CandyFoote
Home Sweet Home Framed Art Print
Harden, David
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r> THE WORD OF GOD SERIES BY CANDY FOOTE
Major MondayDoes anyone else love Mondays??? Mondays use to be very stressful until I realized that I am the one in control of my schedule. (Do any of you get stressed over a schedule that you made?) Well, Mondays are not stressful at our house! We sleep in every Monday. That's right! We really do sleep late on Mondays. We go to church on Sunday nights. When we get home we stay up eating snacks, talking and listening to the kids play guitars. Everyone is tired out come Monday morning. We get up and have family prayer, then breakfast. After breakfast, it is time for Major Monday! I love Major Mondays!! We spend the morning hours doing a major clean-up on the house. This is a top to bottom clean. We even manage to do some yard clean-up. :D Mom does some cleaning and some lesson preparation. School lessons start after lunch on Mondays. There aren't anymore stressful Mondays at the Foote house! ~Candy~ It's May!!Happy May Day everyone! I remember when my sister and I were little girls, we use to pick flowers, put them on our doorstep, knock on the door and run away. We would hide and wait for our mom to open the door and find a bouquet of flowers. That was the way mom taught us to celebrate May Day, still, she must of gotten tired of answering the door all day! ;D Well, it is a new month. Yeah for spring! I decided to start the new month by heading to the grocery store. I was out the door by 6:30 this morning! Believe me, that is quite an accomplishment for me! I love shopping the early morning hours though. I have the stores all to myself. I am able to take my time and get all of the best deals. Not only that, when I am finished, I don't have to spend forever standing in line. Next goal for today is to get the pantry in order and get an idea of the month's menu. Enjoy it being May. ~Candy~ Today's Home Management GoalToday's home management goal was cleaning the bathroom and keeping all of the laundry going. How did you spend your day? Monday Menu on Tuesday?Even though I am late at posting my menu for the week, I am still happy that I at least got it done. It is so helpful! Olivia did a wonderful job at meal planning and cooking last week. She even made a complete turkey dinner while I was off doing errands. Not bad for a fourteen year old girl!!! Well, here is her menu for this week: Monday - turkey sandwiches and left-overs from Sunday's big dinner Tuesday - steak with red and green peppers, mushrooms, and onions fried potatoes and toss salad Wednesday - egg salad sandwiches on homemade bread and bread and butter pickles (We will be having a big snack after Bible study: a large variety of veggies and dip, cheese, crackers, and pepperoni, homemade cookies, juice and coffee.) Thursday - honey bbq chicken, macaroni salad, french fried potatoes, and biscuits Friday - spaghetti and dinner rolls Saturday - Josie's take out pizza and anniversary cake (It's our 22nd anniversary!!) Sound good? What are you having this week? ~Candy~ The Day AfterWe had a great birthday party yesterday. Our home was filled to overflow with family. Jacob had a great day. Well, yesterday was great, but today is the morning after a big party. Our house really looks like the morning after a big party! Today's main housekeeping goal will be the kitchen. While I am working in there, I will have the kids tidy up around the rest of the place. Keep us in prayer! What does your day look like? ~Candy~ Cleaning HouseI am busy cleaning the house today! I mean, really cleaning the house! ~Candy~ New PantryOur new house has an awesome cellar! The kids and my husband are setting up a nice little area down there to play their musical instruments. They have set up a dart board too. But, the part that I am excited about is the pantry! My loving husband has set up some nice shelving down there. He has converted one little area into my pantry. Thanks, Honey! I love it! ~Candy~ KitchenI'm working on getting the kitchen back into order today. I have clean and reorganized the cupboards and washed down walls and cupboard doors. I still need to get the dishes washed and the floor mopped. What are you doing around the house today? The Proverbs 31 WomanThe other day I was talking to my aunt about the internet. She insisted that the internet is ‘the devil’s work’. I disagreed. God is the creator. The devil can only twist what God has created. God intends for us to use technology for His glory. So, what do you think? Do you think that the Proverbs 31 woman would use the internet? I do! ~Candy~ Proverbs 31Did you catch the Proverbs 31 theme of my notebook? I’m