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Shared Jan 8, 2015 comment

What would you love for me to blog about while I’m in South Africa?

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 8, 2015 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

On Wednesday of next week (January 14, 2015), Lisa-Jo, Jackson (Lisa-Jo’s 9-year-old son), Joy, and I will be boarding a plane for an 18-hour flight from DC to Johannesburg, South Africa.

{Yes, we opted for no layover to cut down on travel time… but that’s going to be one long, long flight!}

We’re getting really, really excited. Unlike my usual pack-the-same-thing-an-hour-before-I-leave routine (one of the benefits to having a really simple wardrobe and basically bringing the same things on every trip I take!), this time around, I actually wrote out a packing list earlier this week and am already starting to collect everything I need to take in a spot in my closet.

{By the way, thank you, thank you, for all the great ideas and information in the comments on this post. You all covered some things and shared some ideas I hadn’t thought of. Things like the fact that bathrooms wouldn’t have toilet paper… yikes, I’m clearly such a newbie international traveler! :)}

We’re staying with Lisa-Jo’s parents and will be spending most of our days meeting the amazing local leaders who work with them as part of the Take Action Ministry and seeing the work they are doing in the communities there.

We’re excited to be dreaming and planning for how we can come alongside them long-term and partner with them in their much-needed ministry in South Africa (more on that in the future — I can’t wait to share more with you about the projects and opportunities we’re discussing right now!)

For those who have asked, we will be in Pretoria mostly in Hammanskraal. It’s supposed to be around 95 degrees there — which will quite the contrast from the cold we’ve been experiencing in TN. It’s hard to think about sun dresses and tank tops in this coat and glove weather!

I’m grateful to be traveling with Lisa-Jo and Jackson who were both born in South Africa and who have extensive international traveling experience (Lisa-Jo has lived all over the world and speaks 5 languages!) And I’ve heard that the hospitality in South Africa is amazing. So it sounds like we’ll be in great hands there!

There are definitely things I’m anxious about, but there’s so much peace in my heart about this trip. I’m already falling in love with the beautiful people of South Africa and have a feeling I’ll be leaving part of my heart there.

I also have a feeling that it will be an eye-opening, American-comfort-bubble-bursting, life-changing trip. I want to go with an open heart to whatever God wants to teach me and am praying that my heart would never be the same as a result of this trip.

As one of our goals from this trip is to introduce you to South Africa and the wonderful people there, we want to be your eyes and ears on the ground.

There will be SO many things I could blog about when I’m there, but I’d love to know what you’d most like to hear about. So help me out:

What questions do you have about South Africa?
What pictures would you like to most see me share from my South Africa trip?
What would you most like me to blog about while I’m there?
What questions do you have about this trip?

I can’t promise that I’ll be able to cover everything you suggest, but I will definitely do my best to capture as much as I can in pictures and blog posts so that you can feel like you’re joining me virtually in this adventure!

Shared Jan 8, 2015 comment

Join the 2015 Book Challenge at Blessed Beyond a Doubt

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 8, 2015 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Need some encouragement to read more? Jill at Blessed Beyond a Doubt is inviting you to join her 2015 Book Challenge. Here’s what she says:

“This new year I decided I wanted to read more because I adore it. It’s my relaxation therapy. So I decided to come up with a book challenge 2015 for myself.

And of course, I want you to join me.

I want to broaden my horizons by reading multiple different genre and topics of interest. I rarely read fiction, but I do enjoy it. I believe you can grow from reading from any type of book.

Here’s my Book Challenge 2015 Printable with all the different genres and topics I plan on reading this year. I am just going to check them off as I read them. If I don’t get to all of them, no sweat, I will add them to my next year book challenge list. Reading is meant for enjoyment not stress…”

Read more here.

Shared Jan 7, 2015 comment

5 Books I Read Last Week + What I Hope to Read This Week

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 7, 2015 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

We’re seven days into January and I’ve finished seven books so far. That’s a pretty good pace, eh?

