Month: February 2019

Posted in Scripture Memory

Failure Is Not Fatal, Unless I Quit

Posted on by 3toddlermom

Failure is not fatal! Such good news after the week I’ve had with my current Scripture Memory Challenge. I’ve been failing BIG TIME! It was going so well for the first 15 days! And then I hit a wall. One failed day led to another and to another and to another. Have you ever opened your Bible and been like…..blahhhhhh?! It’s a terrible feeling but it happened to me several times last week. I don’t blame God. He’s always ready to talk to me. I don’t blame the Bible. It’s always got the same amazing content. Must have been just one of those days for me. Or I guess several of those days!

So have I failed? I think I’ve memorized 18 scriptures in the past 25 days, which is 18 more than I memorized in January. 🙂 But I still am 6 scriptures short of fulfilling my February Mom Challenge. I guess it was called a “challenge” for a reason. It’s not supposed to be easy!

I definitely won’t call myself a failure. Have I kept up with the challenge? No. Should I throw in the towel because I missed a couple days? Heck, no! I’m doing these monthly challenges to stretch myself and failing every once in a while is expected. Getting back up and pushing forward is what a challenge is all about. I’m only a failure if I quit. So I’ll keep working on memorizing scripture every day for these last few days of February.

Failure is only fatal if I quit. So I’m pushing on to complete the last 3 days of this challenge! This failure will not be fatal!

Have you been doing this challenge with me? How’s it going?

Posted in Budget

February Budget Challenge Day 24 – $157.56 Over Budget

Posted on by 3toddlermom

I’ve heard the saying “Fail Forward.” The premise is basically that if we don’t fail, we don’t learn! So rather than looking at failure as an end we need to view it as a stepping stone in our journey of life. (I’m pep talking myself here! Ha!)

Perfectionism runs thick in my blood from me, to my mother, to her mother. We all wish we could just do everything right (and perfectly) the first time. To give you an example; I was devastated when I got an A- in high school because it completely destroyed my 4.0 GPA. My mom even went in to talk to the teacher about how I could raise my grade only to find out that the teacher thought I was one of the best writers in her class. I just wasn’t perfect so I didn’t deserve an A. Grrrr! I promise I’m over it now…….it’s only been about 17 years since that class. I can move on. I just really want to be perfect.

But I guess the sad reality is that none of us are perfect. If I think about it, it’s actually more relieving than sad. If no one is perfect, then it totally takes the pressure off of me to be perfect! We’re all just in this life together trying to figure it out best we can. Life really isn’t a competition. It’s a community. So I’m going to try to let go of my quest to be perfect, and accept the fact that I never will be. And neither will you. And that’s ok! We’re in this together.

Ok, so I can use my failure this month as a learning launching pad for the future. My goal was to stay under $300 this month. I actually did it last month, with $20 to spare! But for some reason this month just didn’t happen.

So let’s see what else I’ve spent. On Friday, I got groceries. I stuck to my list and found some great deals at Hyvee. I try to avoid shopping there if I can because I want to buy everything!! So I started at Aldi and got most of my list but grabbed some $.77 pork chops and raw shrimp for $3.99. Amazing deals! I ended up spending $62.99 at Aldi and another $15.75 at Hyvee.

Grocery Total for February: $279.23 compared to $159.72 in January.

Cute thing: my kids helped me meal plan this week! They wanted to make homemade pizzas so we bought some mini naan bread from Aldi and topped it with our favorite pizza toppings and voila! Delicious, personal pan pizzas in minutes.

Our meal plan this week:

Personal Naan Pizzas

Broccoli and Cheese Quiche

Pork Chops and Sweet Potatoes

Garlic Butter Shrimp and Pasta

Yum! I’m excited for a week without beef recipes. We have a quarter cow in the deep freeze so I’ve been trying to meal plan using that so I don’t completely overextend my budget but when I saw the pork chops and shrimp on sale this week I couldn’t resist!