sure that you did! Like so many of you, I strive to become that wonderful woman. I thought if I incorporated her into my notebook, then she would be right before my eyes all of the time. How do you keep her before your eyes? ~Candy~ My New Homemaker’s NotebookThanks to Heather, over at http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/momto4beautiesI have a name for my new homemaker’s notebook. Candy's Organizational Foote-Notes. Isn’t that an awesome name!?! I love it!! Thanks, Heather. Now to get it in order. I have a lot of categories that I want to cover in my book this year. Here are they are: Chapter One: A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life. - This chapter will include ways to bless my husband. What food does he like? What kind of gifts would he like? What kinds of things would he like to see done around our home? The list is really endless. Chapter Two: She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands. - This is my sewing, crafts, and decorating ideas chapter. I want to include my ideas for interior decorating. Chapter Three: She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar. She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family anad portions for her servant girls. - This one will include: Grocery shopping - along with a price list, building up that pantry - don’t forget the freezer, and meal planning. I would also like a section for favorite and new recipes. I may also include our gardening plans. Chapter Four: She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard. She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks. She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night. - This chapter will be filled with my business ideas. Chapter Five: She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy. - Who can we bless? How can we be a blessing? This may also be a good place to put my holiday/birthday stuff. Chapter Six: She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. - And finally, we will arrive at the chapter on house management. What do you think? What else should I add? ~Candy~
We Have a Winner!!We have a winner! Actually, we have two winners. First of all, I want to thank all of you for entering my contest. I have had such a fun time! Haven't you?!? Since so many of you decided to enter, I decided to pick two winners. For the first winner, I entered everyone's name. You were given two entries if you posted the contest on your blog. Drum roll, please! And the winner is...................Kim over at wannabeone Yeah, Kim! The second winner was chosen for giving the winning title to this year's homemaking notebook. I had a hard time choosing. You ladies are very creative. What fun!! The winner is..............Heather over at http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/momto4beauties The winning title is, Candy's Organizational Foote-Notes. Isn't that creative!?! Congratulations, Heather. Way to go, ladies! Please send me your email addresses along with your choice of ebook. You can make your choice over at http://candyfoote.com/ Hey, are you disappointed that you didn't win? You can still get a free book! Sign up for our newsletter over at http://candyfoote.com/ and I will send you a sample of one of our following books: The Word of God on Healing, The Word of God on Prosperity, The Word of God on the Parables of Jesus Christ, or The Word of God on Being a Woman, a Wife, and a Mother. Thanks again. I had a great time. ~Candy~ Still Working on OrganizationI have been focusing on getting organized all week. The problem with that is that it takes a lot of upfront time to get organized. Thank you to my loving husband and children! The whole writing up my blog posts for the week, then adding as needed on the day of the post has gone quite well. It has really freed up a lot of time, while allowing me to still enjoy blogging. (I truly love blogging.) I have worked hard at staying up on kid’s schedules and corrections. Life just rolls along so much smoother that http://www.candyfoote.com/index.html way. If I get called to the hospital at a moments notice, everyone still knows what is expected of them. Part of my get organized plan includes taking Sundays off from the computer. Totally off! No computer time at all. Since I spend so much time on the computer working on getting our online business going, there could be some withdrawl symptoms. LOL I am going to continue working on getting my life back into shape. Have you enjoyed your get organized walk with me this week? I will pick it back up on Monday. Have a great week-end. Don’t forget to enter our contest. Read Wednesdays post to find out about this contest. I will draw the winner on