January 2011 Consistency Report

Its hard to believe that January is already coming to an end. That means its time for a check up on how we are doing with being consistent in 2011. As I've said before, its important to just keep working on goals and wishes, day in and day out.

I am pleased with some of my progress and not so pleased with other things. I will keep working at it!

Here is a little report of how I've been doing:

1. I have been doing really well with being consistent with menu planning. My menu planning Recipe Binder lays on the kitchen counter top at all times. It is a great guide and helps me so much to know what I'm supposed to be doing.

January has been a very busy time for me, with lots of changes in plans, which means that my menu plans have changed often, as a result. When this happens, I simply mark out the meal for that day and move it over to a day on the next week. I've been planning on making pan fried steaks with baked potatoes every Friday this month, and they haven't been cooked yet!

My friend Elizabeth titled a post this week, "Don't hold your plans too close". That, my friends, is very true! I guess we just have to be ready to go with the flow. I have found that there are times when I don't get things done because of a change in plans, but there are also those unexpected slots of time that become available that I can take advantage of, too.

2. Coupons: I'm still using the coupon organizing system I posted about earlier. With this system, you file the entire coupon inserts by date and then make your grocery list by using blogs such as Southern Savers. This is working well for me and is by far the easiest coupon users system I have found. I'm still tweaking this system and would like to do better in this area.

3. Sewing: I'm proud to have started my Christmas gift sewing for 2011. I've also made great progress toward finishing my oldest UFO Quilt. The quilt top is finished and due to a change of plans over the weekend, I didn't get the quilt backing made. I also haven't been doing the handquilting of the Baptist fans on the Grandma Quilt. I want to do better in this area too!

4. Swagbucks: I am really pleased with my progress with Swagbucks. I've earned almost $35.00 in Amazon gift cards. One challenge with this is to have enough will power to save these until closer to Christmas!

5. Etsy and Ebay: I've not been working on this too much... I hope to do some Etsy Shop sewing soon. Ebay is not too high on my list. I do have 2 or 3 items that I want to sell, not big money makers at all, but nonetheless, I just have to get around to listing them.

6. Spiritually: There's always room for improvement in this area! I have found some spiritual inspiration in an unlikely place. I bought a nice Christian Daily Planner for 2011 on sale for $5.00 in December, which I purchased thinking I would give it as a gift to someone. I decided to keep it, but haven't written anything in it. Each month in the planner has a different theme and each day has a scripture verse and short sentence or two that offers daily encouragement or an explanation of the scripture.

For January, 2011, the theme is "God-given Abilities. A Quote from this theme: "Our goal is to first discover our abilities, then exercise them, and finally channel them toward good and not evil."

One example of a daily Scripture and quote: January 24th: "Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless. (1 Cor. 15:58). Use whatever gifts and talents the Lord gave you for His ultimate glory and honor.

The theme for January has really spoken to my heart because I feel drawn to use my abilities to serve God.

So, how are you doing with your 2011 plans, goals or resolutions?

Snow Day Sewing With Big Brother

Well, its been a year since my last "Snow Day Sewing' posts and we've already had two large snow and ice events this year. Its not a good sign when you look out the window at 4:00 A.M. and the snow and highway are shiny! We now have freezing drizzle falling on top of the snow that fell yesterday.

I love to be snowed in, as long as I don't have to go anywhere, but its hard for those who need to be going about the business of life. Imagine those who need to be going to the doctor, hospital, bury loved ones, or to work at jobs, such as nurses, doctors, firemen, and rescue personnel.

This was the perfect opportunity to put my new Brother sewing machine into service. I had to learn to use it, even had to learn how to thread it and wind the bobbin. Its simple to use, but oh so different that my old Singer. I have much more to learn so that I can use the machine to its full potential, but so far it sews like a dream!

