A Tip (or two) for mommies...

This morning as I was making my bed I was thinking about (and missing) the days of having a toddler on the other side of the bed "helping" me. Then I got to thinking about those early motherhood days and some of the comments or helps I got that really changed things for me as a young mother.
One of those "lightbulb" moments was on a day when I was tired of disciplining again and again over getting the kids to do what I told them.
You know, "Come here and pick this up." "Go get in the bathtub." "It's time to eat lunch." "Time for bed." and the list goes on. and on. and on....
One day I was listening to James Dobson and he was talking about taking some of the stress out of parenting and he talked about how so many times we give a command and we don't give our children time to "switch gears".
He asked how we would like it if we were deep into a project and someone came in and made us immediately stop and go do something. Well, I instantly could think of being in the middle of a sewing project and my husband making me stop that instant to go do something else. I wouldn't like it!
He then told how when it involves something that isn't an emegerncy. You know, like "Get out of the house, it's on fire!" that we should give them some time to switch gears. If they are having a wonderful time playing something you should start maybe 15 minutes before and say something like, "In 15 minutes it will be time for bed." Then in 5 minutes give them the 10 minute warning, then in 5 minutes give them the 5 minute warning and have them begin to pick things up and then it's time to go do what it wanted.
I implemented that and it helped so much! I wasn't fighting irritation and they were so much more compliant. To this day I use that. Just tonight I began letting John know his computer time was running out 20 minutes before it did. No hassle when his time was up!
I learned little by little as a young mother that several of my problems I was creating myself! I thank the Lord for sending the right person with the right message at the right time!
I hope that you're enjoying the precious short time that you have little ones. You look back on it and realize how wonderful a time it was. Children don't require fancy or expensive items to have a good time. They love having you at their side and can turn a tin can into a toy. (or a sink full of bubbles, or paper and scissors.)
With this said, let me give a couple links that I found that John, Cierra and I are going to try out! These are not "christian" links so I can't say rather everything on them is good, but I love, love, love it when I get one more idea for the "little-to-no-cost" craft file!
Enjoy!

With love,
Mom

1) The first is paper flowers. My how I remember making these with my grandmother. We had tissue paper flowers in every vase she owned! So many of the beautiful crafts I see made by Martha Stewart and other websites are things that I made with my grandmother or mother, they've just used things that cost more money on them. However, our kids don't care! Cierra and I are going to make the beautiful pink flower covered wreath to hang over her bed as a home ec project!
http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2010/06/06-things-to-make-with-crepe-paper.html

2.) The second is teaching little hands to use motor skills. My grandmother had a box of lace up cards for us to play with. She used cards but you can use even poster board that you glue a coloring book picture on or you can sketch a picture yourself (like my mother did). It was on a rectangle and then the picture was put on it and holes were punched evenly around it.
Next, you had a blunt needle and some yarn put in it. You simply went in and out of the holes. So fun! I remember my grandmother keeping me happy with a needle and thread and having me go through her button box sorting colors and then threading them together! No wonder I wanted her button collection when she died. Sweet memories!
This lady is awesome with her ideas! She shows here how to use Dollar Store shelf liner that you sketch a picture on and then let the kiddos sew on it. Take a look. While you're there take a look at her music wall--oh, how I would have loved it! and many other cute ideas for kids!
http://www.fifthwizardry.com/2010/02/sewing-and-embroidery-for-kids-with.html