I don’t think I’ll be able to keep reading at the pace of one book per day, but it’s been fun to have more time for reading these past two weeks!

Books Read This Week

Here’s what I read this past week:

What Alice Forgot — I really enjoyed this book. While it wasn’t written from a Christian perspective and had some swear words in it, the book was well-written and really caused me to step back and examine my own marriage and relationships to see if I’m making small choices that would, over time, have devastating consequences.

Steal Like An Artist — This is such a quick read, but it’s packed with inspirational ideas. I didn’t agree with all of the ideas and thought some of them could be overwhelming — especially if you felt like you needed to add a bunch of them to your life in order to be a better writer or more creative person — but overall, I thought it was solid and helpful advice.

I Thought It Was Just Me (But It Isn’t) — I’ve loved all three of Brene’s books. This one is her first book and, while it was very thought-provoking, I’d say it was my least favorite. If you only read one of hers, I would highly recommend Daring Greatly. Caveat: All of Brene’s books have some crass language in them and aren’t written to a Christian audience.

5-Minute Morning Boosters — This was another quick read, but it had some interesting ideas in it for starting your day well. Some of them were quite weird, but there were enough good ideas to outweigh the few weird ones. 🙂

Dashing Dish: 100 Simple & Delicious Recipes for Clean Eating — This book just showed up at my doorstep one day and it looked interesting, so I read through it last week. And to my surprise, I thought many of the recipes looked really good. In fact, I dog-eared so many pages that I feel like I practically dog-eared every other page! Many of the recipes were unique but still simple and delicious-looking. I passed the cookbook on to Jesse to look through since he’s been doing a lot of cooking these days, too.

Books I Plan to Read Next Week

James and the Giant Peach — This is our current read aloud. We’re enjoying it, though I have to say that some of the language and attitudes has surprised me for a children’s book. I’ve edited it a bit and used other parts as opportunities to have discussions on how our words can be hurtful and shameful to others.

The Anxiety Cure — As someone who struggles with anxiety during different seasons of life, I’m on a mission to learn more about it and what I can do to help prevent or minimize it. I read Sleep: It Does a Family Good by Archibald Hart two years ago and learned so much from it that I picked up this title to check it out, too.

Glimpses of Grace — So many people have told me I must read this book. I’m about a 1/2 of the way through it and am finding it thought-provoking it.

The One Thing — I keep seeing this one mentioned over and over again, so I thought it’d be a great read to start the year out with.

Long Walk to Freedom & Kaffir Boy — I’m reading these in preparation for my trip to South Africa next week.

Against All Grain — Multiple friends have mentioned this book to me and suggested I read it.

From This Day Forward — I saw an article about this book on Ann Voskamp’s site and was intrigued so I picked up a copy.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie — My friend, Ginger, recommended this book to me.

What did you read this week? Any must-read book recommendations?

Shared Jan 7, 2015 comment

Small House Living: Could you downsize in house?

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 7, 2015 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept of Small House Living recently. My blogging friend, Lori, has shared about their family’s fairly radical decision to downsize to an RV and travel around the country as a family.

This in and of itself is impressive. But it’s even more impressive when you find out that they are doing this with four kids in tow.

Part of the idea of voluntarily downsizing appeals to me in a big way because I don’t like extra clutter and stuff. On the flip side, the thought of living out of a really small space sounds like a recipe for lots of tension. Namely, I like to have quiet places to retreat and living in such a small space might make me feel like I’d go crazy after awhile. 🙂

There can be a lot of benefits to downsizing, though, if even for a short period of time.

When I was 10 years old, my parents sold our house and moved all 7 of us (there were only five kids at the time!) to a single wide trailer for 7 months while we built a home in the country. Since our living space was very limited, we put most of our household items in storage and only kept out the essentials.