I started out with a simple project... this coaster to go on the table beside my spot in the family room:



Then I cut off and hemmed a pair of warm winter casual pants for my mother:



Next, I experimented with some of the decorative stitches:



Then I checked my 2011 sewing project list and decided to tackle the oldest
unfinished project, the wedding gift quilt. I worked on it and made quite a bit of progress. The pattern is simple, but the process is not. The outer edges of the quilt are supposed to be darker than the center. Its a challenge to me to lay out the squares for each row, alternating the colors and getting the right shades in the right places. I wasn't too successful in a couple of places so far, but decided to leave it. I haven't made a perfect quilt yet, and don't expect this one will be either.




I am looking forward to finishing this quilt top so I can try out Big Brother's free motion quilting abilities.

I will need to purchase the fabrics to be used for the borders, unless by some miracle there are suitable ones in my stash. I would love to be able to quilt the quilt this weekend, but that may be too much to accomplish in the time available.

What do you like to do when you are housebound, whether its because of the weather or some other reason?

Quilting and Sewing Plans for 2011

The Cherry Pit Quilt Shop in Sevierville, Tennessee:







... Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men. Colossians 3:23

I haven't been spending as much time in the sewing room as I would like for the last two months. November and December are so full of activities that I can't seem to concentrate on my sewing projects. Several times I went into the sewing room and stood and looked around. My creative juices just wouldn't flow!

Now that January, 2011 is well on its way I am making my sewing plans for 2011. I really want to finish some things and of course, would love to start some new ones. Here is my list.

1. Continue handquilting the Grandma Quilt. I'm about half through with this. IF ONLY I had stuck with it, I when I was on a roll!Just 15 minutes a day would have made such a difference. No point worrying about it now.



2. My nephew and his wife are expecting a baby girl in April, so I am planning another Stacked Coins quilt. This will be the third one in this design I have made, all for girls. This one will be pink and white with some green mixed in. These are some of the fabrics I will be using. Some of them are fat quarters bought at the Cherry Pit quilt shop in Tennessee.



3. I started two Irish Chain quilts last summer that I want to work on using the Leaders and Enders System I learned from Bonnie at Quiltville. One of the quilts is blue and beige and the other is red and white.

4. I started a quilt that was to be a wedding gift over a year ago. I want to finish it and decide if I will still give it to the couple!

5. I want to make pillow cases for Christmas 2011 gifts. I plan to do this during Friday Night Sew In each month and also will link to Sewn With Grace, as I posted about in this POST.

6. I hope to sew some projects to sell in my Etsy Shop.

7. I want to plan a Summer of 2011 quilt project to be donated to my church's Harvest Day auction which is held in November of each year.

8. I would like to make some baby quilts to donate. I hope to write more about this later.

9. There are some small projects that I want to make for my grandson. A couple are pajama pants and a John Deere themed playmat or totebag.

10. Any special request projects I am asked to do.

What's Cooking This Week?

Well, its time to get into the swing of things with our brand new year 2011. I've been talking about all kinds of things I plan to do in 2011 and my hope to be more consistent in doing them. So, here's where the rubber meets the road!

The new menu plan work sheet is available by Crystal at the Family Homestead blog HERE. I printed mine out last week and have filled out the first week. Crystal is so organized that she as posted her menus for the entire month HERE.

If you are having trouble coming up with ideas for meals, checkout her list. There are links to her recipes on many of the meals and it would be very helpful if you are having a menu planning mental block. I noted that on the 7th she is making split pea soup from the frozen ham bone from Christmas. I have one in the freezer too! I will need to check her recipe out!

I am really loving my menu planning recipe binder! Its still in progress, but is so helpful. The secret is only having recipes and a list of the meals that your family actually likes in there. I am adding recipes and also just plain old instructions for making the meals we eat all the time.

For example, on New Years Eve morning, hubby requested french toast. I don't make it that often and there's really no recipe, just eggs and bread, but I took note of how many eggs, how much oil, etc. I used and then wrote down the instructions in the book. Now if my kids or hubby ever want to know how I made french toast, they will know. Its also there for inspiration when I am searching for meals when menu planning. By the way, the French Toast was yummy!

On New Year's Day I made ham and potato soup, using the last little bit of leftover Christmas ham and it was wonderful. So I made sure the recipe was in the binder and even made a note on it that read, "A winner on 1-1-11." I can see this dish becoming a New Year's Day tradition at our house.

