A Tip for Getting Up in the Morning

Do you ever have trouble getting up in the morning? I do sometimes. There are days that I simply do not feel like getting up early. The bed is to warm and comfortable and I wouldn't mind sleeping a little longer.  But I have found a sure fire way that does get me out of bed.

 This isn't "new" to me I believe I have heard this from others before and it is simple but just in case you are having trouble in this area and haven't tried this yet I thought I would just share that it is working for me. It is...

Put your alarm clock somewhere across the room so that you have to get out of bed to turn it off!

I know this probably won't work for people that don't seem to even notice the alarm. I know that my roommate, Christy, in my college days tried this trick and all that happened is that I would get tired of the alarm clock going off so I would jump down from my upper bunk and turn it off and then shake her awake. But this has been working very well for both my daughter Mara and I.

Of course if you want to get up early it does pay to go to bed in decent time. We are created to need a certain amount of rest and can be much sweeter and more productive if we get it. At least that is what I have found.

Do you have any tricks for getting out of bed in the morning? What is your morning routine?

Daily Bible Reading Challenge

Did you find some treasures in God's Word this week? Was there anything that caused you to think - to want to grow more like Jesus? Did you find any comfort or help? I would love to hear about what you read.

I will share some of my favorites from the past week.....

What caused me to worship God more?
"Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the death through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life."
Romans 6:4

Because of what Jesus was willing to go through - we also can have new life. That is certainly something that gives me reason to worship!

What Scripture touched me?
"For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" Romans 8:15

How wonderful is that? It makes me want to cry happy tears. We can have that close loving relationship - not one that is governed by fear.

What prompts me to action?
"One generation shall praise Your works to another, and shall declare Your might acts." Psalm 145:4

This verse brings back wonderful memories of my friend named Ula who went to be with the Lord several years ago now. This was a verse she took to heart. She believed it was her responsibility to tell the next generation of how great God is. She is no longer her to fulfill that mission - but I am. I want to tell the next generation too! Let's keep this going. Thinking of this verse also makes me very thankful for my parents and grandparents (and great-grandparents - though I didn't know them) who also have worked to tell the next generation about God's love. I want to follow in their footsteps and make sure my kids - but beyond that - everybody around me- knows how great and wonderful God is!

What interesting fact did I read?
"Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge." Romans 10:1 & 2

This just points out the fact that somebody can want to follow God but not have the understanding that would be needed for them to be saved. So many are misguided and don't know the truth. That is why I want to share and why I encourage people to read the Bible. That is where truth is found!

Those are some of the things I have been thinking about. I would love to hear from you too!

This week I will continue to read through Romans and Acts, finish up Psalms and I just started Joshua.

20 New Uses for Egg Cartons

Egg cartons are a pretty common item in most households I think. Rather than just tossing them perhaps you could use them for something else.....

You could.....

-Put eggs in them again. We do this a lot as we have our own ducks and chickens that produce eggs (though we still seem to end up with an abundance of cartons - I don't know why). If you buy eggs from a farmer they quite likely would appreciate the cartons back so they could re-fill them again.

-Use them for fire starter. They work quite well.

-Make temporary chick feeders with them. I guess I don't have any pictures of how we fixed it up but we just used the compartments to put the feed in , cut off the lid but then glued a piece of Styrofoam kind of on top (but not completely - so they could still eat) that would prevent them from sitting in the food. We have a few baby chicks at our place now - Aaron bought 3 chicks last week when we were out and about. He hopes to enter them in 4-H which is why we needed some new ones.



 -Use them to make flowers for May Day baskets or any Spring decoration.

-Make beautiful daffodils

-Beautiful Roses

-A veterans day wreath.

- Make faux cotton stems for decoration.

-Use an egg carton to play Mancala (use beans as your pieces).

- Make a doll house toilet bowl from styrafoam egg cartons. We have fun making a whole Barbie house from trash quite a few years back. It was a great project.

-Cute little egg carton Chickens (written in another language but the pictures are good enough to follow without words.

-Adorable little whales.

-Very cute and rather intricate hedgehogs made from egg cartons.

-A very sweet Panda

-Make some busy bees.

-A fun 3-D tea cup card.

-Use them for young children to do sorting in.

-Use them for paint palettes.

-Make a bunny nose mask.

-Make a chicken mask or various other animal nose masks.


What do you do with your old egg cartons?

Daily Bible Reading Challenge

 Did you enjoy diving into God's word this week? I did. I just love how I find new nuggets and understand just a little more each time I spend time reading and studying His word.

What did I read that cause me to worship God more?
"Know therefore that the Lord you God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments;" Deuteronomy 7:9

Oh, I am so thankful for his faithfulness and His love!


What scripture touched my heart this week?
"And the brethren when they heart about us, came from there as far as the Market of Appius and Three Inns to meet us; and when Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage." Acts 28:15

I find it really neat to read about how people went out of their way to go see Paul and that their coming really encouraged him. It is a good reminder to me of how people can encourage one another but possibly just doing the simple thing of "being there".

What scripture was a call to action?
"Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." Deut. 6:4-9

Every time I read this it inspires me to act. I want to be one that constantly is telling others about God. That I would speak of Him to my children and all day long. I want His praise to always be on my lips!