Today I needed gas AGAIN! So another $45.07 out the window. I’m super grateful to have an amazing van to drive so I’m grateful that I get to fill it with gas. It just adds up! $117.72 so far in gas this month compared to about $21 last month. (I guess my cheating last month caught up to me!) And honestly, Hubby filled my tank once this month so I probably spend about $150 a month on gas.

I’m going to keep trying to use this “failure” to propel myself forward and keep my budget lower next month.

Posted in Mom Life

Wake Up to Success in 4 Easy Steps

Posted on by 3toddlermom

I would never have considered myself a morning person. Nor a night owl. I’m good going to bed early and sleeping in late! Ha! But now that Sweet Love is over a year old and I’m finally sleeping through the night again (Praise Jesus!!) I’m finding that I am becoming a morning person.

Crazy as it is to say this, I LOVE getting up before the sun! Mainly because it means I have time alone. No kids. No noise. No phone. No rush. No dishes. No laundry. No sweeping. Just me and my glass of water, my Youtube workout, and my Bible.

I’ve worked out off and on all my life and have never gotten crazy over-weight but after Sweet Love was born I was up to the highest weight I had ever been at. I gained weight with each pregnancy and never really lost it all after having each baby. Which is probably typical, but dangerous because it only makes it harder to lose later. Anyway, I decided I had to do something about this weight gain. Especially because we plan to have at least one more kid and I can’t just keep putting on another 10 lbs each time we have a kid!

So I started eating less. Not necessarily a ton healthier, just less. And I started working out. It was slow at first. I just did a quick post-pregnancy DVD whenever I had time. (I wore loose fitting yoga pants all day anyway…might as well just work out!) But I started to get addicted to it. And now I work out for 20-30 minutes or do a 10-15 minute stretch every morning.

Back to the topic at hand – Waking Up to Success in 4 Easy Steps! I’ve read those blogs like 10 Things Every Mother Should Do Before 10:00 and 20 Things You’re Not Doing That You Should Be Before Your Kids Wake Up. While these tips are amazing, they usually just stress me out and make me feel like a horrible person! UGH! So I thought, let’s make it simple for people. 4 Steps is way easier than 10, right?!

So here they are:

  1. Wake Up At the Same Time Every Day  – This advice has always been hard for me to accept. I want a day off! Please let me sleep in! But I’m finding that if I get up at 5:30 consistently, without hitting the snooze button, I feel so much better come Monday morning. It’s not a struggle every week to get back into the routine. Plus, I’ve come to cherish my alone time in the mornings so much that getting up early is more exciting than it is drudgery.
  2. Drink a Full Glass of Water  –But I NEED my coffee!! Sure, I love coffee too and drink a couple mugs full before my kids wake up. But I always fill up a glass of water first. It helps re-hydrate me after going 7-8 hours without water and it motivates me to drink more water throughout the day.
  3. Work Out/Stretch  – I had always heard of those fairy tale women that worked out first thing in the morning and thought, that is them. This is me! But since I started doing it, I have absolutely loved it. I typically do MWF workout for 20-30 minutes. It’s really not that long but it has had a BIG impact on my waistline and energy level. Then Tuesday/Thursday and weekends I do a quick 10-15 minute stretch. It helps wake me up without having to think too hard.
  4. Spend Time with God –This is the most important part of my morning routine. I have a sweet devotional that I got from my father-in-law for Christmas that I do every morning. I’ve been reading through the Old Testament since last summer and have been loving having a plan for my reading. I’m not going fast by any means. I started last summer and I’m about half way through. Man, the Bible is so full of amazing stories and wisdom. If you’ve never read it, I highly recommend it.

If these 4 steps are overwhelming, start with ONE. This 4 step morning has taken me about a year to fully implement and I still don’t do it perfectly every morning. Sometimes Hubby and I stay up past 11:00 and I typically hit snooze a couple times the next day. Sometimes, Princess decides she wants to be wide awake at 6:00 am and Bible reading becomes a bit more difficult! I give myself all kinds of grace and you should give yourself grace too. 🙂 Look at this as a list of ways to make life easier rather than just another list of things to add to your already hectic schedule.

