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Friday, May 9, 2008~ Speculation is the Enemy of Calm ~ |
Welcome to Cranford, circa 1840...a rural English town where etiquette rules, undergirded by a healthy amount of gossip. Modernity is making a move in town as construction of a railway comes harrowingly close. Cranford's eclectic residents, among them Matty Jenkyns (Dame Judi Dench) her sister Deborah (Dame Eileen Atkins), and Miss Pole (Imelda Staunton), stay immersed in the sweet pleasures and sometimes heartbreaking realities of simple village life. But when a handsome, young doctor arrives with cutting-edge new techniques, it rapidly becomes clear that as the world changes, so Cranford will change with it. Based on three Elizabeth Gaskell novels (Cranford, My Lady Ludlow and Mr. Harrison's Confessions), and boasting an all-star cast, Cranford breathes life into one town during one extraordinary year.
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The other day while visiting a blogger whose posts I have found interesting, she had that day a invitation to us readers to go and watch Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell through Masterpiece Classics on the PBS online site.
Not one to be shy of possible good shows, especially ones that can quite possibly be watched by my own two children, I visited the link and became intrigued by the wholesomeness it protrayed in just the very first episode. It wasnt just the shows quality that grabbed me, but a simple and profound phrase that was said during a scene of uncertainty. When the character Miss Deborah Jenkyns(played byEileen Atkins) is trying to calm the girls she makes the statement "Speculation is the Enemy of Calm". I realized how true this is for all of us. How many times have we found ourselves in a situation that is no longer in our control, or a fear that something has gone wrong. Have we not let that certain "calmness" give way for our minds to begin to speculate many things, good or bad?.
I have been quite guilty of this on countless occasions, for instance since we were given our HD Motorcycle as a gift from Jasons father and his Lady friend, there has not been one time that when my husband would go off on the motorcycle and had taken one of the kids with him, that they would be gone much longer than I had expected them to be, which would leave me to begin speculating all sorts of things. None of them that would render any truth, because the hubby and child would come home shortly there after. Or another instance of wandering thoughts for me, are during those times of self doubt and insecurity of my marriage and my over all being as a person, daughter of the Lord, Wife, and Mother.
hence Isnt the Lord so right when He says in
Philippians 4:6-7
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
and that in those times of "calmness" we are too
Philippians 4:8
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
The next time you find your "calming" out of control events taking place, remember the key biblical versus and the catch phrase "Speculation is the Enemy of Calm", cause that very thing you are contemplating could very well be ALL WRONG. 
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Thursday, May 8, 2008~ How To Start Stocking Your Food Pantry ~ |
The Pantry
(My Notes are typed in Maroon)
The price of food continues to rise, an estimated 7% this year alone, and you need ideas for how to afford the foods you love. One very good idea, that our ancestors knew well, is to stock your kitchen, or pantry area, with enough food to last a long time. People had no choice but to do this in the days without refrigeration or easy access to the foods of the world, and as prices rise, the pantry idea has come into it's own again. Once again, having a fully stocked kitchen pantry just makes good economic sense.
Difficulty: Moderately Challenging
Step One
What to store. Canned vegetables, fruits, soups, canned meats, peanut butter. Plus all the condiments and baking items you use, especially flour and sugar. Beans and legumes, grains, pasta. Tea. Coffee.
In other words, any easy to store food item, that you like and eat right now.
You can go to one of the survivalist, food storage, web sites for tips on how much food to buy per person for 3 months or more. A year is even better, but start with three months worth and work up.
Step Two
How to store. Again, consult the food storage experts. The good folks who are Mormons, or Latter Day Saints, can offer lots of advice on food storage, as they have been doing this for a long time.
You don't need a pantry or room just for food storage, although that is nice. Put pails or boxes of foods in closets, or under your bed, or wherever works for you. Just avoid damp places, or places of extreme temperature variations.
Step Three
How to afford the extra food for your food storage program.