3) And how about paper? My mother taught me how to make a doll house from an old catalog. We took a piece of typing paper and then I cut out my favorite couch, chair, lamps, etc. from the catalog. Then I layered them with my own design. That was my living room! We did it with each room of the house and then bound them (with a hole punch and yarn) into a book! I played with them by the hour.
She also took poster board and made me a house with upstairs and downstairs. She drew (my mother was a very good artist.) each room and my oven door opened (cut out with a piece of cardboard glued behind it.) my beds had slits and the cardboard people went to bed and got between the covers.) and my little people were made for me in their nightgowns (for bedtime), I had a dad with a suit (for going to work), I had a baby that slid into its high chair, and a mom in her dress and apron for stirring the little pot that sat on my stove! I was such a blessed child!
I remember sitting with the little store she made me in a closet and singing my heart out to the song, "Thank You Lord for saving my soul...." as I played with my little cardboard store and watched my mother working in our kitchen.
Here's a place where you can make beautiful colored necklaces out of paper. We've made them out of gift wrap, magazines and leftover church bulletins. Kids love making them!
http://hubpages.com/hub/How-To-Make-Your-Very-Own-Colored-Paper-Bead-Necklace
The How About Orange blog shows how to make beautiful bows for packages out of magazine pages, how to make paper medallions, how to make paper lanterns, and beautiful 3-D paper ornaments. Most of them even your 3 year old can manage!
4. Carboard boxes. My mother could turn a cereal box into a darling couch for an 11-inch doll. She made a cocoa box into a kitchen sink for my doll! She turned a wood block into a tiny radio!
Cardboard boxes are so, so fun! We've turned refrigerator boxes into boats, forts, and houses. The ideas are endless. You can make castles out of cardboard boxes, you can make huge blocks out of cardboard boxes. Little ones love stacking them! Go to fifthwizardy's blog and see some of the cute ideas she has for cardboard boxes!
John and I are working on turning a coffee can into a mailbox (complete with flag) for his treehouse. We're also trying to find crafts and experiments for this month. So, may I encourage you not just to look at these ideas--pick one and get the supplies and cover your table with newspapers and do it. Schedule a time and let nothing else take over that time-you've got a date with the kids!
Got any websites you love and use? Got other ideas or tips on crafts with kids? I'd love to hear about them!

Priorities...

My God-given priorities are these: (in order of importance)
1) My relationship with the Lord
2) My relationship with my husband
3) My relationship with my children
4) My home
5) Other activities
After making sure the Lord has my day and my plans agree with Him, that He has the preeminince in my day and that I am spending time at His feet I should be giving my husband the attention he deserves.
Remember the old tv shows where you could see that the entire home was run to take care of dad? The chair, slippers, a hot meal almost ready, the clean, shiny home--all there for dad who was working to provide the needs of the family.
Today's media ridicules that notion and the woman who runs her home and honors her husband that way is mocked and ridiculed by the mainstream media. That's all right. Heaven has always wanted the woman to minister to her husband and family and if God is pleased we shouldn't care what the world thinks. To be friends with them is to be at enmity with God. (I Jn. 2:15-17)
Every so often I have to do a rethinking (renewing my mind) on where my priorities are and how I'm doing on meeting my husband's needs. My flesh is not concerned about this so it takes the Holy Spirit reminding me. (and sometimes my husband's irritation!)
OK, so it's check-up time. It's not the big things, it's the little things. The first question I ask myself is--"If my husband could change anything about me right now what would it be?
I usually immediately can think of a few things that need adjusting in their importance for me.
They aren't big, they're usually small things. You know, how much time I'm spending with other people instead of him (and yes, that includes the telephone, computer and tv).
Or making sure that he doesn't have to ask questions like "Are we having a meal around here tonight?" or "Do I have any __________ clean in this house?" Those are questions that the seasoned wife should see to it her husband never, never asks.
Every man has his little frustrations. Am I making sure that they're removed? My husband's is having to pick his way through anything on the floor. He doesn't care if the dish drainer is loaded but he does care if he can't get through the living room because John has his matchbox racetrack from one end to the other!
I have found that the more I've been consistent with running this household as the "KING of the House" wants it, he is more concerned with making sure the queen has the equipment she wants (not needs) and the more often he is standing at the sink with me helping with the dishes so he has me to himself in the living room or on the front porch sooner! It pays you back!
If you asked your husband this morning, "What can I do to help you today?" What would he say? Are you scared to ask him?
The Proverbs 31 woman is my ultimate role model. I've worked at emulating her for 36 years now and I still don't have all her skills down--but I'm sure working on it! She had won her husband's heart! "the heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.". Can your husband honestly say that he can safely trust that you won't do one thing today to spoil (make him a prey, a victim, ruined)him? Is he proud of you or embarassed? Is he proud of your housekeeping? Does he feel like he's first in your life or is he running against your friends, your children or even your church?
I am commanded as an "aged woman" to instruct the young women to love your husbands. (Titus 2) I am watching young women making their husbands worse than an infidel (by trying to be the breadwinner of the home), of competing with their husbands in ministry (by thinking they are to have a ministry outside of being his wife, the mother of their children and the keeper at their home), ruling their husbands, (by always knowing better what should be done concerning everything!) and spoiling their husbands (by talking about him, correcting him, neglecting their duties while doing his).
I heard Eleanor Page say one day something to this effect. "Why don't you young ladies learn from the strange woman in Proverbs? She had everything prepared for the man she was going to seduce, she ran out to meet him and told him she had good things waiting on him inside, she was excited to see him, she made him feel good about himself.
Now Mrs. Page made it clear she was up to no good, but she knew how to get him! So today--why not take some time with the Lord and prayerfully ask Him what you need to "lay aside "that's weighing down your being the wife God designed you to be!
I can tell you this--every time I do this the fruit I reap from it makes me know that it's "a good thing".
"teachers of good things"
Titus 2:3b

