Category Archives: Works For Me Wednesday

Works-for-Me Wednesday: Prescriptions

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wfmwheader_4.jpgIn our family of five, three of us take regular prescription medications, two of us more than one. When one prescription is running low, I check some of the others and call in refills for many of them at one time if possible. Sounds kinda like a “Well, duh” thing, but when it first occurred to me to do that, it saved a lot of time waiting in line at the pharmacy to pick up a few refills at once.

Speaking of waiting in line at the pharmacy, I used to always call in a refill in the morning and pick it up while getting my son from school, and there always seemed to be a long line. For some reason one day I called at night for a refill to be picked up in the morning after I dropped him off at school, and…no line. I sailed right through. So I am going to aim for morning pick-up times!
Saving time in getting prescription refills works for me. To find more tips or share something that works for you, go to Shannon’s at Rocks In My Dryer.

Works-For-Me Wednesday: The kitchen edition

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Those looking for Ultimate Blog Party post can click here here. 🙂

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This week’s WFMW is another themed one based in the kitchen. I’m looking forward to reading this week’s tips as I still feel like I need help in the kitchen even though I have been active in one since my teens.

We usually store like things together, and most of the time that is the most efficient. But I read somewhere once about someone who had set up a “baking center” in her kitchen, with all of the supplies she’d need for baking in one area. I thought that was brilliant — saves the need for having to retrieve things from all over the kitchen when you’re getting ready to bake. I separated my spices into two groups, the ones primarily used for baking and the ones primarily used for cooking. I store the ones used for cooking near the stove and the ones for baking in the cabinet with the brown sugar, etc. The canisters of flour and sugar are in the cabinet below.The measuring cups are in the cabinet to the left. Their is an outlet there for my mixer and those cabinets are in a corner where there is space to work and the sink is just to the right. It would be ideal to have my mixing bowls and measuring spoons there, but it won’t work with my current kitchen — they are just a couple of steps away, though. Having all the baking stuff in one area saves time, effort, and frustration, and that works for me. 🙂

Some of the other kitchen tips I have blogged about along the way are organizing the refrigerator drawer, doing one extra kitchen job a night to keep on top of kitchen clean-up, an easy way to clean drip pans and rings from your stove, and how I organize recipes clipped from magazines. I wrote about my love of using chicken tenderloins along with a recipe for Chicken Enchilada Bake. Other recipes are for Chicken and Stuffing Casserole and Oven-Baked Chicken, Harvest Loaf Cake, Swiss Ham Ring-Around, Vegetable Medley and Fruit and Yogurt Salad, Corny Potato Chowder, and Quick Chicken Parmesan.

And that is just about my entire repertoire of kitchen tips. 🙂 Head on over to Rocks In My Dryer to read more or share your own.

Works-For-Me Wednesday: Sources for inexpensive prints

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I wanted to share today some sources for inexpensive prints to decorate your home with.

1. Cards

This is from a card that happened to be 8×10, so it fit perfectly in that size frame. But many smaller cards can fit into a 5×7″ frame. This combines my love of bears, hearts, and Scripture (not in that order. 🙂 ). The verse says, “A cheerful heart enjoys a continual feast. Proverbs 15:15.”

Bear tea

2. Calendars

This came from a D. Morgan calendar. Even though the dimensions aren’t quite 8×10, it fit by allowing for some of the edge around the calendar picture to be a border. The wallpaper in the upstairs bathroom looked like sand dunes to me, and I found a couple of inexpensive Thomas Kincaid lighthouse prints in a catalog once, so that set a lighthouse theme for this room.

lighthouse

3. Unframed prints

A friend told me years ago that framing shops will sometimes have a section of inexpensive unframed prints. Most of them won’t fit into the standard (and less expensive) frames, but with a mat sometimes you can make it work. You can always get a custom frame, but that can get expensive (be sure to check your Sunday paper for Michael’s 50% off custom framing coupons. 🙂 ) This print was, if I remember correctly, about $6 some 15-20 years ago — the prices may be higher now. The dimensions were some odd size, but I was able to fit the main part of the picture behind this mat and then into a standard frame (I think this is 16×20). This also combines a couple of my loves, reading and pink roses, and I love the peacefulness of it. Please forgive the glare there — the other shots I tried without the flash were shadowy or showed up the reflection rather than the print.

lady reading

You can find great tips and/or share yours at Rocks In My Dryer.

Works-For-Me Wednesday: “You can’t say no until you pray about it”

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wfmwheader_4.jpgAny article or book you read or talk you hear about managing time will include this point: you have to be willing to say no to some activities. Especially in this day and age when opportunities to do things or have your kids involved in things abound on every hand, sometimes we just have to put our foot down and say “No” to maintain our sanity and keep some kind of reasonable schedule.

