urbanhomesteader

May 16

A Pig Is a Pig

As a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion.

Proverbs 11:22

What is your first thought when you think of a pig? For some reason pigs have a bad name. My thoughts of pigs aren’t very pleasant: muddy and dirty, greedy, noisy, bad smelling, and just overall bad mannered. Are we being fair to automatically put all pigs in this category? Let us give them a chance to prove themselves. Give them a nice, clean pen, brush them till they look nice, feed them in a glass dish, and even talk nice to them for a couple of days; and then see if they won’t improve their dignity.

How foolish! You could dress up a pig and put a jewel in its nose, but underneath you still have a pig. It will still make a slop out of its pen and still grunt. You have not changed the inside. When Jacob deceived his father, his neck and arms were hairy, and the meat he brought was an Esau specialty, but the real person was still Jacob. The Gibeonites tricked Joshua with moldy bread, old wine bottles and ragged shoes, but when the story came out, they were still Gibeonites.

The key verse reminds me of a hypocrite, the person who looks good on the outside but is full of bad on the inside. The good looks and gold jewelry do not change the real thing. The answer is not to dress up the pig or cover up the bad points on a person but to change the character underneath. Let us allow Jesus to

change our hearts so that our character matches the words we say.

Luke Schwartz, Harrodsburg, KY

Just polishing the outside will not brighten the inside.

Bible Reading: Joshua 9:3–27

One Year Bible Reading Plan:

John 6:1–21

2 Kings 15—17

Used by Permission of Vision Publishers

PO Box 190, Harrisonburg, VA 22803

Phone: 877-488-0901

E-Mail: [cs@vision-publishers.com]

We should go through the house and see what we can unplug..........

Are you plugged in? If you have ever left rechargers or unused appliances plugged into the electrical outlet, you may be in for a bit of a shock. The U.S. Department of Energy tells us that not only do appliances continue to draw electricity while the products are turnecomputers, and kitchen appliances all use energy while not in use. You may have noticed how a cell phone recharger can be warm even when not attached to a phone. The best way to prevent unnecessary energy expenditures is to do a clean sweep of your home. Here at the office, we’ve gotten into the routine of unplugging our water cooler at night. The process is a bit of a hassle at first, but hassle quickly turns into painless habit.

In the average home nearly 75% of all electricity used to power electronics is consumed by products that are switched off.

VCRs, televisions, stereos, products can’t be designed to prevent this sort of passive energy use? Is it simply laziness on the part of the manufacturers, or is there a real design constraint at work?)

The good folks over at Ideal Bite have previously tackled this issue and suggest the following:

· Use power strips to turn off TVs and stereos. You’ll save the energy equivalent of a 100-watt light bulb that is always on.

· Unplug chargers (think cell phones and iPods) when not in use. Only 5% of the power drawn by a cell phone charger is used to charge the phone. The other 95% is wasted when it is left plugged into the wall.

Saturday's Snapshot

Pecan Pie Brownies

In saucepan, melt 1/4 cup margarine. Stir in 2 Tbsp. flour and mix until smooth. Add 2 eggs and 3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed. Stir over medium heat for 4-5 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla and 2 cups chopped pecans. Mix well and set aside.

In large bowl, combine 1 box fudge brownie mix (21 oz.), 1/2 cup very hot water, 1/4 cup salad oil, 1 egg and beat 50 strokes by hand.

Grease bottom only of 9x13 inch pan. Spread brownie mixture in pan and spoon pecan mixture over top. Bake 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees F until set. Do not overbake. Cool, cut in squares. (Also good with vanilla ice cream and hot fudge sauce as desserts).

TODAY'S VERSE from HEARTLIGHT -- Matthew 5:16

Friday Show & Tell - Spring Color

Llittle Women

other ppl's comments........

What gives ANYONE the right to say to my son, "your mom is ready to kick your @ss!!!!!!!!!!?????????

We were in TSC nad I said to JOEY (nicely!LOL), "C'mon. We need to get going." THis man turns around to Mat (while ever so kindly holding the door open) and says that!!!!!!!!!!! The man looked at me and laughed. I attempted a smile. He meant no harm by it and I didn't see the point when I was pretty sure that it was not going to change his thoughts on the issue. Mat just looked at me like, what do I do mom? Geesh.

Teach a New Dog and Old Trick

There is something about time passing that leaves some of the old but good time passers in the dust. Did you play kick the can when you were a kid? Likely not, but I bet your grandparents did. See what I mean? Kick the can is a TON of fun, but one of my favorite professionals, the marketing executive realized that kids have more buying power and began marketing bigger and better toys. Don't just think of games that your grandparents played, though. What games did you play as a child, that don't seem to be part of your children's lives. Can't think of any off the top of your head? Try some of these:

Ask your parents and grandparents what games they played as a child. Ask them to explain the directions. Then pass those games on to your children. Most of all HAVE FUN!

Simple Budgeting

In the last two years it has been noted that Americans use their debit and credit cards more than their checkbooks. In fact, their usage has more than doubled! This is great in some ways, but it can be a nightmare for the budget conscious. When I left the envelope system of budgeting, in lieu of my debit card, something amazing happened. My expenses went up. In short, it is so much easier to spend one or two dollars here and there when the actual paper cash isn't coming out of your hand. It's like we aren't really spending that money or something.

However, you CAN have a debit card AND stay within your budget. Actually, you can do this for all your budgeting needs for the household. The best part, this is a simple process.

Use a separate bank account and debit card for all your household purchases. For the most ease, you and your husband might want to look into opening an other account at your current bank of choice if you are pleased with their services and they offer no fee banking. You will likely ahve to place a minimum of $25-50 dollars in the account when you open it. This is a good thing, because it will enable you to use all of your budget without penalty. Confused? Read On.

One good reason for this set up is that your husband can transfer money weekly or monthly, in an amount that totals your family's total budget for the month. When you go to the grocery you will know exactly how much you have to spend and not a penny more. A way to provide accountability for yourself is to agree that if you go over your budget by $2, then that amount will be deducted from the next month's stipend. In this way, you will have not only an incentive to stay within your budget, but a method of discipline for your budgeting. One extra bonus with this method, is that it is much more simple to track your household expenses.

The beauty of this process is that you will do nothing differently than you do now. You will simply have a separate account with which to do it. Simply Frugal!

urbanhomesteader

Daily Devotion 137

We should go through the house and see what we can unplug..........

Saturday's Snapshot

Pecan Pie Brownies

TODAY'S VERSE from HEARTLIGHT -- Matthew 5:16

Friday Show & Tell - Spring Color

Llittle Women

other ppl's comments........

Teach a New Dog and Old Trick

Simple Budgeting

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