch of snacks!

Source: myrecipes.com via Amy on Pinterest

Easy Spaghetti Sauce and Meatballs--this recipe uses frozen meatballs. I will use the "meatless ball" from Trader Joes.

Source: budgetsavvydiva.com via Amy on Pinterest

Mason Jar Balsamic Vinaigrette--I will be spending quite a bit on fruits and veggies to juice for my detox, so I'm not going to want to spend money on other pricey products that I can easily make myself. I know we are out of salad dressing, and I make sure we eat salad at every dinner, so I will whip up a jar of this easy to make dressing this week.

Source: 8weekstoabetteryourecipes.blogspot.com via Amy on Pinterest

Hearty, Healthy Banana Bread--It may be torture to smell this baking, which is why I might make it today (Sunday) so I can have some before my cleanse which starts tomorrow. I will double it and freeze some. I like having something like this on hand when my girls need a quick snack.

Source: hotcouponworld.com via Amy on Pinterest

Freezer Breakfast Burritos--I will not be following this recipe exactly. I will replace the sausage and bacon with potatoes, so they will contain potatoes, eggs and cheese. I love thought of having these ready to go in the freezer, individually wrapped, for my girls to help themselves to for breakfast or snack.

Source: sixsistersstuff.com via Amy on Pinterest

Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken--I just know my family will love this. I'm hoping it makes enough to have leftovers for a second meal! I will be getting the frozen brown rice from Trader Joes, simple can still mean healthy!

Source: forkinit.blogspot.com via Amy on Pinterest

Crockpot Chicken and Rice--another crockpot chicken recipe I know they will love. I'm going to leave out the cream of chicken soup and hope that the cream cheese will give enough "creaminess." I will let you know how it goes!

I'd love you to join 15,279 others and

3.17.2012

Saturday Giveaway: The Prairie Homestead

Today's giveaway is brought to you by The Prairie Homestead!

Jill of the Prairie Homestead is giving away FIVE copies of her book Your Custom Homestead: Awakening A Fresh Vision Of Homesteading!

What an amazing gift to us all - five separate people will each win one copy!

We are all fans here at New Nostalgia of Jill and her Prairie Homestead. She often links up to our Anti-Procrastination Tuesday and you all click on her links like CRAZY! She is one blogger that I think "Man, my readers really love and relate to her stuff, and so do I!"

Knowing how much we all love the posts she has linked up, like 'DIY Computer & Screen Cleaner' and 'Homemaking With Scent,' I just know you are going to love her book, even if you have never thought about homesteading!

From the book:

Do you:

~Dream of having a homestead someday?

~Live in an apartment or urban setting and long for the country living?

~Have plans to turn your city lot or rural land into a place to grow food for your family?

~Longingly read books, blogs, and magazines about small farming but have no idea how to start?

~Ever feel frustrated because you think you'll never be able to afford to buy land and move to the country?

~Lack focus and motivation when it comes to growing your current homestead?

If you answered 'yes' to any of these questions, then you will love this eBook!

__________________

To Enter Giveaway, do one or all of the following:

Each one counts for one entry.

subscribe to The Prairie Homestead here

follow The Prairie Homestead on Twitter here

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For each of these entries, you must comment separately - one comment saying you follow the blog, one saying you follow The Prairie Homestead on Twitter, etc. That gives you a total of seven entries!

We have our winners of the Clean Mama giveaway!

Please e-mail Robyn at sponsornewnostalgia@gmail.com to claim your prizes!!

3.16.2012

In My Head and On My Ipod While Running

I've been running.

I used to DESPISE running. It hurt. It hurt my lungs and it hurt my body!

But, now I'm starting to get it. I'm starting to figure out why those who run love to run. I have found that as I have stuck it out and my body has adjusted, that it feels GOOD to run. It is fast and freeing!