We have so many memories from that summer in the trailer, most of them good memories. And we discovered a lot of benefits to living in a small space. Such as:

We hardly spent any time cleaning. My mom divvied up the household chores amongst all of us and with only 6 total rooms in the trailer, that meant very few chores to go around!
It fostered togetherness. We couldn’t really go off by ourselves because there wasn’t a lot of space, so we had to learn how to get along even in tighter quarters! I have many fond memories of nights spent all together in the living room reading before bed.
We made our own entertainment. We weren’t able to bring many of our toys/things along, so we had fun using what we had for forms of entertainment. We built an elaborate tree “house” using things left in the old barn. We experimented in the kitchen with new recipes that only used the microwave, crock pot, or electric skillet (we didn’t have an oven in the trailer). And my older sister did a lot of sewing since she was able to bring her sewing machine.
We became more grateful. My parents were investing most of their money into the house-building project so there wasn’t a lot of extra cash that summer. I distinctly remember it being the first time in my life where we had to do without and I remember how much contentment and gratefulness this helped me develop.
It taught us the difference between a need and something that’s nice to have. There are many things we had to put in storage that summer that we’d always assumed you needed to live. But we realized that, if you can survive without it for 7 months, it’s probably less of a necessity and more of something that’s nice to have. It’s good to learn from a young age that there are very few real needs in life. I’m grateful for the conveniences of things like ovens and dishwashers and dryers, but you can survive just fine without them, as we did for those 7 months.

I was reading Kathi Lipp’s new book called Clutter Free recently and she talks about their decision not to move up in house, but rather to downsize in stuff.

She lists off a number of benefits for living in a smaller house, including:

Smaller houses are less expensive to furnish than larger houses.
Smaller houses are less expensive to heat and cool compared to comparably built larger homes.
Smaller houses force you to use all of your home.
Smaller houses force you to be intentional about your possessions.

I love her conclusion that, much of the time, we don’t need a bigger house, we need less stuff. If you’re feeling cramped in your space and like your family is bursting at your house seams, make sure you’ve eliminated all the unnecessary clutter and extras first before you starting shopping for a bigger house.

Have you ever downsized before — even for a short time? Do you think you could do what Lori’s family is doing and downsize your family to an RV? Why or why not? I’d love to hear!

For inspiration, check out this article: 12 of the Most Impressive Tiny Houses You’ve Ever Seen

Shared Jan 7, 2015 comment

How to get a free washer or refrigerator from your utility company

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 7, 2015 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Queen Bee Coupons shares how they got a free washer from their utility company:

When we moved into our house nearly five years ago it came with an older washer and dryer set. Although ugly, loud and inefficient – the washer and dryer worked just fine. We sometimes discussed buying a new set, but couldn’t justify the cost if the ones we had worked just fine.

Last month, my electricity company, Puget Sound Energy (PSE) reached out to me and told me about their PSE appliance replacement program – replacing old refrigerators and clothes washers – for FREE!

Seems too good to be true, but customers who are Puget Sound Energy electric customers (those living in Washington cities like Olympia, Kent, Bellingham, Bellevue etc.) and who have a clothes washer that is really old, like 17 years old or older, can exchange it for a free ENERGY STAR model.

Read more here.

Have any of you tried or done this before? I’d love to hear about it!

WANT TO SAVE $100 FAST?!Join the FREE 14-Day Savings Challenge!

Click here to sign up!

Shared Jan 7, 2015 comment

Gretchen’s Target Shopping Trip: Just paid tax for 7 items!

Published: by Gretchen on January 7, 2015 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Target Shopping Trip

3 Bayer Aspirin – $2.19 each, used $10/3 coupon from the 1/4 SmartSource insert – Free plus overage after coupon

2 pkg Christmas Cards – Marked down to $0.70 each

2 pkg Bic Soleil Glow Razors – $6.99 each, used Buy One Get One Free coupon from the 1/4 SmartSource (took off $7.99) AND 30% off Cartwheel coupon – $0.89 each after coupons

Total before coupons and sales: $35.93

Total with tax ($1.38) after coupons and sales: $1.38 (I only paid tax!)