Monday, January 26th. Enter to win one of our e-books. Want to see the choice of prizes. It will be your choice from our e-books over at Thanks for the prayers concerning concerning my friend who just died. We are off to more hospitals today. We have more friends who are sick. One is severe. Please keep him in your prayers. Thanks! ~Candy~ School SchedulesI know that life runs smoother when the kids school schedules are written up before school starts on Monday morning. I am determined to make this a good habit! I had always been in the habit of saying that I would do it over the week-end. The problem being that the week-ends speed by too fast. Then, I would tell myself that I would do the schedules on Monday morning. We usually have a major clean-up day on Monday mornings (Major Mondays), so I would always intend on doing the paper work while the kids were cleaning up. Well, with this many kids, it takes a long time to prepare everyone’s papers. Let’s not forget that life goes on while we are trying to do all of this paper work. Groceries, meals, housework, appointments, company, computer time (starting our own online business), and emergencies (a friend of ours has just died) all tend to get in the way so to speak. I figure if I take a little extra time to get more organized, then life won’t ‘get in the way’. With all of that said, I am determined to stay up on my paperwork. It just makes life run smoother. Do any of you have a mega family? (Four kids is considered a large family. We have 12 kids! That would be three large families!) Do you Homeschool? How do you handle your paperwork????? Don’t forget to enter our contest. Read Wednesdays post to find out about this contest. I will draw the winner on Monday, January 26th. Enter to win one of our e-books. Want to see the choice of prizes. It will be your choice from our e-books over at
~Candy~ http://www.candyfoote.com/index.htmlComputer TimeI feel a great need to get my life reorganized. I am spending way too much time doing things that I know could be done quicker if I were just a little more organized. One of my biggest time consumers is the computer. Since we are trying to start a family business online, I have a lot of different things that need to be accomplished each day on the computer. I thought that it would be a good idea if I sat down and typed out six blog posts in one day. That way I can just jump on my blog and copy and paste my newest post. This will give my a lot of extra time. I want to post everyday, but some days the words just don’t come like I would hope. Other days get filled up too quickly with everyday living. I figure that I can add to the post when the day comes to post it, but I will have the bulk of it ready before hand. Not to mention, I am hoping to have more time to visit my bloggie friends. I hope this works! How are you trying to organize your life this year? Don’t forget to enter our contest. Read Wednesdays post to find out about this contest. I will draw the winner on Monday, January 26th.
~Candy~ http://www.candyfoote.com/index.html Enter to win one of our e-books. Want to see the choice of prizes. It will be your choice from our e-books over at candyfoote.comLet's Have a ContestThis time of year always inspires me to remake my homemaker’s notebook. I have been coming up with new organizational ideas. I like to make up pretty new pages and redesign the outside of the notebook. I try to come up with a new name for my notebook for the new year. A couple of years ago, I called it, The Organized Mom’s Notebook. Everyone found that quite funny since most of the papers were falling out of the organized mom’s notebook. LOL Well, I keep trying. I need to come up with an awesome name for my notebook this year. One that screams out inspirations to run and get organized. One that gets the heart pumping and screams, I am the Queen of Organization! Hey, let’s have a contest! Help me to name this year’s notebook. Something out of the ordinary. Something totally inspiring. As a prize, you can choose from one of my e-books over at candyfoote.com All you have to do is leave me a comment with your awesome idea. For an extra entry, post about the contest on your blog, then come back and let me know. I will draw the winner on Monday, January 26th. I love contests and free things; don’t you????? ~Candy~ http://www.candyfoote.com/index.htmlNo scrubbing, no time, no stains and no poisonWhen I was staying at my father’s house last month, I noticed that his coffee cups were all stained up. All of that coffee and tea was taking its toll. No matter how much he scrubbed, the stubborn stains stayed. Imagine his surprise when I stuck my wet hands into some baking soda and swiped my