I started out very slow. I would jog to get my heart rate up, then just walk fast, until I found my heart rate going down, then I would jog again to get it back up. After treatment last year that it didn't take much to get my heart rate up, and it has taken a long time for me to be able to run and feel good instead of make me feel faintish & like my lungs were going to explode.

I still hesitate to call myself a runner. I'm not ready to commit to that title, and I still cheat quite a bit. We have hills in our neighborhood, so I walk up the block, and run down it, then walk up the next block and run down it. But boy, when I AM running, it just feels SO GOOD to be able to MOVE and feel alive.

The last 2 times I ran, I had my ipod on shuffle, and BOTH TIMES it started on the song, You Are Everything by Matthew West. It's not the best song to run to, a bit slow, but the lyrics sure made me smile, especially this part:

And I can’t help but breathe You in, and breathe again
Feeling all this life within
Every single beat of my heart

It is a pretty inspiring lyric to listen to as blood is pumping and feet are going and breath is loud and real and alive. Maybe that is why I have fallen so hard for running, the feeling of being "alive." Not just alive internally, which I always felt even when sick and weak because of my Jesus, but to also experience it in such a physical way--pretty awesome.

Right after that song, on came Pink, and a song that brought tears for me called 'Who Knew.' It is probably about a couple who broke up, but the lyrics made me think of some of the emotions my Todd might feel if I didn't make it out of my cancer battle.

These thoughts happen once in awhile, I am a changed person and thoughts of eternity and 'what if's' just happen naturally. It is not a bad thing anymore. Not a fearful thing. It keeps life in prospective so I think it is a healthy thing. After a year and a half of being confronted by death, I am prepared for death, for a life of eternity with my Saviour, but I sure don't want to leave the ones I love. My sorrow would come from knowing the hurt and sadness it would cause those I love. This song reflected those thoughts and made me run harder, pursuing health for my family. They are my motivation to run.

Some of 'Who Knew' from Pink:

I'll keep you locked in my head
Until we meet again
Until we, until we meet again
And I won't forget you my friend
What happened?

If someone said three years from now
You'd be long gone
I'd stand up and punch them out
Cause they're all wrong

And that last kiss I'll cherish
Until we meet again
And time makes it harder
I wish I could remember

But I keep your memory
You visit me in my sleep
My darling, who knew?

That song ends, and I'm running down the hill at dusk, with tears running. I wipe them away and I find myself admiring but distracted by the pink sky. I think it is funny to look at pink while listening to Pink. Between distraction of beauty and tears, I hope I don't hit a bump and tumble.

The song below comes on. It is by Muse, called Supermassive Black Hole, and then-- I REALLY got my run on, throwing caution to the wind. I felt like I was a vampire being chased by a werewolf, or maybe a vampire playing baseball? No, I'm not admitting to being a Twilight fan. At all. But I DID get my run on...and controlled my urge to howl.

That song ends, and I am almost home. I turn off my ipod, take out my earphones, and just listen to the sounds of creation. It is a quiet beautiful. My breath and heart beat join in, and I worship my Creator, and whisper heard words.

I can’t help but breathe You in, and breathe again

Feeling all this life within
Every single beat of my heart

-----------------------

Matthew West

You Are Everything

I’m the one with two left feet
Standing on a lonely street
I can’t even walk a straight line
And every time you look at me
I’m spinning like an autumn leaf
Bound to hit bottom sometime

Where would I be without someone to save me?
Someone who won’t let me fall

You are everything that I live for
Everything that I can’t believe is happening
You’re standing right in front of me
With arms wide open
All I know is every day is filled with hope
‘Cause You are everything that I breathe for
And I can’t help but breathe You in, and breathe again
Feeling all this life within
Every single beat of my heart

I’m the one with big mistakes
Big regrets and bigger breaks
Than I’d ever care to confess
But You’re the one who looks at me
And sees what I was meant to be
More than just a beautiful mess

You’re everything good in my life
Everything honest and true
And all of those stars hangin’ up in the sky
Could never shine brighter than You

Homemade Natural Lip Balm

There is so much that I love about this little project of Homemade Natural Lip Balm!