Shared Jan 6, 2015 comment

Trim Healthy Mama Chocolate Cupcakes (grain-free, dairy-free)

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 6, 2015 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

I found this Trim Healthy Mama Cupcake recipe when I was browsing on Pinterest the other day. I realized that we happened to have all of the ingredients on hand for it, so Silas and I spent a little time in the kitchen making it today.

This boy. He melts my heart! I love how much he loves to help and serve. He has the sweetest heart and is always looking for ways to bless his mama.

Silas did all of the stirring and mixing and then filled up the muffin tins — with very little help from me.

Here’s the link to the recipe we used: Trim Healthy Mama Cupcake recipe.

Overall, we were happy with the end result. For the healthful ingredients they have in them, they were fairly delicious.

I probably would have loved them more if they didn’t have almond flour as their base, though. I keep telling myself I’m going to learn to like almond flour, but so far, I just can’t quite get over the texture and taste of it in baked goods. It just always tastes a little too nutty and off to me.

Is anyone else like that? Maybe I’m just weird!

I do, however, think this batter would be really yummy made in the waffle iron and slathered with butter. Or, topped with some kind of frosting. Otherwise, these were a little on the dry and bland side to me.

Have you cooked or baked anything this week? Have any new must-try recipe links to share?

Shared Jan 6, 2015 comment

Want to get more done? Stop making so many decisions!

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 6, 2015 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Fewer options = less time making decisions

Want to get more done in 2015? Here’s a simple tip: Stop making so many decisions.

For real.

I was reading an advanced copy of Jon Acuff’s new book, Do Over, and he talks about this. Here’s what he says:

This is a technique leaders throughout history have taken up. Like a guy named Albert Einstein. According to Forbes, “It has been reported that the famous physicist bought several versions of the same gray suit because he didn’t want to waste brainpower on choosing an outfit each morning.”

President Barack Obama explained the idea even further, in an article in Vanity Fair written by Michael Lewis, “You also need to remove from your life the day-to-day problems that absorb most people for meaningful parts of their day. ‘You’ll see I wear only gray or blue suits,’ [Obama] said. ‘I’m trying to pare down decisions. I don’t want to make decisions about what I’m eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make.’ ”

If you think that won’t work, I’d like to introduce you to the “speaking jeans” I own. For the last eighteen months, I’ve worn one pair of pants at every event I’ve spoken at. (The ones where jeans were acceptable onstage.) That’s one less thing for me to think about when I pack.

-Jon Acuff, Do Over (go pre-order a copy — it’s fantastic!)

Want to get more done? Eliminate decision-making

I know this might sound overly simplistic, but it really does work. This is one of the reasons I only have a few outfits and re-wear them over and over and over again — down to the same shoes and jewelry.

This is one of the reasons it’s rare for me to eat something different than oatmeal or eggs and bacon for breakfast and why it was Instagram-worthy that I had a Purple Power Smoothie for breakfast yesterday! 🙂

This is why I like to stay at the same hotel chain, eat at the same restaurant chains (and usually always order the same things when I eat there), wear the same makeup palette every day, re-buy the exact same brand/make of something I like when the first one wears out, fix my hair in the same styles, and make the same meals on a regular basis.

Those of you who thrive on variety would probably find this incredibly boring. But for me, there is not only comfort in the sameness of things, it also simplifies life a lot.

If you only have one choice or a few choices, versus dozens of choices, it’s usually much quicker and easier to make a decision. You don’t have to weigh your options, consider the pros and cons, try on different outfits, worry about which choice is best… you just make your simple decision and go with it.

What About You?