I plan to make a section in the back of the binder that has my menus for special occasions, such as Christmas, 2010, New Year's Day, 2011, family members' birthdays, etc. These would be inspiration for future celebrations. No more wondering what I cooked "last time". When I am cooking a meal for company, I make a list of everything, which lays on the counter so that I can refer to it while cooking. This helps me to stay on track and to not forget anything. So I could just save this list and file it in the binder.

Here are the meals I have written down for this week:

Saturday: (New Year's Day Smorgasbord) Ham, Potato and Corn Soup, Black Eyed Peas, Pigs in Blankies, Sweet and Sour Meatballs, Chex Party Mix, Cheeseball and Crackers, Fried Cornbread and chocolate chip cookies.

Sunday: Hamburger Stroganoff, Noodles, Garden Peas, leftover Black Eyed Peas. (A little chopped onion is wonderful on top of Black Eyed Peas)

Monday: Chicken Fried Rice, leftover veggies. (I will make extra rice for Tuesday night)

Tuesday: Crock pot roast, Rice and Gravy, Green Beans

Wednesday: Pork Chops, Mashed Potatoes, leftover veggies. I will be using the Cooks Magazine method of pan frying pork chops. This is supposed to produce juicy, tasty pork chops, even on a week night.

Thursday: Chili, crackers

Friday: Pizza

So.... I have planned our menus for the first week of 2011. One week down and 51 to go! Yikes!

Consistently Growing Spritually in 2011

I have been posting about my theme for 2011, which is to be consistent. Its so easy to make New Year's Resolutions ,or if you are avoiding the word, "Resolution", plans or goals. The hard thing is to consistently work towards those goals when the excitement of a new year starts to wear off, which for me is about a week!

Since today is the first day of the year, I thought I'd write here that my first priority in being consistent is to grow spiritually in 2011. The Lord provides many ways of doing this. Each and every one of us is different and He knows that each one of us need different ways of becoming close to Him.

So what things do you do, or experience by God's Grace, that help you to grow spiritually?

Of course these are the most obvious:

1. Church attendance
2. Bible reading and study
3. Prayer

For me I need all of the above, but to take it one step further, I need to serve God in my everyday life. When there are things you do that are hard, but you know God wants you to do them, remember that you are serving Him.

My favorite Christian author is Elizabeth George. Her writing speaks to my homemaking dreams heart in many ways. HERE IS A WEBSITE that contains a daily recording by Elizabeth George. This is one small way I can lift my heart spiritually in 2011. If I need an extra lift, there are archives!

So to grow spiritually in 2011, my goal is to serve God consistently through practical Christian living.

Here are just a few ideas:

1. Family: What better way is there to serve God? Being a helper and cheerleader for our husbands, if married, doing laundry, cooking, providing a peaceful atmosphere all please God. Helping my Mother in her daily life during this season of her life is not always convenient, but an important part of serving the Lord for me. Even though my children are now adults, I am still serving God by being there for them.

2. At work: Answering the phone is not my favorite thing to do there, but you never know how you are serving God by being polite and helpful Striving for excellence (I always fail) in doing a good job is pleasing to God.

3. Couponing: This is a good way to purchase food for my Church's food pantry to help feed the hungry. Also this helps me to be a good steward of my family's grocery budget;

4. Sewing/Quilting: I like to sell some of the items I make, but have become more and more aware of an inner desire to use this as a ministry. Not only can I make gifts for family and friends, but the items I make can be donated to many causes. I have been contemplating making baby quilts to be donated to a pediatric intensive care unit or Unwed mothers' home.

5. Blogging: It is my hope that this blog is an encouragement to someone and that any ideas I have are helpful. I hope to honor God here and to grow spiritually as a result.

6. Homemaking: This includes lots of the ideas in number 1, but I will go further to include cooking, menu planning, cleaning, gardening and the list goes on....

I am the first to admit that I often fail in my quest to please God, both here on this blog and in my daily life, but I will keep working at it! He is always gently calling.

It would help me in this journey if you could share the ways you are growing spiritually closer to God. Please share these in the comments! Thanks and Happy New Year!