fingers around inside of the cups. No scrubbing, no time, no stains and no poison to accomplish it. ~Candy~ Let's Get Back to NormalJudson made it back to Fairbanks at four this morning. He sure had a long trip! All went well for him though. Now that we are settled in our new home, the holidays are over, and Jud has left, it is finally time to get things back into order. I am always so inspired by all of you ladies who post your weekly menus. I was so inspired that before I got out of bed, I was already working on our menu for this week. The grocery bill got way out of control over the past few months. The holidays and regular meals were not budgeted as well as they should have been. Oh, well, it is time to get back on track. I'm off to a good start. I don't normally put a specific meal to a specific day. I like to just list a weeks worth of meals. Then I can just choose which menu I plan on following. I do this the night before in order to make sure that anything that needs to be taking out of the freezer has time to thaw. Here's my supper plans for this week: 1. meat loaf, mashed potatoes, peas and carrots, bread and butter 2. chicken, mashed potatoes, macaroni salad, cranberry sauce, and biscuits 3. goulash with dinner rolls, salad 4. beef with onions and mushrooms, fried potatoes, corn, bread and butter 5. beef stew and biscuits 6. grilled cheese and soup (This is for Sunday since that day is very busy) 7. macaroni and cheese, beets, green beans, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (cheeseburgers for daddy) Our lunches are going to consist of left-overs this week. Our breakfast meals will include: store-bought cereal, eggs and omlets, french toast and sausage, homemade multi-grain pancakes, oatmeal, and yummy homemade cereal. Snacks will consist of Judy's famous chocolate chip cookies, applesauce spice cake with cream cheese frosting, ice cream, applesauce, toast and hot cocoa, and plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. Sound good? ~Candy~ Not Enough TimeThere wasn't enough time in the day for me to work on turning the house into a home today. We spent our day doing school work and housework. Oh well, at least there was a lot of laundry that got done! ;D ~Candy~ Still Working on WindowsWe put up some white shades with white lace curtains in the dining room today. I love them. They look great. I still have to figure out what to put on the dining room's picture window. We put two white shades in the living room too. I still have the quilt over the picture window in there. I really like the lace ivory lace curtains on the door window. I need to put curtains on the kitchen door window, the dining room picture window, and the two living room windows with only the shades. Then I'm going to find some nicer curtains for upstairs and the bathroom. This is actually fun. I'm enjoying myself. ~Candy~ Starting OverWe had prepared ourselves to move to Alaska. Since we planned on flying, we gave away most of our stuff. It's not upsetting. It was actually rather freeing. I hate stuff anyway. Clutter....yuck! Now that we have moved into my mother-in-love's old house, it's like starting all over. We are doing pretty well though. I tend to think that we will end up with too much stuff. People can be very generous when they hear someone needs something. I am enjoying starting over. It's like a fresh start. I'm still not sure where we will be in the future, but I know that God is in control and that is enough. I am actually still working on the curtain part. I guess I am being very picky. After I finally conquer the curtain detail, I want to wallpaper the kitchen. I have a lot of ideas floating around. It's exciting. I like things simple. I want our home to be inviting and peaceful. Our children have refinished our big kitchen table. They have done a wonderful job. Thanks, guys! Things are coming along nicely. Until next time, ~Candy~ Windows and CurtainsI spent some time today putting up curtains. There are a lot of windows in this new house. I hung a quilt made by my aunt over a picture window in the living room. It looks beautiful, plus keeps the house warm. My aunt passed away almost a year ago. She was an avid quilt maker. She had started this quilt, but didn't get to finish it. Her good friend finished the quilt for her. Everyone wanted my aunt's last quilt, but her friend decided to give it to me! It's just lovely. It makes our new home look so homey. I still have more windows to work on. There are some lace curtains over the living room door and around the kitchen. I want to put some pretty shades under the curtains since we live close to the road. How do your windows look? ~Candy~ Moving to AlaskaIt's overwhelming to say the