~It is easy

~It is natural

~Can be made with no artificial ingredients, colors, preservatives

~It really works!

~It feels great on the lips

~It can be made all organic if you so desire

~It made my girls think I was mom of the year!

The recipe is very simple:

Homemade Natural Lip Balm

(from a pin I found at Pinterest from Cheeky Kitchen)
(click on ingredients to purchase from Amazon)

3 tablespoons Coconut Oil

3 tablespoon Shea Butter

3 tablespoons Cocoa Butter

3 tablespoons Beeswax

~If you want color, add a bit of your favorite lipstick to the mix.

~If you want flavor, add a bit of candy flavoring to the mix.

Put all ingredients into a pan. Melt on low. Spoon into containers. Let set. It takes just minutes, depending on the size of your container, to set up.

I found all the ingredients at one of our local health food stores.

I found our containers at Hobby Lobby.

I found the candy flavoring at Walmart, but I am sure they have it at Hobby Lobby, too.

The containers were found in the art supply section of Hobby Lobby. I was super excited to find the little square containers, but super disappointed when we brought them home. I didn't realize they were stackables, so we only had 4 lids because I bought 2 packages, there were 2 stacks in each package. That was disappointing, since I thought I was getting about 12 containers with 12 lids. Instead, we have a bunch of leftover, empty containers that stack. Grr.

I am SUPER pleased with how it turned out. I can't stand paying what health food stores charge for natural lip balm, so I love that I can make it myself.

My girls really got into this and kept saying what a fun project it was. Next time, I will order some containers online, like these, Lip Balm Container with Snap Lid 6 Count, and I will skip the flavoring/coloring. The cocoa butter/coconut oil gives such a nice scent, and I like the idea of keeping it super natural. Also, by keeping it natural, you can talk the man in your life out of his yucky Chapstick an into this awesome Natural Lip Balm, minus the girly embellishment on top, of course.

This recipe made quite a bit of lip balm. It makes 12 tablespoons, so if each container contains a tablespoon, that is 12 whole containers of lip balm!

I am planning on storing the lip balm we are not using in the refrigerator. I am not sure if that is necessary, but it may help prolong the life of the lip balm since it is all natural ingredients and no preservatives.

We found cute little embellishments for the tops of our containers and used a glue gun to glue them on. You can also use stickers.

This would be a great fun at a little girls birthday party or a dress up party!

Enjoy!

3.15.2012

Charts, Chores, & Allowances-Part 1 - Todd Talk #2

The primary purpose of every Todd Talk is to model as best I can a system for purposeful living. At least once a month I spend some time setting meaningful goals around one of seventeen core priorities.

If you haven't read it yet, please consider reading the foundation post - Build Your To-Do List Around Correct Priorities.

Charts, Chores, & Allowances – Part 1

Correct Priority

Priority #5 – Social Health – Immediate Family–Children (Emotional Health)

Goal Setting & Reflection Date
Sunday, March 4

Goal
Invest in the emotional health of my children by revising our chart, chore, and allowance system. Specifically this means:

Revising our list of morning, afternoon, and evening routines/chores.

Listing routines/chores in the order they should be completed.

Developing an easier system of connecting routines/chores to an allowance. The system must be easy to record and monitor.

Goal Status
In Progress

Thoughts
This week I spent time reflecting and setting goals to be a better parent. To do a better job of meeting the emotional needs of my wonderful children.
Amy & I have three amazing girls ages 12, 11, and 8 and they are number five on my list of correct priorities. They are beautiful, and precious, and we are extremely proud them. They bring joy to our lives and make us smile on a daily basis.

{our girls-2010}

But even the best of kids can struggle if not given proper boundaries.

Two and a half years ago we developed a morning, afternoon, and evening chart system which included a list of chores for our girls to complete during each part of the day. We also connected an allowance to the successful completion of these chores.