If you still have some savings, set aside some of it to use just for your food storage program, and get going.
If you have no savings, then set aside some money on each grocery shopping trip, to spend just on your food storage items. It could be twenty dollars, or five dollars, but use what money you have and get started.
 I have found when I am planning my menu and it requires for instance just 1 can of creme of mushroom soup, I budget so I am able to buy 1 extra can, so that way I will always have on hand an extra can of it around. I try to do this on most things if the money allowance allows it.
Step Four
What about water and other items? Check with the food storage sites online for how to store water, as well as the other non-food items that you might want to have just in case you lose your electricity and heat for a few days for some reason.
- Do what you can, with what you have. A little bit of preparation is better than none.
- Don't stock up on foods you hate, you won't like them any more when that's all you have left to eat.
- Plan carefully. The size of your family and you families food likes and dislikes matter and must be taken into account.
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Wednesday, May 7, 2008~ In All Things Give Thanks ~ |
Praise the Lord....
I could so easily complain about the weather right now, but I am not going too. I am going to Praise the Lord who reigns over everything this rain only means I will not have to trek down to the garden plot and hose it down myself to get the ground moist. The other day the kids and I were down there making our rows, when I made the statement that the next time we get down here we will need to water the ground a lil bit to keep it from drying totally out.
There is no need to do that now, as the Lord provides us with what we truly need. Now if I could just convince the Big Guy up there that I dont particularly like the lightening and thunder scaring the bejeebies out of me at 3 am in the morning( because it was right above our place) that would be great.
Speaking of gardening, due to the weather situation and not having to go down to the garden plot to water, the kids and I potted our seeds and we look forward to seeing them sprout and then transplanting them when they are ready.
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1: Got to get the seeds in there just right
2: Better make sure we label them!
3: Ahh Yes, We have Pumpkin, Squash, Beans and Carrots....anything else we need?
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Tuesday, May 6, 2008~ Nourishing My Health Challenge ~ |
TractorChick72 and I go way back, I am talking 10 years back so when we moved away from each other due to military orders for both our husbands, her and I found ourselves using food for emotional comfort instead of taking that sadness to the Lord to handle. Unfortunately her and I went from normal healthy weights for our size and frames to extremely unhealthy weight gain that has caused havoc on our bodies ever since. The problems I face for me are my knees ( which were always on the "bad side, due to sports injuries and stupid Childhood activities) and now my blood pressure is running Pre Hypertension with low agnostic(I know its weird for me too). I cant live like this anymore, and feeling and being overweight for my height and medium frame just depresses me even more so.
I will be honest in the past when I had succeeded in losing the baby weight from my children it was purely for vanity reasons, had nothing to do with health, I just couldnt wait to get back into those size X jeans. Now I am taking a much different approach to this weight loss, I see my life differently than I have in the past, I view modesty differently than before, and I have learned that my heart in no matter what I do must aligned with what God would have me believe, about Him, His Son, the way He views me, and how I not only treat my self, but how I treat my body as well. I can not live in gluttony or slothfullness when it comes to the body Christ made for me. I just cant at least not anymore.
Before My husband left for his second tour of duty in Iraq almost 2 weeks ago, him and I touched base as to what kind of challenge we would like to do while he is away, and I said I would like to finally lose the weight that I have been carrying off and on for the past couple years, but I wanted to make sure that I let him know my personal fears to losing this weight, if it so happen to be that I did. We talked further about those things and it felt good to let him in on what I was feeling on the inside. Now I am not sure wether or not he is going to take on a personal challenge for himself, we talked about one for him, but seriously I am not going to pressure him when he has a job to do already over there.