least. How do I get a house full of stuff ready to move to Alaska? Stuff, stuff, stuff! Blah! Don't you hate stuff? It seems like I keep going through this stuff over and over. Garbage piles, give away piles, I can't do without yet piles, and pack it up piles. Any helpful ideas? Candy Disposable ClothingI love styrofoam. Really! Whenever the kids ask what I would like for Christmas, Mother's Day, or my birthday, I answer the same way. "I want styrofoam." Styrofoam plates, cups, and bowls, along with plastic silverware are the best gifts. Now, I realize that this isn't the most frugal, healthy, or environmental idea, but weighed against my peace of mind, it seems like a great idea. Along that idea, I was thinking, wouldn't it be great to have disposable clothing. No more mounds of laundry! No more laundry mat! No more washer and dryer! I think it sounds like a great idea! Please remember as you read this post that this comes from a mom of twelve. Hmm, disposable clothing.... something to think about. Candy As in the Days of Laura IngallsDon't you ever wish you had a parlor? You know, the kind from the days of Laura Ingalls? I know that I do! With all of these kids running around it gets difficult to stay up on housework. Believe me, it is not a mess because I never do anything! I love the idea of a parlor. No one ever enters that room unless company arrives or it needs to be straightened up. Company is immediately wisked into the parlor, so they never get a chance to see the peanut butter painted on the table and benches. Company never gets a chance to see the couches covered with the mounds of clean clothes. Company never gets a chance to fight the laundry pile in order to use the bathroom. Ahh, the idea of a parlor sounds so lovely right now; doesn't it? I Needed More Than a WeekWell, today is Monday, so let's see how well I did on my goals list! # 1- Get all of the laundry done - all of it! Okay, not all of it, but A LOT of it. Thank you Olivia and Heather!! # 2- Organize all of those clean clothes. Hmm, well, at least we started organizing them. # 3- Prepare for the next six weeks of school. Did I mean part of the six weeks or all of them? # 4- Do an all around house clean-up. Okay, I really did an all around house clean-up. You just can't tell it now. # 5- Finish reconstructing my website. http://candyfoote.com/ Yeah, I did a lot on my website. I am adding more daily! # 6- Discipline myself to blog daily. Well, hopefully daily. Hey, at least I am blogging more than I was. # 7- Keep working on my next three books! I forgot how much work it is to write a book. # 8 - Can tomatoes. Sorry, tomatoes, I couldn't find time for you. # 9- Freeze peppers. I never froze any peppers, but we ate a lot of them. # 10- Wrap and freeze about 300 pounds of beef from the bull that we just had butchered. We ended up getting 400 pounds of beef! I guess you know what the menu will look like all month. Now add in my grandson getting an infection and being put into the hospital. Plus, attending an aunt's funeral . All and all, I think it was a successful week "off". Still Working on Those GoalsIt sure is a good thing that I have an entire week to work on this goals list! Olivia, Heather, and I have been steadily working on the laundry. "Mount Never Rest" as some people call it. No organization of the clean clothes other than tossing into dressers, well, so far anyway. Still have tons of school paper work waiting for me. I have been working right along on the general all around house clean-up, though. I have done quite a bit on my website http://candyfoote.com/ Well, you can see that I have NOT been disciplined enough to blog daily. Although, you must admit, I am doing much better. I have been happily working on my next three books. (The Word of God on Prayer, The Word of God on the Words of Your Mouth, and The Word of God on Who I Am") Both the tomatoes and peppers are still waiting in the kitchen for me. The beef came back from the butcher, though. It was 400 pounds, not 300! Yeah! We got all of that wrapped and put into the freezer. Well, most of it. We also had a great supper! I hope you enjoyed the update! Candy A Week OffIt's time to get this place back in order! It seems to fall out of order so easily The kids have the next week off from school. I have some big goals! # 1- Get all of the laundry done - all of it! # 2- Organize all of those clean clothes. # 3- Prepare for the next six weeks of school. # 4- Do an all around house clean-up. # 5- Finish reconstructing my website. http://candyfoote.com/ # 6- Discipline myself to blog daily. Well, hopefully daily. # 7- Keep working on my next three books! # 8 - Can tomatoes. # 9- Freeze peppers. # 10- Wrap and freeze