Being Consistent with Upromise Savings

I guess I am a little slow, but I just realized last week that funds earned in a Upromise account can be invested into an online savings account, CD or 529 plan. The thing that is nice about the savings account is that you have control over the account now and not just when a child is going off to college. You can use the money anyway you wish and can request a withdrawal of the money directly from UPromise. You do not have to designate a beneficiary of the money. You can also transfer money into the account yourself in addition to the Upromise funds going into it.

Upromise will invest the money in your account for you monthly, as long as the dollar amount is at least $10.00. I was very excited to discover this and have opened up an online Sallie Mae savings account, which is easy to do by going to the Upromise website. The interest rate on the account is 1.5%. In addition to the Upromise money going into the new account, You can link the Sally Mae Savings account to a local bank account and set up a small monthly transfer, which would be a great way of investing for a child or grandchild's future.

One small way to add funds to this account is by taking advantage of Upromise's Grocery Ecoupons. Each month a new group of Ecoupons is available on the Upromise website. Just go through the selection of Ecoupons and choose the ones you want to take advantage of. When you buy these items using your CVS card, Food Lion MVP card or other card that you have registered with Upromise, the amount of the Ecoupon will be deposited in your UPromise account. It would probably be advantageous to just choose all of the Ecoupons, and then if you buy any of those items, you will be covered.

The good thing about using the Ecoupons is that you can also use manufacturer's coupons on the items! I try to catch the items on sale, use a mfg coupon AND use the Upromise ECoupon.

For example: In December Charmin Basic was available as a Upromise Ecoupon. If you purchase Charmin basic, $1.00 would be deposited into your Upromise account. There was a $1.00 off Charmin Basic coupon in the December P&G coupon insert. This week the 12 packs of Charmin Basic are on sale at CVS for $4.99 and you would earn a $1.00extra buck. So that's $4.99, less the $1.00 mfg coupon, less the $1.00 CVS EB and $1.00 would be deposited into your UPromise account.

Now, I know the amounts that go into the Upromise account are small. But if earned CONSISTENTLY over time, this will add up. The ECoupon money would definitely add up faster than the 1.5% interest rate!

These are examples of the Upromise Ecoupons that I have taken advantage of during the month of December:

Fleischmann's yeast strip on sale for $1.50, less .40 mfg coupon, earned .40 in Upromise account.

Sister Schubert yeast rolls on sale for $2.99, less .50 mfg coupon, earned .75 in Upromise account

Charmin Basic Mega Roll on sale for $4.99, less $1.00 mfg coupon, less $1.00 extra buck and $1.00 earned in Upromise account

2 jars of Ragu Pasta Sauce on sale for $1.67 each, earned $1.00 in Upromise account.

1 large tub of Country Crock Spread, on sale for $2.50, less $1.25 mfg coupon, earned .40 in Upromise account

These are items that I would normally buy anyway. There are many more Ecoupons available on the site. The ones you might use would probably be different than the ones I use.

So remember that the current month's Upromise Ecoupons are only good through December 31st, so if you want to take advantage of them, you must do it soon. But, new ones will be available January 1st, and the first of each month thereafter, so it's never to late to start saving this way.

Being Consistent in 2011

Happy week before Christmas, 2010!

Everyone is busy getting ready for Christmas and the blog world is very quiet right now. But, here's a little bit of what's going on this week on the home front here. I hope to post more detail on my 2011 projects next week.

1. My theme for 2011 is to be consistent! Small steps consistently made will achieve great results. Whether this is applied to cleaning house, Bible study, sewing, couponing, menu planning, gardening or what ever it is you want to make progress toward.

2. I am continuing to organize my coupons as I described in my previous post. Since I have a box full of coupon inserts, I need to find the most recent ones, write the date on the front and file them in the accordion file. I am excited to consistently use coupons in 2011.

3. I have made some headway with organizing my favorite recipes into a binder. I threw away a HUGE stack of recipes printed out from the internet. It was a relief to let them go, keeping the ones I know I will use. I plan to have the binder ready to go by January 1st, 2011, complete with a list of menus, main dishes, side dishes and a grocery shopping list. I feel this will help me tremendously to plan menus, make grocery lists, etc. I want to post more detail next week.