Have you simplified and eliminated decision-making in certain areas of your life? If so, I’d love to hear! Also, does a life of few choices sound wonderful or extremely boring? Why or why not?

photo credit; photo credit

Shared Jan 5, 2015 comment

A Day In My Life: Early rising, computer crashes, Morning Time, cleaning out a closet, and a remarkably good Monday!

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 5, 2015 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

So how did your Monday go? Mine went remarkably well — which was not what I was expecting after us all being sick and completely off any routine last week and few weeks of us being mostly off school.

I am trying to get back to really early, early rising again. To the tune of 3:30 a.m. Yes, I have up and lost my mind. 🙂

But this morning, I was so grateful that I got up early because I had a lot of computer work to catch up on and my laptop crashed yesterday, so I was working on my husband’s laptop… which was clearly invented in the time of the dinosaurs. Or at least that’s what it felt like when the thing was working at a snail’s pace. (Have I mentioned I don’t have a lot of patience when it comes to slow computers??)

Instead of being frustrated, though, I decided to focus on the positive: that I usually have a fast computer, that I an internet connection at all, that my computer is under warranty, and that I have a backup computer to work on.

After crawling through all my morning computer work, I finished up, spent some time reading my Bible and studying John 4. Then I exercised with Silas (who was the only up at the time) and then let him play an educational game on the computer while I took a shower.

When I was ready for the day, I got the girls up, we had breakfast (Purple Power smoothies — see the ingredients here), and read our devotional and some from Aesop’s Fables.

While the kids were finishing up their breakfast, I wrote out chore lists for them (their chores change a little each day depending upon what needs to be done — I’m also divvying up the Confident Mom Planner chores between us all) and they go busy on their lists.

I cleaned up the kitchen, started some laundry, cleaned up my room, made my bed, washed Kathrynne’s hair and fixed it, and helped Silas with his chores.

We then sat down for Morning Time. Oh how I think this idea is going to be such a gift to our homeschooling. It went SO well today and was so fun to have time set aside to do those things I always hope we would get to but always seem to be crowded out by math, grammar, and so on.

After we were done with Morning Time, Jesse got home and made lunch for the kids, got them started on the core subjects for the day while I worked on cleaning out the bathroom closet.

I pulled most of the items out, reorganized and consolidated, threw a few things out, and moved some of the extra bottles to the second bathroom where were have some empty storage shelves. And within around 25 minutes, the closet looked SO much better!

Believe it or not, by 12:30 p.m., I had finished my entire Morning List. I guess the getting up early thing really does work well. 🙂

I spent the afternoon working on blog projects, writing this post on my South Africa secret, and getting caught up on emails.

And then tonight we had our usual weekly Monday night gathering with friends. We all brought stuff for a Taco Bar and an Ice Cream Bar. It’s always an evening filled with a lot of laughing, ribbing, and just so much fun. We’re grateful for this group of friends that God has given us and how much they bless us each week.

How was YOUR day? Leave a comment and tell us about it and you’ll be entered to win this stack of goodies I put together — including a few brand-new books by dear friends of mine! This giveaway has ended.

Shared Jan 5, 2015 comment

A secret I’ve been keeping for a few months…

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 5, 2015 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

You know that feeling you get when you know a secret that almost no one else knows? You go through your day and you keep feeling the corner of your mouth turn up into a smile. Because you know a really, really exciting secret and you can barely hold it in.

That’s how I’ve felt the last few months. I’ve had a secret I’ve been keeping and my heart’s been about ready to burst — because I’m excited and humbled and just plain in awe of how God orchestrates things.

First, let give you a little background…

In 2013, my friend, Lisa-Jo Baker, had asked me to read a pre-release copy of her new book, Surprised By Motherhood. I loved it so very much that I wrote her and asked her how I could help promote it for her.

Well, the email she sent back just blew me away. She shared with me about this huge vision she has to impact the culture in South Africa — where she grew up, where three of her siblings are adopted from, and where her parents still live and minister.