On the other hand……sometimes we say no without really considering what the Lord would have us do. All we know is that we can’t take on another thing. I am assuming many of the WFMW readers are Christians, so I am speaking from that basis. Some years ago I was on a committee of ladies at church who took turns putting up bulletin boards to highlight 2-3 of our missionaries at a time each month. This committee was a part of the Ladies Missionary Prayer Group at that church. At that point in time they elected officers every year. At one fall meeting, the president told us that that nominations had been made for the following year and the officers would be contacting those ladies who had been nominated to let them know and find out if they were willing and able to accept. She then stated, “You can’t say no until you pray about it.”

Well, Debbie, the officer over that committee, told me I had been nominated for that office. My first response was, “But….I’ve been waiting all year to get off this committee!” That was not very encouraging to Debbie, I’m sure. 🙂 But I just didn’t feel the liberty to say no, so I said yes. A week or two or so later Debbie came to me and told me that the other nominees had not accepted, and therefore I was “it.” She remarked that that must have been the Lord’s will. I responded, “No…the other ladies are out of the Lord’s will for not accepting the nomination.” I was so spiritually-minded, wasn’t I? 🙄 I think she thought I was teasing, or else she would have rethought my nomination.

I did fulfill that year, and even though bulletin boards are not my forte, I really saw the Lord give some great ideas and some great people to help on the committee. I learned something about leadership. I learned to seek Him when frustrated because I couldn’t find help. I learned about the ups and downs of working with people. I don’t know if I can say I “enjoyed” that year, but I did learn a lot and I grew spiritually and as a person.

A few years later when an opportunity came along that was more scary and involved more work, I was able to face it with the confidence that if the Lord wanted me to do it, He would enable me. And He did, marvelously.

For a while I went too far the other way, thinking that anything that anyone in the church asked me to do must be from the Lord. 🙂 We can get in over our heads really quickly that way.

Since then there have been times I have felt completely free to say no and have seen the Lord bring in someone else for that opportunity who did a wonderful job, much better than I would have done if I had taken it out of a sense of duty.

But the important thing is to pray over it first, before you decide it’s out of your comfort zone or that you don’t have the time or the skills. Sometimes the Lord delights in pulling out of our comfort zone and into dependence on Him for the abilities and the time. Sometimes He wants us to lay something else aside to do what He wants us to. Look in Scripture at people who were happily minding their own business when God came to them with something He wanted them to do (Moses, Noah, Peter, Paul) and think not only what history would be like, but what their lives would have been if they had said no.

I had worked on another WFMW tip this morning, had it all done, pictures loaded, and published, when I felt impressed to pull that one and share this. I hope it is a help to someone. 🙂

To find some great tips or share your own, go to Rocks in My Dryer.

Works-For-Me Wednesday: Refrigerator Drawer

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This is an idea that just came to me, so we’ll see if it “works.” I think it will.

The bottom drawer of our refrigerator is deeper than the others. That’s where we keep lunch meats, cheeses, hot dogs, bacon, heat-and-eat breakfast sausages, etc. They were all stacked on top of each other, so you had to dig through it to find what you wanted, which was often on the bottom. Then it was a jumbled mess.

It occurred to me that I could stand all of that stuff up side by side like files in a file folder. Then you could see at a glance what you wanted. And if the lunch meats are placed right side up, then the sometimes not-quite-closed resealable bag won’t leak.

The one thing that was too big to stack like that was the packages of tortillas (we tend to keep some of those on hand for wraps, quesadillas, etc.). But I put them against the back wall of the drawer which slopes.

It looks better. And I think if I can get everyone trained to put the packages back like that instead of just tossing them in, it will be more usable and less frustrating.

Here are a couple of “before” pictures:

From the outside of the drawer:

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“Before” picture of the inside of the drawer:

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After:

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To find some great tips or share your own with us, go to Shannon’s place at Rocks In My Dryer.

Works-For-Me Wednesday: “Love, Sweet Love’

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Today’s edition of “Works For Me Wednesday,” hostessed by Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer, is a themed one on the subject of love in honor of Valentine’s Day. We’re asked to contribute relationship advice, romantic tips, Valentine’s ideas, etc. So I present you with various odds and ends. 🙂

♥ One piece of advice: I mentioned this several days ago, but something Elisabeth Elliot wrote spoke to me:

Many women have told me that my husband’s advice, which I once quoted in a book, has been an eye-opener to them. He said that a wife, if she is very generous, may allow that her husband lives up to perhaps eighty percent of her expectations. There is always the other twenty percent that she would like to change, and she may chip away at it for the whole of their married life without reducing it by very much. She may, on the other hand, simply decide to enjoy the eighty percent, and both of them will be happy.