Love,

Mom

Strawberries From Heaven....

In May I love buying strawberries and making strawberry jam. This year we had just made a move and didn't have any income at the Neal household. Strawberries are definitely a luxury especially when I had a freezer with raspberry and blackberry juice in it that could be made into jam if we were totally out.

But I decided to pray. I asked the Lord to please supply me with some strawberries. Well, strawberry season came and went and we had no strawberries given to us and no extra money to spend on them! I decided that it must not be the Lord's will for me to have strawberries this year and began making jellies and jam out of my juice and berries in the freezer.

So June passes and July is passing and I've forgotten about strawberries! Then lo and behold, our beloved UGO begins to have strawberries for $1.00! We bought some so the children could have fresh fruit and everyone was enjoying them.

One day my hubby came home and he had bought $10 worth of strawberries! He remembered that "yours truly" had really wanted to make strawberry jam. So I chopped them up and made strawberry jam. I put the extra strawberries (chopped up) into bags in my freezer.

Every so often he would bring home $2 or $3 worth of strawberries and my freezer began filling up. I now have made several batches of strawberry jam and have enough in the freezer for about 3 more batches. (Some which I plan to make up this week!)

I was standing at the sink after cleaning up the last batch thinking of how wonderful it was that the Lord gave me a "love pat" from heaven by sending me something that I didn't need but I did want. I also thought how far above He is from our small thinking. I thought the answer was "no" and really it was "yes"--just not the way I envisioned it.

Isaiah 55:8 came to mind--"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord." Oh, how true that is! How thankful I am that my God is so much greater than I am and that I can trust Him to plan my life perfectly.

Thank You Lord for my strawberries and thank You for your perfect thoughts and perfect ways!

Homemade bread (low in calories and delicious!)

My mother and grandmother always told me it was the German in my blood, but whatever the reason, I love bread! I love artisan breads, I love huge warm loaves of whole wheat bread, I love focaccia bread (especially on Panera's sandwiches!), I love warm loaves of crusty bread with tender melt-in-your mouth bread inside of the crust--I love bread!

I also love kneading bread. I had a bread machine given to me years ago and it sat unused because I didn't like the texture of the bread and I certainly didn't want a machine taking away the pleasure of standing at the counter and feeling the bread becoming "perfect". Kneading bread and hanging out clothes are two very real therapies in my life. (Anyone care to psychoanalyze me on those?)

With all that said I'll get to this week's bread adventure! Since we moved to Crossville I had tried to make my wonderful, high-rising, Honey Wheat Bread from Weight Watcher's Annual Recipes for Success 2000 book. It is a delicious bread and you can eat a good slice for only 1 Weight Watchers point. It slices well for sandwiches and toast and it is out of this world fresh out of the oven with real butter and honey on it. (the heel please!)

The first time I tried it I was shocked to bring out of the oven a heavy, odd-textured bread. I knew I was in trouble with the feel of the dough and also the lack of quick rising it usually gives me.

I tried it again about two weeks later thinking it was the change in altitude. However, when I read up on that you should be adjusting to the bread rising quicker than normal-not laying in the bowl like a "deadbread"! Sure enough, I had the same sick bread as the first time.

Now I don't like wasting food so it was put in the freezer for making a chicken dressing or some other way of disguising a food that otherwise wouldn't be eaten!

The next time I thought I had it figured out---possibly the fact I'd replaced the half and half with skim milk! (I couldn't afford half and half at the time.) Tried it again and figured the half and half into the food budget. It flopped!

