Menu Plan January 10-15, 2011

Monday:

Glazed Ham
Sour Cream 'n Chives Mashed Potatoes
Carrots & Brussel Sprouts

Tuesday:

Chicken Teriyaki Stir Fry

Wednesday:

Split Pea Soup (with the leftover ham)

Thursday:

Leftovers

Friday:

 Pizza

Saturday:

Garden Rice

Broccoli

Abort the Resue Efforts - part 3

A Word to Wives: Things Not To Do #3
by H. Norman Wright


This week, we will consider lines to avoid crossing as wives. These problem behaviors often plague marriages.

Abort the Rescue Efforts
Similar to reminding is another approach: It's called rescuing. Bringing Out the Best in Your Husband - click here

How do you know if someone is playing the role of a rescuer? Would that man be incapable of functioning in his daily life without your help? If so, don't rescue. Encourage growth.

Do you tend to be stronger than him? If so, don't reinforce his weaknesses and foster dependency. Find his potential and encourage growth.

Does he tend to be unhappy unless you're doing something for him? If so, don't play this game. Encourage by showing you believe in capability to do it himself.

Does he make excuses for himself or do you make excuses for him? Remember that excuses cripple and perpetuate helplessness.

But aren't you to love your husband by helping and serving him? Yes, but it can become rescuing when you believe that it's your responsibility to solve his problems or protect him from the results of what he's done.

Sometimes women gain fulfillment by being a rescuer. It makes them feel good and look good in the eyes of others. The downside is that you could end up angry, resentful, feeling exhausted or even demeaned.

Rescuing is a great diversion. You don't have to deal with your own issues if you're busy saving others.



Taken from Bringing Out the Best in Your Husband by H. Norman Wright. Published by Regal Publishing. Copyright 2010.

Unhelpful Reminders - part 2

A Word to Wives: Things Not To Do #2
by H. Norman Wright


This week, we will consider lines to avoid crossing as wives. These problem behaviors often plague marriages.


Unhelpful Reminders
Avoid mothering the man in your life. Let me say it another way. Never, but never, mother a man. When you act like a mother with your spouse, you can't encourage him. Treating an adult like a child is demeaning and makes you a controller! If you mother him, he will continue to act in a way that makes you continue to want to mother him, and on and on it goes.Bringing Out the Best in Your Husband - click here

How do mothers sound? They remind. They actually make the other person (child or adult) rely on them to bail them out. Why would a person remember to do something when he has someone who will remind him?

Have you ever made statements like these? "Honey be sure you've got your wallet." "John, if I've asked you once, I've asked you a thousand times...." "You didn't call for the plane tickets. I'll do it for you...again."

You may be thinking: What's wrong with those statements and questions? Aren't they just helpful reminders? Perhaps - if you remind so that he learns to remember by himself and you won't have to remind him anymore!

Reminding once in a while may be helpful, but if you have to repeat again and again, it's obvious the reminders are not working.

They're what I call bailout responses. They take the responsibility away from the other person. These statements say, "You're a child; you can't remember anything. I'll do it for you."




Taken from Bringing Out the Best in Your Husband by H. Norman Wright. Published by Regal Publishing. Copyright 2010.

Controlling One Another - part 1

I get regular emails sent to me from Marriage Vine's book club with a 5 min snippet from a particular focus book of the week. I have learned to really enjoy reading these little 'pointers' (as I will call them) because they are all focused on practical living, relationships between husband and wife, or relationships with others, etc. They are doing a mini series from Bringing Out the Best in Your Husband by Norman Wright and I thought I would share it with you as well!  I am hoping to make this the first of many books I will post on here.

A Word to Wives: Things Not To Do
by H. Norman Wright

This week, we will consider lines to avoid crossing as wives. These problem behaviors often plague marriages.

Controlling One Another
It's easy to fall into thinking you either have to control or be controlled. But God never advocates domination of one marriage partner over another. Sometimes, however, one partner ends up being smothered by the other.