4. I have been consistently earning Swagbucks every day. I've already earned a $5.00 Amazon gift card for Christmas, 2011, and am well on the way to a second one! If you are so inclined, please click HERE TO SIGN UP. Or come back later and click on the Swagbucks picture on my sidebar and sign up through there. This would give me a referral. Once you sign up, start searching using the Swagbucks search engine. When you win bucks, I would win bucks, up to 100. Thanks!

I am even more sure now that you only need to use the Swagbucks search engine about 3 times a day. First thing in the morning, in the afternoon and at night. You will only win swagbucks about that many times a day. Just be CONSISTENT! You will be amazed at what you will have at the end of 2011. I will keep a running total on my side bar in 2011 of how many $5.00 Amazon gift cards I have accumulated.

5. Are you feeling stressed out right about now? Remember: Cast all your anxiety on Him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7. My theme for 2010 was Trust.... need more of that in 2011 too!

6. Our weather forecast includes a possible white Christmas. This is a very rare occurrence here. We get snow, but not on Christmas. I'll keep you posted!

Have a very Merry Christmas and after the festivities are over, we will move forward into 2011 with a new purpose! Do any of you have an area you want to become more organized in for the new year? Lets make small steps over time CONSISTENTLY to achieve our goals. I would like to be able to say that I continued with my goals all year, and not just until the end of January, 2011.

More Plans for 2011

I am really looking forward to 2011 and am thinking about the things I would like to accomplish. I have lots of little things in mind that I want to work on.

I posted about organizing my recipes and working on menu planning HERE.

I also want to work on some ways to make extra money in 2011. I enjoyed being able to shop on line this year using my Paypal account and also Swagbucks Amazon Gift Cards. When I sell anything on EBay, Etsy, or earn money doing surveys, the money goes into my Paypal account. It adds up slowly, but by the end of the year it does make a difference. Taking a Pine Cone Research survey only earns me $3.00, but look at it this way. I average 2 surveys a month, so $6.00 a month would be $72.00 a year that goes into the Paypal account.

Right now my Etsy Shop is empty and I'm definitely not a power seller on EBay. But I have high hopes that in 2011 I can be more successful in these endeavors. As soon as my busy life slows down I plan to sew some projects for the Etsy Shop and dabble a bit in selling on EBay.

I couldn't help sharing with you THIS POST , on the EBay Selling Coach's blog that shows one item that is selling well on EBay right now. This just goes to show that you never know what people will buy. I guess I just don't understand the dynamics of what the public wants! Imagine paying more than $40.00 for an "Ugly Christmas Sweater". Amazing!

One tip I have learned from my limited experience in selling on EBay is that timing is everything. I sold several exercise dvds in January a couple of years ago. I doubt they would have sold very well in December, but as soon as January 1st gets here, everyone will be trying to keep their New Year's resolution to exercise! The same thing goes for the Ugly Christmas Sweater. After December 25th, I doubt anyone will be interested.

As for Swagbucks, this is the tip I have for you. I don't spend a lot of time worrying about earning these. I just use the Swagbucks search engine every time I do a search. I have come to the conclusion that you only earn swagbucks a couple of times a day. I always earn some Swagbucks the first or second search of the day. Then several hours will go by before I earn any more. So I think the best way to routinely add Swagbucks to your account is to do searches first thing in the morning and then again at the end of the day. Also there are 4 Swagbucks that are free each day. These add up VERY slowly, but they will make a difference over time.

I've heard from many blog readers that are turned off by blogs that are full of money making ads and the like. I am limiting any ads to the Swagbucks Widget and Etsy Shop Widget on my side bar Other than those my blog doesn't have any advertisements on it and I don't consider it a money making blog. I am reluctant to push my Etsy Shop too much on here. But, I was thinking that I will do a weekly post that shows any new items listed in my Etsy Shop. It will be titled something like this: Weekly Etsy Shop Update. This way anyone who isn't interested will see the title and just skip it.

I hope you'll join me in preparing for 2011!