about 300 pounds of beef from the bull that we just had butchered. Wow! Did I say vacation was for only a week. Shelves Verses DressersI find that it is a lot easier to stack baby clothes neatly on a readily available shelf rather than a dresser. Everything seems to get all messed up and lost while hiding in a dresser drawer. Babies need to be changed a lot, so why not make things a little easier?!? Major MondayI really love Mondays. We call them Major Mondays around here. I smile whenever I hear that name! Not everyone in the house smiles as much as I do at the mention of Major Monday. You see, Major Monday is a major clean-up day. Yes, we do a lot of cleaning everyday. With this many people we couldn't go without cleaning! But, we spend a lot of time cleaning on Mondays. We try to do major work; hence the name Major Monday. Today everyone worked upstairs after cleaning up the yard, porch, living room and washing the dishes! We overhauled the bedrooms! Dressers were moved. Toys were sorted through. We changed the furniture around. Clothes were sorted through. It turned out awesome! I love Major Mondays!!! Sorting LaundryI must confess, I don't sort laundry the way my momma taught me to! You know - whites, darks, colors. I have a lot of laundry. I mean a lot! I sort in two different manners depending on how out of hand things are. Usually I make a pants and shorts pile, shirts pile, socks pile, aprons and towels pile, sheets and blankets pile. This seems to work well. If everyone is yelling because they are out of pants, then it's pretty easy to locate them. The other sorting method I use is sorting clothes according to boy's, girl's, mom's, dad's, and baby's piles. Again, if someone is running low, I just wash up those clothes. Of course, laundry is always being worked on, but this system helps me to locate and conquer quickly. JarsI love jars! Yes, jars! We started a penny jar a few months ago. What fun! We started out with a quart size canning jar and kept throwing in our pennies. Every time someone comes home with pennies, into the jar they go. Pennies can always be found under the couch cushions or thrown on the floor in some corner. The kids have a great time searching for them. We had to move up to a gallon jar a few weeks ago. We are almost to the half way mark! My two year old loves to get the pennies out to play with. Earlier she made a big pile, then ran and jumped into them. (I guess she had more fun jumping in those leaves the other day than I realized!) The other kids like to get out the penny jar to help them to do their math problems. Sometimes it's fun to take them out and simply count them or just look at them. Everyone is guessing how many pennies can fit in a gallon jar. So, what do you think??? Another fun item to collect in jars is buttons. The kids love to cut the buttons off from old clothes in order to throw them into the button jar. They are fun to look at and count too. They also work great as a math manipulative. I use glass gallon jars in the kitchen too. They make great containers for flour, sugar, oatmeal, or anything else you may use a lot of. I put a pretty cloth top on them with a piece of matching paper that says what it is on the front. The ideas go on and on. Like I said, I love jars! Clean Toilet!`Okay, here's a subject nobody wants to talk about! Keeping the toilet clean is a challenge. Not due to lack of flushing, but because of it!! We have the dreaded hard water! Ugh! I hate using harsh chemicals to clean it, but nothing else seemed to work. Well, I finally gave Borax a try. After all, I always have it on hand to make laundry and dish soap. It worked! I mean it REALLY worked! I poured some in and brushed it right back off. No waiting time at all! The toilet came out sparkling clean! Hey, what are your great ideas? I would love to hear your cleaning ideas! Ugh! The House is a Mess!!!Do you feel overwhelmed due to the chaotic mess all around you? I know how you feel! It seems the messier things are the less motivation I have! If I could only remember that it only takes 15 minutes. Really! In just 15 minutes any room can look decent. Give it a try! Then come back and let me know how it turned out! Don't have 15 minutes? Try 5! Well, I am off to set the timer! Laundry SoapWhat's the worst part of making your own laundry soap? Well, for me it's grating the soap! I absolutely love using homemade laundry soap, but the grating part tends to be a little time consuming. Solutions? #1 - You know that the kids love to do it, so let them! #2 - When I have the time, I grate up a lot of soap and store it in a ziplock bag. I love it when it's time to make laundry soap and I just have to reach for that ziplock bag! |