If you end up letting the other person control you, the result is that you end up feeling unnecessary. Total dependence on another is not the way Christ called us to live.

Nancy Groom, in her book Married Without Masks, states:

Adam (even after the Fall) would have been disappointed if Eve had refused to engage with him as his partner in the work God had called both of them to do. He did not need a slave; he needed a woman who knew who she was and was confident in her gifts. An alive, vibrant woman gives zest and excitement to her husband's life. He needs that.


Encouraging your husband does not mean that you become so absorbed in him that your identity and value come from him.

It doesn't mean becoming a doormat with no ideas, opinions or voice; not does it mean becoming an appeasing woman.

Encouragement is not manipulation. It's not done for the purpose of reshaping him for your own dreams, desires, or wishes. Absorption, appeasement and manipulation are actually forms of control.


Taken from Bringing Out the Best in Your Husband by H. Norman Wright. Published by Regal Publishing. Copyright 2010.

Our Painted Kitchen

Here are some pictures of our painted Kitchen. You will get to see it with the winter/christmas garlands (which are coming down soon) that I have displayed on top of the cabinets.  These pictures also give you a better idea of what the new laminate looks up against the cabinets compared to the original vinyl.  There are other things we would like to do in here as well, but due to cost, we are holding off on those things till later.

Before:

After:

Future Projects:
You see that wall between the Kitchen and Dining Room? We would like to eventually cut that in half and open it up a little more between the rooms.  Also we hope to put in a new counter top, sink, back splash, and lighting.

Menu Plan January 3-8, 2011

Here is my first attempt at making a weekly menu plan. Hoping this will help me feel more organized as a few more items are planned ahead and I don't have to worry about it the day of!

I am focusing on dinner as breakfast is kind of on the fly with with cold or hot cereal or fruit and lunch is either left overs or sandwiches.

Monday:

Spaghetti

Garlic Toast

Tuesday:

Pork Steak

Redskin Potatoes

Green Beans

Wednesday:

Pizza

Thursday:

Leftovers

Friday:

Beef Stroganoff

Garden Salad

Saturday:

Sloppy Joe

Cold Veggies

I also found this cute little poster that I hope to have printed soon so that both Andrew and I can see what is planned for dinner. Since Andrew does a lot of the cooking (as he is home before I get home) he often has dinner waiting for me when I get home from work. Isn't that great? I bet you all wish you had a husband that could do that, right? :)

You can find the link to this weekly menu plan HERE or HERE.

Old Year Review & New Year Resolutions

Do you make resolutions each new year?  I have tried to do so in the past and yet found that over the course of the year, I would slip away from my original resolution and back fall into the same old life patterns.  I am sure that many of you probably struggle with the same, or maybe some of you have found ways to keep on top of it.  Well, if you have, feel free to share.  I would love to hear what you have found to work.

As for me, though, I am bound and determined to make some resolutions and stick with them this year.  I look forward to starting a fresh new year, as a now married woman, I know my wonderful husband will be willing to help me along, with encouragement and accountability.  Some of my resolutions are spiritual and some are physical.  Here are just a couple that I will share with you.

• Time Management: Setting goals for each week.  As a career woman right now, it is more challenging to do everything that I would like to do or would potentially have a little more time to do if I was at home all day.  I like Sarah Mae's idea (you can see it HERE) of making a list of 6 main things that need to get done.  Although she used it as a daily list, I am going to use it as a weekly list, at least to start out with.  As the year goes on and I feel I can adjust it some, I will.

• Menu Plan:  I hope to be more on top of our groceries this new year.  With that said, I know a few others (as well as my mom) who would always plan a week's worth of meals and purchase groceries accordingly.  I am trying to learn more from my mother, who with 8 children was able to keep the grocery bill way below the average for a family of 4!  As a family of 2, I feel I should be able to do pretty good, right?

How about you?  Do you have any new years resolutions?  I hope and pray that together we will all be able to keep on top of them this year.