So raise your water glass as we toast to an amazing morning, leading to a fabulous day, setting the course for an outstanding life. Cheers!

Posted in Recipes

Nana’s Ever Tender Pot Roast

Posted on by 3toddlermom

Marrying my husband was a sweet deal! Getting his mom as a mother-in-law, made the deal that much sweeter. She’s a lovely woman of God and has taken me in like a daughter. In a world where so many women don’t get along with their mother-in-laws, I’m so grateful to have the healthy relationship that we do.


Besides having a giant, generous heart, she also makes the most amazing roast I’ve ever tasted.

Growing up, I requested roast beef every year for my birthday. And it was yummy! But my mother-in-law makes it like nothing I’ve ever tasted before. It is, no joke, tender every single time she makes it. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. It melts in my mouth and I typically eat so much that they have to roll me away from the dinner table. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

So are you ready for her secrets? If you like beef, you’re going to love this recipe!

Secret #1 Always use CHUCK ROAST. She typically gets hers at Sam’s Club. She’s tried different roasts from our freezer and they never turn out the same. Stick with a chuck roast.

Secret #2  Season and sear the meat before baking. It’s a simple step that locks in all the flavor and makes a huge difference in the end result. Searing is just the simple process of browning either side of the roast on the stove top. I usually do it in the same pot I use to put it in the oven.

Secret #3  Don’t skimp on the beef bouillon. I don’t know the science of it but the more bouillon, the more flavorful and tender. Yumm!

Ok, here’s the recipe.

Nana’s Ever Tender Pot Roast

Prep Time: 30 minCook Time: 3-4 hoursTotal Time: 3.5 – 4.5 hours

Ingredients:

  • 5lb Chuck Roast
  • 4 cups water
  • 6-8 beef bouillon cubes
  • 5-6 medium russet potatoes
  • 1lb bag baby carrots
  • beef seasonings (I use onion powder, garlic powder, Montreal Steak seasoning and salt and pepper)

Put It Together:

  1. Thaw roast. (I’ve tried this without thawing and it just doesn’t turn out as tender. It’s worth it to let a frozen roast thaw in the fridge a couple nights ahead of time.)
  2. Pre-heat oven to 350.
  3. Season, tenderize and sear roast. I sprinkle my seasoning all over one side, pound it with my meat tenderizer and then flip it and repeat. Then I put it in an 8 qt pot on the stove top and sear both sides.
  4. Add 1 cup water and 6-8 bouillon cubes.
  5. Cover with lid or tin foil and put in oven.
  6. Let cook for 2 hours. Peel and chop potatoes into chunks while roast is baking.
  7. Add potatoes and carrots to pot along with another 3 cups of water. Sometimes I’ll season my potatoes and carrots with salt and pepper at this point. Put lid back on and place back in the oven.
  8. Cook for another 1 – 1.5 hours allowing the roast, potatoes and carrots to become tender. Don’t be afraid to leave it in a little longer until the meat is tender.
  9. You’ll know it’s done when that beautiful hunk of meat tears apart effortlessly with a fork. Taste testing at this point is an absolute must. 🙂
  10. Serve with the remaining beef juice poured over top. My mother-in-law loves adding butter to her potatoes too. Yum!

Let me know how your roast turns out!

Posted in Budget

February Budget Challenge Day 21 – $33.75 Over Budget

Posted on by 3toddlermom

I splurged today! Okay Okay….I know. I’m out of money so how dare I splurge?!? Do you ever feel like – I already failed, might as well fail big time?! Ha! No, I’m totally trying not to have that attitude.

Anyway, since I missed my goal I had to make a new one! I’m attempting to keep our credit card bill under $1000 this month. Some bills get charged to the card. Hubby uses it for non-business related things. So $1000 budget is a pretty low amount for us right now. Last month when I only charged $280 to the card, our bill was still close to $800. Which is AMAZING for us!