Next thought--"Oh no! I can't bake bread at this house! Something's wrong with the humidity or something here!" Dumb thought, I knew that wasn't true, I've baked bread every house I've lived in with success.

So then I remembered that the bread flour I was using was given to me and it had been stored in a freezer. I've stored flour in a freezer lots of times but never bread flour and I had no idea how long that lady had kept it in her freezer.

So I went and bought a bag of all-purpose flour (couldn't afford bread flour) and got out my faithful gluten that I use in my breads. Researched online and found out I needed to put 1 T. of gluten in each cup of all-purpose flour, I used regular skim milk but added 2-3 T. of butter (need that fat!) and tried it again. Awwww..... it is so good. I wish all of you could have been here and enjoyed that bread with us. The kids love it and we don't feel guilty enjoying it.

Just a little comparison with my other breads. My whole wheat bread (which is so good--my sister Kristi gets the praise for giving me that recipe.) is 2.5 Weight Watchers points per slice. Well worth it if you're not on a diet. Most slices of store bought bread are about 100-110 calories a slice unless you know just what you're looking for.

Even with my adjustments this bread still comes out just 1 point or about 70 calories a slice. (has low fat and a gram of fiber) I intend to play with it more. Try upping the whole wheat (with added gluten) and seeing if we can up the fiber a little more. The picture here you will see it looks like white bread--that's because I am using a white whole wheat flour I got on clearance!

Ok--here's the recipe! Enjoy!

Honey Wheat Bread

2 pkgs. dry yeast (I buy bulk yeast at the Mennonite general store)

1/3 cup honey (ditto-I buy honey by the gallon at the Mennonite Community)

1 cup warm water (105-115 degrees)

1 cup half and half (I've also used low fat half and half and it worked just fine) *I have to limit fat to between 20-30 grams per day for health reasons. (And eat "good" fat.)

4 lg. eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour

1 1/2 tsps. salt

4 3/4 cups bread flour

Cooking spray

1. Dissolve yeast and honey in warm water in mixing bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Add half-and-half and eggs; beat at medium speed of a heavy-duty stand mixer until well blended. Add

whole-wheat flour and salt, beating well. Stir in bread flour, 1/2 cup at a time, to form a soft dough.

2. Turn dough out onto a well-floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 5 minutes).

3. Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85 degrees) free from drafts, 45 minutes or until doubled in bulk.

4. Punch dough down; turn dough onto a lightly floured surface, and knead lightly 4 or 5 times. Divide dough into 3 equal portions. Working with one portion at a a time (cover remaining dough to keep it from drying out), roll each portion into a 12- x 8-inch rectangle on a lightly floured surface. Roll up each rectangle tightly, starting with a short side. Press firmly to eliminate air pockets; pinch seam and ends to seal. Place each roll of dough, seam side down, in an 8- x 4-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray.

5. Cover and let rise 30 minutes or until doubled in bulk.

6. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

7. Bake bread at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or until loaves sound hollow when tapped. Remove bread from pans immediately, and let cool on wire racks. YIELD: 3 loaves. 48 servings (serving size 1/2-inch slice).

NOTE: You may use a dough hook and a heavy-duty stand mixer for kneading, if desired.

* My note--don't try to use a mixer unless you have a heavy duty mixer!

**I bake two loaves of bread and make 12 rolls in a round cake pan. They rise so pretty and you get a huge roll with your homemade supper you've made for your family for 1 point (compared to 3-7 points for regular dinner rolls.) I would have pictures but we consumed them with our salisbury steak and gravy supper before I thought of the camera! :)

***If you aren't sure when to stop putting flour in (because the weather really affects this) then stop when it begins pulling away from the sides of the bowl or when it quits being really sticky. However, it's better to stop when it's a little too wet (and knead the flour in) then to let it get too dry.

Well, daughters, that's about it for today. I have the cutest sewing project (mother-daughter) that Cierra and I tackled two weeks ago I keep putting on here--but that's another blog!

Very white shirts for hubby!

When I was a young bride my grandmother loaned me her "Hints from Heloise" book. It was love at first reading. I hung on to it and regularly promised my grandma I'd return it (someday) and used many, many of its tips. I ended up giving it back to her just a few weeks before she died and never saw it again.

