Happy Homemaker Monday!

On my bedside table: Some bills to be paid.

On my TV: The Fighting Sullivans

On the menu for tonight: Eating out at the ballpark. Ryan plays in his last baseball game.

On my to-do list: Peel wallpaper and paint in my kitchen - still. My dear friends are coming to help me.

New recipe I tried last week: None. But I did have some Indian food from my friend's family restaurant. YUM! I never tried Indian food but the chicken dishes and noodle dishes were tasty. A little spicy with the curry, but delicious!

In the craft basket: Dishcloths to knit.

Looking forward to: Summer!

Homemaking tip of the week: Like many homes, the laundry is a never ending chore. Many times I catch up with the laundry, but then I don't have time to fold and put them away. Then I have piles of clean clothes in baskets. If we end up needing something in there, it's a time sucker to try and go through the piles and find what we're looking for. What I do is to sort the clean clothes and place each person's clothes in their own basket. The towels and my clothes are generally put away first, so no baskets are needed there. It becomes much easier to sort through a basket when you know that the clothes there belong to just one person. Eventually the clothes get to where they need to go, but in the meantime, it makes hunting for clothes much easier. Of course by that time, the clothes need to be ironed, but we won't get into that now. :)

Favorite Blog post: Teaching Excellence: We Need More Daniels at Generation Cedar

Favorite Photo from last week:

On my prayer list: husband and kids

my kid's teachers

Devotionals, Scripture Reading, Key Verses:

Matthew 22:37-40

He said to him, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."

Thank you to Sandra, for hosting Happy Homemaker Mondays!

Happy Homemaker Monday!

Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom has started Happy Homemaker Monday to record a little of what's going in our day.

On my bedside table: The Edge of Recall by Kristen Heitzmann and some Crochet Today magazines

On my TV: Poseidon Adventure - the original one from 1972. I rented this way back for New Years Eve but am just now getting to it!

On the menu for tonight: Tostadas with rice and beans

On my to-do list: mop the floors, clean bathtub, sort through the entryway closet.

New recipe I tried last week: Slow-Cooked Southwest Chicken I got this recipe from the latest issue of Healthy Cooking. It was very good! I'm not sure if the link will work unless you subscribe to the magazine or Taste of Home.

In the craft basket: Nothing right now. I will continue to crochet and knit some dishcloths, but I'm also looking through my crochet and knitting magazines to find some patterns to use up some of my yarn stash. It's too large!

Looking forward to: Rain! It's supposed to rain again sometime today, but the skies are blue! I don't know where the rain clouds are? Maybe tonight?

Homemaking Tip for this week: If you have a sluggish drain, try pouring some bleach down the drain. Wait about 10 or 15 minutes, then run very hot water. It will flow clear again. Now I don't know if this will work if the drain is already stopped up. If my drain is slow, I just do this tip and the water flows great again. PLEASE, just don't mix the bleach with any other cleaning product. You don't want any noxious fumes!

Favorite blog post: I have two this week. Both of them speak of the little things we can do to help someone in need and the blessings in giving, even when we may be in need ourselves. These two posts gave me reflections to take to the Lord in my prayer time. The first post is from Laura at Catholic Teacher Musings and the second one is from Brenda at Coffee Tea Books and Me.

Favorite photo from last week:

This is not a photo from the past week, but from Christmas time. The girls put on a fashion show with Ryan serving as the MC. This the their "fabulous" poses.

Lesson learned the past few days: The little things we do for others can have a great impact and be such a blessing to them.

On my prayer list: President Obama

Devotionals, Scripture Reading, Key Verses:

From St. Patrick's Breastplate:

This day I call to me:

God's strength to direct me,

God's power to sustain me.

God's wisdom to guide me,

God's vision to light me,

God's ear to my hearing,

God's word to my speaking,

God's hand to uphold me,

God's pathway before me,

God's legions to save me:

from snares of the demons,

from evil enticements,

from failings of nature,

from one man or many

that seek to destroy me,

anear or afar.

I don't know why my paragraphs are not being separated here at the end. They are separated where I compose the post, but not when I preview it. Oh well, hope it's not too dificult to read.