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NOURISHING MY HEALTH AND BODY 12 WEEK CHALLENGE
BACKGROUND: I am a infamous yo yo dieter ( as my family well knows) that started in my early teens(gotta love those teen magazines even though I was not at all a chubby kid, in my mind I thought I was). I gained alot of weight in the fall of 2004 when our family moved due to a military pcs from Co to Texas. I went from 125 to 160 within a couple of months, by the time I left Texas to stay with Tricia for a few months while the hubster was reclassifying, I reached my highest weight of 180( I had not weighed that much since I was 9 months prego with my DD). Her and I took on a challenge and I had managed to lose 20 pounds while I was staying with her. When I got here to OK, I did get down to 148, and then when it came time to dealing with pain, and heartache I found my self back up to 175, I have been bouncing between 160 and 175 now for the past 2 years.
GOALS:
To lose a minimum of 25 pounds of fat, and replace that with lean muscle. I would like to see myself go from a unhealthy weight of 171 to a healthy 146, during this time, so then I can challenge my self even more on another 12 week challenge of some sort.
I want to lower that pre hypertension and normalize my heart stats.
Learn to eat better and take eating out as a special treat that should be far and few between.
My Before Pictures:
My Stats: As of Week 1 Day 1 Date:5th -May-2008
Weight: 171.2 Biceps:13.5 Forearm:11.25 Waist:34.0 Hips:41.0 Thighs:26.0 Calves:15.5
GOALS FOR THE NEXT 3 WEEKS:
Follow the Eating Plan that Tricia has laid out as far as MENU MEAL PLANNING Goes.
Follow Prevention Magazines 6 Week Fat Blasting Workout.
I Am Going To Aim At Losing 4-6 pounds in the next 3 weeks.
PS: I am 5' 3" and medium built |
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Monday, May 5, 2008~ Keeping A Proverbs 31Heart Challenge ~ |
Its time now for another Keeping A Proverbs 31 Heart Challenge. For those of you that participated in the meme last week, how did you do? Was it a little bit harder than you expected? Or did you find some of the challenge quite easy enough to accomplish? What ever the case may be, I hope you will join me again this week.
I did faulter on a few of my own goals this past week, but it only made me realize that I too am human and there are things that will get in the way, so not to totally write off the goals I set for last week, I have decided to bring them back for me to try and accomplish this week. ( Have them written in on my writing board)
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Managing The Home: Make a checklist of items needed for our Garage Clean up
(coming soon)
Managing The Kitchen: Stock up on frozen veggies
Managing The Cleaning: Organize the Laundry Area, Taking note of much needed items
Managing The Out Doors: Make a Home for Our Flower Bed Guest
He hopped away
Managing Our School: Take the time to reflect and pray each day before we begin our lessons,
Allowing the Lord to teach us all that we are to learn,
and that I may allow the Spirit to move me to engage in teaching the hard
to learn lessons to the kids, always being up front and honest
For The Family: The kids and I will walk in the On Post Diamond 5k walk/run
in support of our beloved soldier and those that are deployed away
from their families.
For My Marriage: Continue my prayers for my beloved husband to whom I miss dearly,
and start coming up with themed care packages to send off to him.
For My Lord/Faith: Prayerful Considering a position at the church,
but being careful to not make the decision to quickly,
if this is not the area the Lord would not have me be in.
For My Friends/Hospitality: Make a Hospitality Idea Book
For My Self: (the Reward) Still very much need that simple home done manicure
on my hands.lol
: Keep In mind that you dont have to do each and every "catagory" if it seems overwhelming to you at first, maybe pick a few you think you could really use the challenge on, and then alternate the others for another time.
I look forward to those of you that sign up on what your goals are, and I do peek through out the week to see how you are all doing. While you are visiting me feel free to go stop by and say Hi and encourage all the other folks that are joining in the challenge too, You just might be that person that helps them accomplish their tasks. ( Please dont forget to link back to this post for others who may wanna join in too)
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~ All About Me ~
I am Jeannie a crazy 30 year old wife of a Sgt in the Army and mother of two spunky kids, living life the only way I have ever known to, yearning for the understanding of all things in regards to who I am in Christ.
WARNING:THIS BLOG IS CONSTANTLY IN A STATE CHANGE OF MIND
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