So back to my splurge. My friend babysat Sweet Love for me this morning while I recorded a video at church. And I wanted to bless her back, plus I had a free coffee on my punch card! So I swung through our amazing local coffee shop to grab us some drinks. Her’s was literally only $3 and mine was free but I decided to get a couple muffins too! So total spent = $8. Not bad. I know I shouldn’t do it every day or even every week but I think the splurge was worth it today! 🙂

I also ran to Aldi Tuesday morning, mainly for diapers which are crazy inexpensive at Aldi!! Have you used them yet?! I’d HIGHLY recommend them. I bought 100 size 3 diapers for $10.99. That’s unheard of!

I ended up spending $23.76 on this trip. I went in with a list and stuck to it. Boom! I’m learning!!

BUT I was terrible at meal planning this week! Fortunately, it didn’t cause me to over spend. Yay! But I literally wrote TACOS and SLOPPY JOES on my meal plan calendar. That’s it! We had plenty of food for left overs yesterday. Wednesday is typically our left over day because the kids have “Grandma Day,” I volunteer in our church’s youth group and Hubby works late.

Now the dilemma…..what to make for dinner tonight and tomorrow?! Anyone up for left overs two nights in a row!? Haha!

7 days to go. $33.75 over budget.

Posted in Budget

February Budget Challenge Day 17 – I overspent!

Posted on by 3toddlermom

Well folks, with 11 days to go, I’m already $1.99 over budget for the month.

Not worth crying over. I still plan to stay focused and keep my spending as low as possible for the rest of the month.

How did I spend my whole budget in 17 days?

  • GAS In January, I only spent $21 on gas total. Hubby filled my tank most of the time and I chose not to count it towards my budget goal. This month I have already spent $72.65. So that hurt my budget.
  • GROCERIES In January, I had a huge stock pile of food in my pantry, freezer and fridge. I used most of it up. So that made grocery shopping a bit more expensive this month. Plus I’ve been trying to have more fresh veggies and that seems expensive. Mainly because I buy them and use them up within a week. When I buy a box of rice or noodles I make them last a couple weeks. Not so with fresh veggies and fruits. It’s all just a learning experience! I’ve already spent $172.47 on groceries this month compared to only $159.72 total for the month of January.

So what am I learning?

  • BE AWARE OF MY SPENDING I now save all my receipts and put a note in my phone’s calendar every time I spend money. Before this challenge, I had no clue how much I was spending. $10 here….$20 there and it didn’t seem like a big deal. Until the end of the month and Hubby would be upset about our giant credit card bill. And I’d realize that stopping at Chick Fil A once a week and getting a coffee at the local drive-thru a couple times a week were adding up quick.
  • RUNNING ERRANDS ISN’T A DAILY NECESSITY I used to think I always needed to “run errands.” Turns out it was more just a reason to go spend money on things I didn’t necessarily need. Or I’d go get something I need along with 5 things I didn’t need. So now I’m more intentional with my errands. I’m either going to the grocery store with a specific list or ordering items online so that I don’t overspend at the store.

This budget challenge honestly does feel a little bit restrictive and I have urges every once in a while to just go to Target and blow $100 for fun! But I’m trying to keep the end goal in mind. I’m learning self-control and to better analyze my financial decisions so it’s definitely worth it…..right?!

It has actually been a big help to our marriage as well. Hubby doesn’t get upset if there aren’t certain groceries in the kitchen any more because he knows how intentional I’m being about cutting back on my spending. And it gives him something to be proud of me for which makes me feel amazing as a wife! Plus, he’s the only one who has an income in our house so I think it shows him I respect the money he’s making and I’m not frivolous with how I spend it.

So I’m going to continue keeping track of my spending this month and try to keep it under control.

Posted in Scripture Memory

Scripture Memory Challenge Day 19 – Psalm 101:3

Posted on by 3toddlermom

Wow! How often do I do this?!

I let my decisions be swayed by what I think other people think about me. It’s insane -worthless!