I would give anything to have it now, not only for the sweet memories but also for its practical, everyday, very reasonable tips. Many times it rescued me when I had no money but plenty of little problems to solve. I remember her tips for how to hang laundry allowing me to have line-dried clothes that actually looked good! I did this from March to November in Indiana. A considerable savings! I also used a cheap cleaning solution made with ammonia (very cheap) to scrub my floors. I remember being so pleased with the results on old, old tile floors. I recall getting mildew out of some clothing after searching the book for a solution. As I remember I used sour milk and sunshine--but that's been a long time ago!

Today I guess Martha Stewart would be considered the homemaker's guru if you wanted a solution. (However, she's a little pricier in her solutions.) About once a year I buy a Martha Stewart magazine and it's her issue that has practical how-to's in it. I always save that issue as a reference book in my library.

One year she had an article on how to get your white dress shirts (well, I think she said white clothing in general) very, very white. I tried it and it works! It can be a little frightening when you get the shirts out of the dryer and they are heavily wrinkled, but a good steam iron and spray starch and they are crisp again.

So.....here is a my version of how to get hubby's white dress shirts (make sure they are cotton!) beautifully white again. You will not believe how dirty the water will be as they are soaking and if you do it without mentioning it to him he will ask how you got them so white. (Well, some men won't notice, but they're the same ones that don't notice if they've shaved or if their shirt tail is in or out!:)

1) Heat two gallons of water over high heat, and bring it to a boil. (This is a lot of water so you might want to use two pans for lifting later.)

2) When it comes to a boil, turn the heat off and let the pan(s) sit for about five minutes.

3) Have a dishpan or bucket of some kind in your sink and carefully pour the water into it.

4. Add 8 oz. of powdered oxygen bleach. DO NOT use chlorine bleach and don't do this while your pan is on the stove. It will bubble and foam. Be sure you stand back. Stir it with a wooden spoon to mix it all through and get it dissolved.

5. Add about 3 white shirts to the bucket of solution. Make sure they're completely immersed in it.

6. Let them soak. Stir every once in a while and keep them in the solution till the water is cool enough you can get the clothes out comfortably. (I usually do it in the morning and let them sit most of the day.)

7. Drain the solution off and rinse each shirt well with clear water.

8. Launder them as you usually would.

They will come out pretty wrinkled from the dryer. Just give them a good steam pressing and then press again using a spray starch.

Also, I made the mistake of putting a shirt in that was more polyester then cotton and it took up the dirty color of the water instead of releasing it! I have done shirts with a little polyester or another fabric and they do fine for me.

I use laundry time to pray over my family as I fold or hang up their laundry. I also love making my husband pleased with always having clean clothes in his closet and drawers. It makes him even happier if he sees me go the extra mile to make his clothes look their best, even if they aren't that new!

I cherish the books I have when women found their greatest joy in planning meals, shining windows, setting a pretty table, making a special meal or desserts, and washing her family's clothing. I read and reread my books where the homemaker wrote them with pride and encouraged other homemakers in their domestic role.

As a keeper at home I want to do a quality job. I want my family to have sweet memories of their mother making home a wonderful, wonderful place to be. I hope this will encourage you as you serve the Lord in the domain He chose for us!

Family Field Trip...

We had a wonderful day last Friday. Thanks to Robin St. James for asking if we wanted to participate in it!

This was a field trip that we tried to take back in the fall and it got rained out! It wasn't really a reenactment as much as little "snapshots" of the Battle at Fort Sanders that took place during the Civil War.

We learned all kinds of things that we didn't know. The students were divided into groups and sent to stations to learn about the battle. I didn't know that the Union won this battle or that the fort was simply made out of earth with ditches around it.

Our first stop was the fort. Soldiers there told us about the fort, about life for a soldier, and about the battle.

Then we went and met a woman who told us about having two sons, one who went with the North and one who was fighting for the South. She talked about having your crops and animals taken and learning to live off of the land while trying to survive. She ended her talk with looking up to the mountain and saying that each day she looked at that mountain and said "I will look to the mountain from whence cometh my help--my help is the Lord."

Next we were given a lesson on the weapons of war from the 1600's to World War I. We learned how a battle could be won by simply having the right weapon at the time. It also made me thankful for those who were willing to face death to keep us free as a country.

Last we listened to a young man who was a Confederate who explained what they faced that day at the Battle of Fort Sanders. He talked of them charging across the "killing field" to get to the fort and then falling into a ditch they thought was shallow but instead swallowed them up over their heads. The battle only lasted about 20 minutes but it was deadly for the Confederates that day.