As she shared about this massive dream she had to encourage women around the globe to come together to change a community of kids in South Africa, I knew I had to tell my readers about it.

Lisa-Jo didn’t know I was going to blog about it. We hadn’t talked ahead of time about the best strategy or post time or anything like that.

She just put her post up, I followed up with a post encouraging you all to Fall in Love With the World Next Door, and then dozens upon dozens of our readers and blog friends shared those posts with their friends.

And then we were absolutely humbled and stunned and overwhelmed by the donations and emails that came in — from all over the world. Hundreds of you gave.

It was one of the most beautiful Valentine’s Days I’ve ever celebrated. Because of your giving hearts, a community center, veggie garden, and playground was funded for the Maubane community in South Africa.

It still gives me goosebumps to think about.

But I had this nagging feeling that this wasn’t the end of the road for my involvement in South Africa. My heart kept feeling a pull that we were supposed to do something more.

I didn’t know what that more looked like, but I just felt like we weren’t done there yet. Lisa-Jo felt the same way.

So the past six months or so, Lisa-Jo and I have been emailing about what this looks like. We’ve been praying. And we’ve been talking with the folks from Help One Now about how we can partner with Take Action (the ministry on the ground in South Africa) to impact this beautiful community and country.

And that leads me to the secret I’ve been keep for oh-so-many weeks now. Y’all: In 10 days from now, I’m GOING TO SOUTH AFRICA with Lisa-Jo!!!!

Yes, me. The girl who lived in Kansas all her life until this past year. The girl who is afraid of meeting new people. The girl who doesn’t like to go outside her comfort zone. The girl who doesn’t like unknowns. The girl who has never been on an airplane for longer than 5 hours.

I’ll readily admit that there are many things about this trip that are scary to me. I have no idea what it will be like to be on a plane for 18 hours. I have no idea how my body will react to jet lag. And I’ve been told that our agenda once we get there will be packed from sun up to sun down every day so that we can learn and soak up as much as possible.

There are a lot of unknowns and a lot of things I could (and do!) feel anxious about. But I have this deep down peace in my heart that this is the next step in my journey. That I’m not just supposed to send money or encouragement from far away. That I’m supposed to step outside my comfort zone and GO.

To meet the local leaders and hear from them personally. To see the needs with my own eyes. To experience what life is like in South Africa. To better understand the struggles of this community. To bring encouragement and hope to those who are working tirelessly to make an impact.

And so I’m going. And I’m going to be bringing you all along with me through my blog.

As Lisa-Jo wrote so beautifully in her post:

So we’re going. And we’re paying our own way. And we just want to take you in our virtual suitcases and let you see for yourselves what happens when between the loads of laundry and dishes and commuting and deadlines a community takes the time to love on their sisters who are also juggling laundry and homework and kids and dishes.

It won’t be a fundraising trip, it will be a FALL IN LOVE TRIP so you can see in person all that your love and prayers and donations and enthusiasm and encouragement have built.

It won’t be a fundraising trip, it will be a COME AND CELEBRATE WHAT WE DID TOGETHER trip as we enter this New Year reminding each other again that there is absolutely no such thing as “just” a mom – because “just” a mom couldn’t possibly have raised over $50,000 together for vulnerable kids in South Africa. And YOU GUYS DID THAT!

It won’t be a fundraising trip, it will be a MEET THE MOMS AND KIDS THAT ARE JUST LIKE YOU trip as we share photos and video of the community you are now connected to – virtual next door neighbors.

We want you to come along with us as we share pictures, stories, and details on life in South Africa. We hope that you’ll not only be encouraged to see what your generosity has done for this community, but it’s our heart’s desire that you’ll prayerfully consider standing with us long-term to make a difference in this community (after we get back home and have time to unpack and process, we’ll be sharing more about what that looks like).

For now, won’t you come along and join us? To follow along:

Lisa-Jo will be posting photos of our trip on Instagram over here.
I’ll be posting photos of our trip on Instagram over here.
We’ll both be sharing on our blogs, too.