What interesting fact did I find?
"For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse" Romans 1:20

This so plainly states that people can easily realize there is a God by simply looking at His creation. If people choose to not believe in God and follow Him - they don't have any excuses. This is a very sobering thought. It does inspire me to go out and spread the gospel so that people will not only realize there is a God but they will understand His great love for them in sending His Son to die for us on the cross so that we could have life eternal.

What jewels did you find in God's word this past week? Have you been reading faithfully? I hope so! I always love to hear from you!

16 Ways to re-purpose pallets

I really enjoy re-purposing things as many of you know. There is just such a joy for me to take something that most people think is trash and to turn it into something useful and often beautiful. This month I thought it would be fun to try to share a bunch of posts with lists of various ways to re-purpose various trash that is in our lives. The first one that I decided to do was on re-purposing pallets.

Pallets aren't generally things that every person has around to throw out but they are still quite common in our society and we have been able to get them free in abundance. Here are some of the ways we have gotten pallets:

• Construction stuff for our home was delivered on them.
• Large items (like a table for the church building) are delivered on them.
• We can pick them up free at a local lumberyard.

I have also noticed them out behind an appliance and yard machines store. Just start asking around - I think you will find some pallets that you can have.

Now what can you do with all those pallets?

You can.....

• Build a Chicken Coop (see pictures above and this post).
• And fences for a chicken run.

• Build a swimming pool.
• A towel rack and lots of other bathroom accessories. 
• Make a swing bed

• Make a wall hanging. Here is how I did the one pictured above. 
• Fix up an old, cheap bookcase with a back made of pallet boards.
• Use one to store your garden tools.
• Use them to make veggie trellises in your garden.
• Make a hallway coat rack and shoe shelf.
• Use a few to make a simple compost bin.
• Make a rustic headboard.
• Make a coffee table.
• Make a potting bench and also grow gardens in your pallets.
• Make a table.
• Make an outdoor shower.

Have you ever re-purposed pallets? I would love to hear what you made!

Frugal Friday

This week I....

• Saved buttons off of clothes that I was cutting up for rag rugs.
• Used rags (made from worn out clothes and towels) instead of any paper towels.
• Took my kids to the library (we hadn't found time to go for quite a while previously so it was a treat!) and have enjoyed the gift of new books to read!
• Made Lemonade (from lemon juice and honey) and Iced Tea for beverages when I realized we had no "special drinks" when we had company over. We serve water often but I was trying to make this a special meal but we were nearly out of milk and had no juice. The other was a frugal alternative.
• The kids are using Mathbooks for school that my siblings and I used when we were kids (no purchasing necessary for us). For working their problems on we use scratch paper that we save from mail, events and so forth that have one clean side still. For writing their problems in they use notebooks or paper in 3 ring binders - all of that was given to us by a friend last summer when she was cleaning house. We have had to buy pencils. :-)
• We have worn lots of hand-me-downs such as this cute coat and hat that Megan is wearing at the park. Just because we spend extremely little on clothes doesn't mean we have to look frumpy.

• I had fun creating a little resurrection scene for decoration. I used natural items that cost me nothing.
• Mara and I gathered a bunch of pussy willows from the ditches near our place to use for decorations all over the house. They look lovely!
• I am making bread this morning (something we do every week) using whole wheat flour (that I grind myself from wheat we get very cheaply from a grain mill every year), tallow (I rendered it from stuff we got with our beef), honey (from our bees), squash (free from my parents garden) , Yeast (purchased inexpensively in bulk)Oatmeal (purchased in bulk) and Salt (purchased in bulk from Azure Standard). It is nutritious and inexpensive.
• We packed meals 2 times this week when we needed to be in town over a meal time.
• The girl (along with a friend) did some painting projects to make some things for our homeschool co-op using things that we already had on hand.
• I took my wedding/engagement ring into the jewelry store to have it checked and cleaned(a free service) and they discovered that one of my tiny diamonds was about to come out and that a prong on the biggest one was lose too. They fixed it for free as they had just worked on the ring less then a year ago and replaced the big diamond (I had lost it - an expensive experience) and the crown. I am glad I made it in to having it checked before losing something again. This is a reminder to you to get your rings checked regularly. 

We did also have a very unfrugal outing....

Mara at work

Mara got a job in February at an ice cream shop in town. She is planning on going on a mission trip to Honduras this summer and so she needed to raise some money. She has been making and selling bread, cleaning her dad's office and running her Etsy shop but she needed more money than that so she got a job. She is working 3 days a week and it has been an adjustment for all of us with her gone so much but it has been good for her. Anyway the kids really wanted to visit her at work so when I had a student reschedule for another day which left Wednesday afternoon with some free time we went in to see Mara and enjoy some icecream. She had recommended coming on Wednesday because the homemade waffle cones are 1/2 price and also we could trade in used books for icecream. They only ended up wanting a couple of our books and gave us $1 in trade in value (they also sell some books there). Even with the $1 off we still spent over $20 for icecream for 5 of us. It was a splurge but it was fun to do once.

 What frugal activities have you done lately? Or do you want to share about an area you decided to splurge on?