I let trendy things and expressions guide me – worthless!

I let my emotions, fears and impatience guide me – worthless!

Man….I need to be more aware of what/who I’m allowing to guide me. The more aware I am that the Holy Spirit is with me all the time, the more I’ll rely on His guiding rather than everything around me (or my emotions inside me).

Posted in Scripture Memory

Scripture Memory Challenge Day 17 – Psalm 84:2

Posted on by 3toddlermom

I was hesitant to use a picture of a church for this scripture because I don’t want you to think that yearning for the “courts of the Lord” only means longing to go to a building. I long and yearn to be in God’s presence. Going to a local church is an amazing way to get in God’s presence! BUT it’s not the only way nor should it be your primary way to get in His presence.

I love being with my husband and it would be tragic if I decided we could only spend time together one day a week, at a certain location for an hour and a half. Yikes!! It would be hard to get to know him like this. Sure, I’d learn a little bit about him but I wouldn’t KNOW him. I’m with him as often as possible and when he’s at work or we’re not together we text often. I’m learning what makes him tick, what he finds funny, how to listen to him well and get him to tell me things that are going on in his head.

There’s no way I’d learn all this if I only had 1.5 hours out of 168 hours in a week. I did the math. That’s less than 1% of my week. Wow!

But we do it to God sometimes. We think, I put in my time for the week. I went to church. But I doubt the psalmist that wrote this was thinking “I long for 1.5 hours with you God.” I bet he was constantly desiring time with God. Consistently craving a relationship with Him. Wanting to know what makes Him tick. What makes Him laugh. What He’s thinking. We only get this kind of relationship by spending time. Not just <1% of our time.

I keep this simple. Just like time with my husband, I don’t have a scripted list of questions or topics to discuss. I just hang out with him. Ask him for advice. Relax with him. Do fun stuff with him.

I try to do this with God too. In my mothering, I ask Him for help. “How do I discipline this strong-willed 3 year old?” In my marriage, I ask him for patience. “Help me love him even though I’m picking up yet another pair of his smelly socks out from between the couch cushions.”

Because God’s not physically with me, I also take time to read the Bible. It helps me get to know Him even better. It’s not something I do to check it off my “list of holy duties.” It’s something I long for and desire so I can know my loving and gentle Father better.

I’m excited for us both to continue to long for Him more and more each day!!

Posted in Scripture Memory

Scripture Memory Challenge Day 15 – Psalm 73:25

Posted on by 3toddlermom

This is tough! To honestly say I desire NOTHING on earth but God. That’s pretty extreme. I want to say that but it’s much easier said than done.

My natural tendency is to desire other things more than I desire God. I desire food more than God. I desire sleep more than God. I desire love from my husband more than God. I desire acceptance from people more than God. Wow!

How do I start to desire Him more than anything else?! I think it starts with simply being intentional about spending time with Him. This doesn’t have to be intimidating. Currently, I intentionally wake up at least an hour before my kids wake up so that I can spend some quiet time reading my Bible in the mornings-without my phone. I like this because it’s the one time of my day that there are no distractions (other than my own thoughts). The sun’s not even up yet usually! My hubby is still asleep. My kids are (hopefully) still asleep. And I can read without interruptions. It’s beautiful.

I totally get that we’re all in different seasons of parenting right now. When Sweet Love was first born, I slept every morning until one of my kids woke me up. Getting up before them was inconceivable because I had just been up every 2-3 hours nursing my new baby. I was exhausted, to put it lightly. So my “quiet time” looked much different. Spending long amounts of time reading the Bible just didn’t happen. I chose instead to rest in God’s presence while nursing or driving or cooking dinner. I tried to quiet my crazy, endless and (most of the time) anxious thoughts and focus my thoughts on God. His goodness. How much He loves me. And just rest my mind from all the anxiety and exhaustion and focus on God.

So just do what works in the season you’re in. But make time to focus your thoughts on God. And soon, both of us will start to desire God above everything else on earth! It’s a process but I believe it will be worth it.