While the charts have been modestly successful and have made life a bit easier over the past couple of years, the charts also have some serious flaws. Enforcing them has become harder and harder and over the months Amy & I have stopped expecting them to get done almost completely. Our girls still do some of the routines on their own, but there are many they will only do if nagged and many more that they don’t do at all. As Amy likes to say, "We've got monkeys on our backs that don't belong there." I agree, we are spending too much time telling (nagging) our girls to get their responsibilities (monkeys) done.

This goal of revising our chart, chore, and allowance system is so important to me that I am moving it immediately to my weekly to-do list. Over the next few weeks I will dedicate significant time to this project. It is an area where I have missed the mark as parent and it is time to tighten things up.

Not only will Amy & I benefit, but more important our girls will benefit. They will benefit by learning the value of hard work and discipline.

I plan to share the results of this work very soon!

3.14.2012

My Thoughts During Spring Break

Having my kids home for spring break has got me wondering...

...about this blog of mine. A hobby-- turned passion-- turned surprise income maker-- now takes time. I now have advertisers, sponsors and write occasional posts on products and get paid for it. I find myself photographer, editor, writer, social media specialist, administrator, and receptionist all at the same time, and I LOVE IT! It has been a huge blessing, a surprise answer to prayer. We asked God about supplementing our income and what would be the best way to do that, and it seems like this blog is the answer. It brings me to tears when I think of the incredible gift I have been given, to spend time doing my passion hobby, and actually help the family income at the same time. I have God and YOU ALL to thank for that.

But, as spring break is here, and kids are home, I find myself wondering how in the world am I going to do it all come summer break? I have felt the pull the last 2 days, the pull between being a mom and being a blog writer. My little ones win in this tug o' war game. I gladly give in. For you see, I now know that the moments are so precious, and are not forever. They pull, and I respond pulling them to me into arms that don't ever want to let go. Oh if I could freeze these precious moments!

Arms right now are empty, as I sit here in a few surprise quiet moments, as all 3 of my girls are at a friends house down the street. Thank goodness for great neighbors, another answer to a prayer that we prayed.

Back to summer, I'm not sure how I will balance the two. I know so many of you do it, working mothers, and then those who are my heroes, single mothers. But, I do know that my family must always come first, and I must notice and cling to those moments that so easily slip past when I am too focused on work. I know my work is best when I am being the best mom and wife I can be.

I will probably sneak away to a coffee shop a couple evenings a week and take my laptop to the pool.

Another solution I have is bringing you into our days, sharing with you what we do, and keeping my posts simple. So today, you get to see what my youngest and I have been up to, and I will show you a glimpse of a fun little project we did yesterday with some of our neighbor kids.

I received a phone call from Grandma last night, "Can I take you all out for breakfast in the morning? Can I drop little ones birthday gift off at the house, too?" So our morning started out with the blessing beautiful weather, an awesome breakfast and time with Grandma. Grandma Sharon knew that my little one could really use her own comfy chair in her room, and after looking all over the city, she found the MOST special and comfy one. Such a great gift!

My little ones room has been a mess, and I was hoping this would be the motivation she might need to get her room in order. I was right. As we were out to breakfast, little one asks, "Mom, do you think we could work on my room today, maybe rearrange it and find a special place for my new chair?" Yay! Because I didn't over schedule our Spring Break, I was able to say "yes" and now her room looks great! She expressed such gratitude to me for helping her with her room, which melted me.

{Here is what was eliminated from her room, most of which was under the bed! Eyyy..}

As always, when I get into one project, it seems like the rest of the house falls apart, so I will take some time this afternoon rescuing my house! The weather is so amazing, I'm thinking it may be a great evening to pack a picnic and have Todd meet us at the park for dinner. It is 81 degrees and sunny, with just a slight breeze. Perfect!

Off I go to get to my rescuing, but before I do, here a quick peek at a super fun project we did yesterday. I will have a "how-to" post coming soon!