We ate lunch together and listened to Civil War music being played. Very relaxing to sit and eat and visit.

Last of all we headed back to the fort to watch the cannon being fired and listen to Mr. Lincoln. The man playing Mr. Lincoln was very, very good. In his talk he quoted the Gettysburg Address and his address he gave when leaving Illinois.

It was a field trip that will long be remembered by our family! A little walk in time past in Tennessee on a beautiful spring day!

Moving...moving...moving Chapter 2

The last few days have been a whirlwind of unpacking boxes, straightening the garageful of boxes to see what we need now and what can wait, getting appliances, filling closets with clothes, putting beds up, loads and loads and loads of laundry and at the end of the day falling into the bed so tired that sleep comes instantly!
The first full day in our house we still didn't have a refrigerator or stove. I had asked the Lord to supply our need for them and to lead Gary to just the ones He wanted us to have. Jimmy and Alicia came down from Ohio and spent the first two days here helping us unpack, situate furniture in the right place and other "getting settled" work.
Alicia got online and looked in the local shopper for appliances. My husband had seriously looked before we even moved and hadn't found what we needed (or the price we needed) so now we were down to the wire! We couldn't move the food from the parsonage refrigerator to our new home till we had something to put it in!
The first night Jimmy and Alicia and family were here we ate pizzas from Little Caesar's and the second night our dear friends Brother Dave and Sister Carolyn Carrol brought chili, pumpkin cake and a cobbler over and ate with us. (Brother Dave pastors Tabernacle Baptist Church of Crossville, TN) We had a wonderful time of fellowship with them.
My husband had called about a refrigerator Alicia had found and they were asking about $300 but said they'd go down to $225. It was a side by side and almond color. Both of those things were nice but the nicest part was that it was in our budget! The men went to see it and in a little bit they were home with a refrigerator. The man we bought it from went down to $200 and even loaned us his refrigerator dolly to get it home to us! Now that's a nice person!
I had felt so calm about it because I knew the Lord was picking our appliances out but I did think that we were getting down to the wire on the timing!
Well, there sat my beautiful "new" used refrigerator but I still needed a stove. We were still rejoicing over how nice the refrigerator was when the man we bought it from called. I thought he was probably wondering where his refrigerator dolly was since we'd stopped to eat and hadn't returned it yet.
Instead his wife called to let us know he'd found a stove for us! Now that's what I call really nice! She said he was getting a pigtail for it right then and if it worked we could have it for $125. Once again, that was right in our budget! It did work and the men ran over there again and got us the stove.
It is almond and trimmed in black (just like my refrigerator)! They look like they were made for each other. So the Lord not only provided a stove and refrigerator on the very day we needed them but he also made them match! Isn't the Lord so very good to us!
Since I gave the Lord everything in my life He has done so much better a job of providing things for me than I could ever do.
Brother Dave commented that it is so good to know the Lord cares for even the small details of our life. That is so very true!
So now I feel like a homemaker that just had her right arm returned to her after losing it for a week. Life without a stove and refrigerator is not comfortable for a woman that loves to cook!
Yesterday my husband got to preach at Calvary Baptist Church in Winchester, TN. We had a wonderful day with the church family there. Our drive down was one of breathtaking beauty. The redbuds were blooming, the sun was shining and we were driving on some of the prettiest views I have seen in TN.
I saw many beautiful homes as we drove and thought to myself, "I'm so thankful the Lord is the one who picks my house out too." I don't deserve the lovely rental He's provided us, but here I sit. Our yard is shady and I have a front porch that I can sit on and drink my coffee, read my Bible and listen to the birds singing. It's all too big for me but He's so good at organizing it all and providing just what we need (and even want!).
I've divided this move into phases. Phase 1 was just getting into the house and being able to survive. It's completed. Phase 2 is going through boxes and deciding what will come into the house and what will go into storage while we live here. I'll also be sorting out rummage items, items to go to Goodwill and items to throw away. I've already spent one day working on Phase 2. I'm hoping to do a certain amount of boxes each day while the children do their school work. Hopefully it will go smoothly and quickly!
So ends Chapter 2 of the move of 2010 in the Neal family....more to come on this book I'm sure!