So often we can get hung up on the few little things that bother us rather than putting it into perspective.

♥ Traditions: The only thing I do every Valentine’s Day is make heart-shaped cupcakes using some heart-shaped muffins pans. One year I made a big Valentine sign for the family using candy bars for various words. I forget where I had first seen the idea. I went to the store to get candy bars first, so I could see what was available and make up sentences using those words, then made up the sign writing out my “greeting” and replacing the key words with candy bars. Another year I made a little clue-finding expedition, cutting out a heart and putting a series of clues on the two halves which led to some prize, I forget what now. The kids really loved that and asked for it for the next couple of years, but I had exhausted my clue-making abailities. That was harder than I thought! I try to make a nice dinner that night — not all-out like Thanksgiving, but not hot dogs or fish sticks, either. I also usually buy or make cards for everyone. When the kids were little we made cards with them for each other, and I loved that — those are some of my treasures.

♥ Resource: Family Fun magazine and its web site are wonderful resources for neat, fun, and simple holidays ideas (crafts, foods, ways to celebrate). It’s Disney-owned, so there are a lot of ads for Disney stuff, and I wouldn’t agree with every philosophy or product they recommend, but the holiday and party ideas are great.

♥ Book: There are many great books on marriage, but I think my all-time favorite is The Ministry of Marriage by Jim Binney. It reall emphasizes that aspect, that marriage is a minstry to the other person.

♥ Funnies: This is something from my files I thought you might enjoy. I received it in an e-mail years ago, author unknown:

Pearls of wisdom from Grandpa on having a long, happy marriage…

Whether a man winds up with the nest egg or a goose egg depends a lot on the kind of chick he marries.

Many girls like to marry a military man – he can cook, sew, make beds and is in good health, and most importantly he’s already used to taking orders.

Too many couples marry for better or for worse, but not for good.

When a man marries a woman, they become one. The trouble starts when they try to decide which one.

Trouble in marriage also often starts when a man gets so busy earning his salt that he forgets his sugar.

If a man has enough “horse sense” to treat his wife like a thoroughbred, she will never be an old nag.

On anniversaries a wise husband always forgets the past, but never the present.

As I did for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day, over the next few days I want to post some quotes, jokes, and such for Valentines’s Day.

In related news, as most probably already know, Shalee is sponsoring a “50 Cheap Dates” event where folks can link to their ideas for fun and inexpensive things to do for two. 🙂 I don’t have anything to share for that one, at least not that I can think of yet. I tend to be a homebody, and most things that we do involve the whole family. But we probably should do some of that kind of thing — I’ll be looking forward to gleaning some ideas from there and from this week’s Works-For-Me Wednesday. 🙂

(Photo courtesy of the stock.xchng) 

Works For Me Wednesday: Extra packets

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When we go through fast food drive-throughs or get take-out orders at restaurants, usually tossed in with our order are packets of ketchup, sauce for chicken nuggets, taco sauce, plastic eating utensils, etc. Usually there are more of the condiments than we can use, and if we’re bringing the food home, we prefer our stainless steel utensils to eat with rather than plastic. So I keep all the “extras” in a drawer, and we use them for picnics or camping. My husband has a big plastic bin in the attic in which he keeps most of the camping gear (I guess that might be another tip! After years of having to gather everything together when anyone went camping, he bought one of those bins to keep it all together), and he has a bag full of the plastic utensils (which are often packaged with napkins and salt and pepper packets) in there.

To see more tips or share your own, go to Rocks In My Dryer.

Works-For-Me Wednesday: Conveying expectations to children

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wfmwheader_4.jpgWhen my children were little, sometimes in public places they would exhibit behavior that was hard (not impossible, but hard) to correct once it was in motion. For instance, at the grocery store one would ask for candy and a drink and a toy. Or visiting an elderly neighbor, my child would want to wander off and play in other rooms when I wanted him to stay where I could see him, or mess with things he was not supposed to, or ask for candy from the candy dish, etc. One day at the grocery store it occurred to me to tell him before we ever got out of the car what he could have in the way of a treat (sometimes we would get a drink if it was a hot day, or a piece of candy at the register, or whatever). Then if he asked for something in addition once we got in the store, I would say, “No, remember, we’re just getting this today. Maybe next time we can get that.” When we went to visit the neighbor, before we ever left our house, I would say (in a matter-of-fact way, not a harsh or scolding way) that we were going to visit Mrs. B., and he could not ask for a piece of candy, though he could have one if she offered it, and he had to stay in the room where I was and not touch the things Mrs. B. had on her end tables (side hint: in situations like that it also helps to bring a little toy or book or something that the child can play with). Mrs. B., by the way, always seemed to love our visits and never seemed to mind if my son handled anything in her house, but I wanted to teach him not to do that.