I can’t WAIT to share this adventure with you all! {And if you have any advice for a newbie international traveller, I’m all ears. Please, no horror stories, though! But I welcome any and all tips for how to survive long plane rides and jet lag. And if you’re a reader in South Africa, I’d especially love to hear any tips or suggestions you have for me!}

photos used with permission from Ty Clark and Scott Wade

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Shared Jan 5, 2015 comment

Sign up for the FREE Own Your Life webcast on Tuesday evening!

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 5, 2015 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Just a reminder — this webcast is tomorrow evening. Be sure to sign up, if you haven’t already!

I’m honored and excited to be joining Sally Clarkson, Angela Perritt, and Sarah Mae for a free online webcast to celebrate the launch of Sally’s new book, Own Your Life.

This online Girl’s Night will be Tuesday, January 6, 2015 at 9:00 pm ET/8 CT/7 MT/6 PT

If you need some encouragement from other women to live your life on purpose and not just barely survive each day, be sure to tune in. It’s going to be so much fun!

We’re going to be discussing some great topics, including:

Learning to love who God has made you, leaving guilt and inadequacy behind
Finding contentment right where you are, single, married or somewhere in between
Building a home environment that gives life to all who come there
Becoming the friend and lover of all, that God created you to be
Embracing your ministry of parenting and learning how to do it with grace
Building a long term story of faithfulness in your marriage
Leaving a legacy of a strong faith, generous love, an intentional life

Plus, you can be sure that there will be a lot of honesty from each of us imperfect women as we talk about our own struggles in this area, things that have helped us, and what we’re still learning. 🙂

Sign up for this FREE online webcast here.

Shared Jan 5, 2015 comment

My Monday Morning Homemaking Plan & Today’s Cleaning Project

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 5, 2015 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

It’s Monday and guess what that means? That means it’s time for our weekly deep-cleaning project! Every Monday morning, I’ll be assigning us all a deep-cleaning project to tackle (well, that is, if want to join us!)

Today’s project is to tackle the bathroom cupboards and/or closet. If you are short on time, just pick the messiest drawer, cupboard, or closet to tackle.

Here’s my plan for this morning:

Read my Bible, exercise, and shower.
Get dressed to my shoes. (Thanks, Flylady!)
Eat some breakfast, read aloud to the kids, start a load of laundry.
Morning chores with the kids.
Get the kids started on their schoolwork. Kindergarten with Silas.
Switch the laundry.
Clean the bathroom closet out — remove clutter, wipe down shelves, organize.
Morning Time with the kids.

This evening, I’ll share a post about how my morning well and give you an update (with pictures) on the progress I made on the bathroom closet.

Need some motivation? Check out my post on 10 Ways to Make Cleaning More Fun.

Want to join me? Leave a comment to let us know you’re participating! If you have time, tell us what your morning plan is, too.

Shared Jan 5, 2015 comment

10 Goals For This Week

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 5, 2015 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

10 Weekly Goals

Happy Monday! Are you ready to get back into the swing of things — including weekly goals? I know I am! If you missed it, you can see my 12 Goals for 2015 here.

Here are my goals for this week:

Marriage/Mothering/Homemaking Goals

1. Start our Morning Time routine. Read aloud for at least 20 minutes every day.

2. Write a love note to Jesse.

3. Help the kids write thank you notes for Christmas gifts.

4. Write notes to the children we sponsor through Compassion.

Personal Goals

5. Exercise at least 4 times (I’m trying out these BeFit in 30 workouts this week.)

6. Finish at least two books.

7. Knit a Cosy Posy Ear Warmer.

8. Clean out our bathroom closet.

9. Try a new DIY project & recipe: Fixing Our Hardwood Floor Scratches & Trim Healthy Mama Chocolate Cupcakes.

Business Goals

10. Finish writing 3 articles for Mandi’s Live course.

How did you do on last week’s goals? What are your goals for this week? I’d love to have you share your progress on last week’s goals and your goals for this coming week in the comments. Of, if you’ve blogged about it, leave your direct link below. Let’s cheer each other on to live purposeful and productive lives! You can download a free customizable weekly goal-planning sheet here.

