Welcome to my Works For Me Wednesday post!

Since we have switched over to online bill paying we never use the envelopes that come with the paper bills.

I do my best to recycle what we can, so I was curious to see if there was a way to reuse those perfectly good envelopes.  Well, I found one!

When it’s time to go to the grocery I tuck my coupons inside the envelope and write my shopping list on the outside. There’s plenty of room for my list and my coupons don’t get lost in my purse, because they snugly tucked into the envelope!

I’m SO thankful for anything to help me stay organized, because I usually go shopping with my kids.  But, that’s another post in itself!

See you tomorrow for the tutorial on how to make a moss covered ball!

Setting Goals For The New Year

I’ve broken my life down into the different roles that I fill;  Christian, Woman, Wife, Mother, Daughter, Friend, Homemaker, Teacher, Servant (teaching the preschool class and helping out however I can at church)

Then I wrote down the things I’d like to improve in each role.  My goals are attainable, but will take a lot of work!
But, the things in life worth having are worth working for.

I’d really like to have everything change for the better tomorrow!  But, I’ll have to tackle a few goals at a time.  Sigh…

So….here are the goals I’ll be making into habits during the month of January.  (Nothing like telling you all to make me accountable!  Ha!  No pressure Laryssa, you just told the world what you’re going to do!)

Each month I’ll share what I’m going to be working on.  If you’d like to share some of your goals we could help keep other accountable.

January’s Goals:

Christian:  Read my Bible and pray for at least 30 minutes a day.  Pick a topic to study as well and spend 30 minutes a day studying.

*Y’all, most Americans watch 3 hours of TV a day.  We can carve out one hour to spend with the Lord.  For us Moms with young kids that may mean taking the Bible into the bathroom and reading a few verses at a time!

Woman:  Get fit!  Eat a lower carb diet and exercise 30 minutes a day, six days a week to help regulate blood sugar and loose weight.

*What a tidy little sentence!  Simple right?  Sure.  I’m counting on the self control I’ll be gaining by reading my Bible and praying when I see those steaming  O’Charlie’s rolls.  I’ll also be exercising perseverance while I haul my behind out of bed to exercise my body!

I’m realizing that heaven in the home starts with me.  As a woman I’m the heart of my home. If I’m acting ugly, loosing my temper and letting monster mommy fuss at my kids, we aren’t going to have heaven in our home.   (We’ll be having a day of …..well you know, somewhere hotter.  Yuck!)

So…I’ll be doing my best, with the Lord’s help, to make our home a place of peace and rest.

Heaven in our home is my goal for 2009.  Let’s do it together!

(Be sure to stop by on Monday.  I have a great tutorial in the works!)

Further reading:

20 Questions for Planning New Year’s Goals (by Simple Mom)

It’s time to join in the garland fun at The Nesting Place!

After I saw Nester’s garland and read her how to post, I KNEW I had to make one of my own. You all probably remember that I’m going all out this Christmas, so an over the top garland seemed just right!

I have had SO MUCH FUN decorating this Christmas.  Don’t worry, I still remember the real reason we celebrate but, I sure am enjoying all the sparkles around here!

Here are the photos of my garland.  I made it from things I had around the house and things that were given to me.  Shopping the house is so much fun!

This is our Family Room and yes that is a harp to the right.  I’m learning to play…

Here is a close up of the garland.  It’s full of faux pine, fern, real feathers, pine cones, red and gold swirl ribbon, red and gold ornaments, icy branches and berries.

Like Nester said, just keep adding!

This is another close up, this time of the center of the garland.  You can see three sparkly pomegranates under the feather tuft.

Hope you enjoyed the garland parade!  Go see what everyone else has done in the Mr. Linky at Nesters.

How would you like to enter the holiday season (Thanksgiving and Christmas), in peace and confidence? Where your gifts are wrapped and placed under a beautiful tree, the house is clean and smells like cinnamon and cloves. Would you like to be rested and ready to be a blessing to your family and able to spend time focusing on the real reason for the holidays-Jesus?

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