It seemed that often just by letting him know ahead of time what he could expect, a lot of inappropriate behavior was avoided. In fact, as I remember these things I am picturing my oldest, so possibly by the time the others came along this was already ingrained in my child-rearing habits. I am sure it was not fool-proof, and there were probably infractions, but it did seem to help immensely.

We discovered another variation of this when he was older. The local Christian college was putting on a production that might be of special interest to children and invited upper elementary children at our Christian school to come to the final dress rehearsal. This gave the cast a chance to rehearse before a live audience (maybe even gave them a chance to know what the reaction might be) and gave the kids a treat. Before the production started, the man in charge (Dr. Gustafson, for those who know him) came out and told the children a little bit about it and explained how they needed to behave, again, in a kind but matter-of-fact tone. In the course of that he said something about “putting on our best concert manners.” That stuck with me when we went to other performances, and I was able to tell my children, “Remember the man who spoke to us about concert manners? We need to put on our best concert manners when we go to this program.” That was very helpful as well.

Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer began and hosts Works For Me Wednesday, and you can find more tips or share some of your own there.

Works-For-Me Wednesday: Magnified Tweezers

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This cool tool was in my stocking at Christmas:

Tweezers attached to a magnifying glass. I wish I had known about these when my kids were small and would occasionally get splinters in toes or fingers!

To find or share great tips, go to Rocks In My Dryer.

Works For Me Wednesday: Healthy Eating

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wfmwheader.jpgShannon, hostess of WFMW at Rocks in My Dryer, suggested that since so many were talking about needing to lose weight or make healthier eating choices, we should do a themed WFMW today sharing our tips on healthy (low-fat, low-calorie, low-sugar) recipes.

I didn’t really think I had anything. I don’t think a lot of what I make is excessively high-calorie, but it’s not really low-calorie either. There’s baked chicken or fish — toss in the oven with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and minced onion and a little margarine — but to me that’s kind of blah. OK for every now and then but nothing to get really excited about. I think that’s one thing that makes the dieting seem so depressing to me — having to eat like that all the time. So I am really looking forward to reading and gleaning from the other recipes and tips posted today.

I did happen to think of a couple of side dishes I make that would work for this theme.

Vegetable Medley

1 1/2 c. fresh broccoli cut into small pieces
1 1/2 c. fresh cauliflower cut into small pieces
1 1/2 c. baby carrots, sliced
1 T minced onion
1/2 c. water
1 T. instant chicken bouillon

Mix all ingredients. Microwave on high 3 minutes. Stir. Microwave another 3 minutes. Stir. Adjust cooking time according to how well-cooked you like your vegetables. We like our between crisp and mushy.

This is really an adjustable recipe. I don’t measure it out like that, but I was trying to give some kind of idea of amounts and proportions. You can use any kind of vegetables in any amounts that you like. I imagine it would work fine with frozen vegetables, though you’d have a longer cooking time, of course. For a really quick side dish, I’ve even poured a can of Veg-All into a bowl, added a little minced onion and instant chicken bouillon, and microwaved.

Fruit and Yogurt Salad

I have a dear friend who is a whiz at just throwing together really tasty and simple things, and once at her house she mixed some fruit, some vanilla yogurt, and sprinkled it with granola, and it was wonderful. A few months ago at a baby shower brunch I was asked to bring some kind of fruit dish, and made this. A couple of ladies really liked it and asked for the recipe. I told them it was basically any fruit + yogurt sprinkled with granola, but they wanted specifics. So this is the combination I made that day.

1 can tropical fruit, drained
1 can mandarin oranges, drained
1 can pineapple bits, drained
2 bananas, sliced
1 small container low-fat vanilla yogurt
Granola or granola cereal

Mix all ingredients except granola and refrigerate. Sprinkle granola on top just before serving.

You could use fresh fruits, of course. My husband has somehow developed an allergy to most fresh fruits, but can tolerate canned or cooked, so that’s mostly what we have on hand. And most canned ones come in a “lite” version packed in juice or water rather than syrup, and that’s what we use.

Also on this theme, a few days ago I posted a link my son sent me called “What Does 200 Calories Look Like?” (though I did wonder if that should be “do” rather than “does.” But it has a page full of pictures of how much of different kinds of foods add up to 200 calories. It’s an eye-opener.

I’m off to Shannon’s for more great healthy eating tips!