Shared Jan 5, 2015 comment

Want to save even more? Do without.

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 5, 2015 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Heather from Queen Bee Coupons has a great post up on saving money by doing without. Here’s a snippet:

When I decided to stay home with my kids (seven years ago!) it meant cutting our income by 60%. That’s right, 60 percent. Take $100 and throw $60 of it out the window. What was once $100, became $40 at the grocery store. I wouldn’t change staying home for a second. I wouldn’t trade anything for those extra 60 dollars, but I would be picky in how I spent the money I had left.

For us, this meant – if it wasn’t on sale and/or we didn’t have a coupon – we generally didn’t buy it. It was that simple. If it wasn’t a loss leader in the grocery ad (one of the best of the best deals), we would wait, and do without, until it went on sale.

And now, seven years later, our budget isn’t as tight – but we still live by this principle.

Read the full post.

Shared Jan 3, 2015 comment

What I Did On My Christmas Break

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 3, 2015 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Well, on Monday, we officially start back to homeschooling and life. On the one hand, I’m really ready to get back to our consistent routine again. On the other hand, we had such a calm and peaceful Christmas break that I almost wish it would last forever!

We took the kids to a Frozen on Ice Skating Program and then they got to go ice-skating afterward. Jesse also totally surprised us with a night at the Gaylord Opryland hotel as a Christmas present. I love that man so much! It was beautiful there, we had so much fun, and it was the perfect way to end our week.

Starbucks had Peppermint Mochas on sale for 50% off one day, but I did even better: I made my own sugar-free homemade mocha that was probably 1/5th the calories of Starbucks and really delicious. You can find the recipe here.

There is a first for everything. On the flight back to Kansas, one of our kids ended up getting really sick and had to use one of these on the plane. Gratefully, this child gave us fair warning, had good aim, and didn’t end up actually getting the full-blown flu. I’ve never been so grateful for this little white bag… I can’t imagine the mess and stink there would have been in the plane otherwise.

One of my favorite parts of December: Goal-setting for the new year!! My list-making self just loves, loves, loves it.

I’m so grateful for Grandmas. We hadn’t decorated cookies or made gingerbread houses yet this December and I was feeling like I’d dropped the ball since we usually always do both things.

Never fear, we got to Kansas and one Grandma had planned to decorate gingerbread houses with the kids and the other Grandma planned a cookie decorating party. My kids were so excited about doing both activities — and I was so thankful that not only did it not feel like I’d dropped the ball as much, but also that they got to make these sweet memories with their Grandmas.

We learned a new-to-us game with Jesse’s family called Tenzi. You should have heard the screaming, whooping, and hollering that happened. Such a fun game for a big group and a wide range of ages. Have you played it before?

We closed out our Christmas day celebration by going to a late-night showing of Unbroken.

Wow! I cannot recommend this movie highly enough! One of the best I’ve watched in a long time. It’s intense, but such a powerful, powerful true story of courage and forgiveness. And now I MUST read the book (can you believe I haven’t read it yet??)

We came home from Kansas all really sick with fevers, sore throats, aches, etc. and have spent the rest of our Christmas break recovering from that. Unfortunately, none of us were exempt from getting it and it took each of us around 5-6 days to recover. So that wasn’t too fun. But gratefully, we had a free week and at least one or two of us were well enough at all times to take care of the rest of the family who was down at the time.

So that was our Christmas break in a nutshell. How was YOUR Christmas break?

Summer Bucket List

Summer Bucket List

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Books Read This Week

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What About You?

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Here’s my plan for this morning:

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