Just A Little Bit At A Time

Occasionally, Mrs. Roy can be a real pig.  Like during the holidays with all those goodies sitting around and the perfect excuse to cook casseroles smothered in cheese and dinner rolls as a snack.  Unfortunately, Mrs. Roy is now carrying around the remnants of that excess on various and sundry body parts better not mentioned.  And thus begins what has become Mrs. Roy's January tradition - watching what Mrs. Roy eats.

Mrs. Roy has discovered that a little bit at a time is a good rule of thumb for eating.  Small meals or snacks several times a day of the right kinds of foods really can make a big difference.  And changing just a few little things along the way makes a difference, too.  Mrs. Roy has given up her morning poptart in favor of whole wheat cinnamon toast.  Sodas are replaced with water.  The bread had to go.  Baked potatoes only get butter instead of butter, sour cream, cheese and bacon bits.  Less meat helps, too.  Mrs. Roy might get real ambitious and add a little exercise but there's no need to go crazy just yet!

Mrs. Roy knows that just a little bit at a time works in other parts of life, too.  If Mrs. Roy cleans just a little bit of the house each day, it never gets out of hand.  Putting $1 a day in a savings jar results in a healthy stash by vacation time.  A few minutes blogging or journaling every day keep writing from becoming a task.  One load of laundry every now and then is much better than an all-day marathon of washing, drying, folding and putting away.  And Mrs. Roy is toying with the idea of putting one item every day in a give-away box; that would mean 365 pieces of stuff out of the house by the end of the year!  Mrs. Roy might even find at least one piece of garbage to throw away each day for 365 days.  Wouldn't that be fun!  Actually, Mrs. Roy has blogged about this before - with the 100 day challenge.  You can check out the previous entries by clicking the label below.

Mrs. Roy even has some sewing and quilting projects that need to be handled a little bit at a time.  Mrs. Roy got to do some hand quilting today and got batting cut out for a couple of other projects.  Fifi over at her blog is working her way through some great projects just a little bit at a time.

So how do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time, of course.  And that Mrs. Roy's way of doing things, too.

Life is good.

My verse for 2012

Every year for the past dozen or so, Mrs. Roy has chosen a Bible verse to live by for the year.  It's not very scientific; Mrs. Roy prays about it and looks around for verses that speak to where I am at that point in my life and then Mrs. Roy tries to apply that verse for a whole year.  Some years Mrs. Roy gets bored with it and has to go back and look up the verse in July just to remember what it is.  Some year the verse takes hold and really changes Mrs. Roy in some way.  It was like that last year, as Mrs. Roy tried to be more open to whatever God brought my way. 

Anyway, this year's verse is about being a Godly example to the young women in Mrs. Roy's life.  It is amazing, not to mention intimidating, that God has very intentional instructions for Mrs. Roy at this point in my life!  Mrs. Roy is constantly amazed at how God is into the details of our lives!

The verses Mrs. Roy has chosen are Titus 2:3-5:

 ³ Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. ⁴ Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, ⁵ to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.

Mrs. Roy can tell it's going to be a great year!

CHEAP SHELVING. REAL CHEAP SHELVING.

See, Mrs. Roy had a need for some shelves in a corner of the walk-in attic. And there were two large stacks of old college textbooks and skateboard magazines (which have been abandoned by Mrs. Roy's favorite son) sitting in the way. So a quick check in Mr. Roy's shop revealed some sufficiently wide shelving boards and Mrs. Roy soon had a very servicable shelving unit AND got rid of the useless book and magazine stacks. Now those books and magazines are supporting Mrs. Roy's shelves and everyone is happier for it.

 

A couple of soda flats sitting around work very nicely as pull out drawers, making Mrs. Roy's t-shirts and shorts much more accessible.

Mrs. Roy's daughter gave me a wonderful set of lined baskets for Christmas and three of them are now part of the shelving unit, holding small items and miscellaneous.  Aren't they beautiful?

Yes, those are old VCR tapes now creating a support pillar for the shelving unit.  If you want to use this idea somewhere other than attic space (like somewhere where people would actually see it), you could wrap the VCR tapes (and books) in pretty wrapping paper to coordinate with your decorating theme. 

If any of you have bought a college textbook lately, you know this may actually be the most expensive shelving unit in the universe!  But since they were just collecting dust in the corner, Mrs. Roy is very happy to put them to use holding up shelves.  Mrs. Roy did try to sell some of these textbooks online but after a couple of years, the schools update their book lists and these editions were not longer usable.  And why didn't Mrs. Roy's son sell these back at the time?  Don't know, maybe he did.  End result is Mrs. Roy has very "smart" shelves in the attic.

 

Life is definitely good.

Mrs. Roy's Great Deals Day

Mrs. Roy went thrift store shopping today and snagged some GREAT deals.  Check this out!

Mrs. Roy picked up this Cappelli purse for $3.50 - it looks brand new and Mrs. Roy can only find one on EBay that is starting at $6.

And this gorgeous woven lined jacket for 50 cents.  Yep, 50 cents!

 

And these cute Thomas the Train plates and bowls for $4.00 total.  On Amazon, one plate, one bowl and a tippy cup sell as a set for $15!  Mrs. Roy's grandsons are going to love coming to Grandma's house and eating out of these!

And this great vest for 50 cents!

And these gorgeous shoes were $4 a pair.  The ones on the left are Coldwater Creek and the other ones are Via !Sola.  Both of them look brand new and Mrs. Roy has no problem wearing second-hand shoes as great as these!

And this Jansport Auburn sweatshirt was also a deal at 50 cents; Mrs. Roy's boy is a big Auburn fan and he will look really good in this sweatshirt that will keep him warm now that he's moved north for his new job.

Of course, the problem with thrift store shopping is that Mrs. Roy sometimes ends up buying things Mrs. Roy would have been perfectly happy not owning except that they were such a good price.  There must be some balance in there somewhere and so that is why Mrs. Roy has opened an account at a local consignment shop.  Mrs. Roy is presently selling four pairs of jeans bought for $1 each at yard sales that didn't fit Mrs. Roy or the granddaughters or daughter when they got home, a Tommy Hilfiger suede jacket bought for $3 at a yard sale that also didn't fit, a handpainted jacket bought for $3 at a thrift store that Mrs. Roy thought about keeping but decided to make a nickel or two instead, a name-brand jacket given to Mrs. Roy that didn't fit, a skirt bought for $1 that didn't fit and a suit that Mrs. Roy can't quite squeeze into anymore.  Notice that most of these items were sizing mistakes and/or related to Mrs. Roy's increasing width - something better not mentioned. 

So, Mrs. Roy's way to shop is to find a great bargain and then brag about it!  Thanks for coming along.  Seriously, though, buying used is good for Mrs. Roy's personal economy, good for the environment by eliminating packaging and the need to produce new goods and Mrs. Roy can bless her family with great bargains.  And the consignment store donates unsold items to charity after 90 days so it's all good. 

Life is so good.

How Much Stuff Do You Have?

How much stuff do you have?  Mrs. Roy means really - how much stuff do you have?  Are you one of those folks who just knows all the drawers and cabinets and tabletops are full or are you one of those folks who knows where everything is all the time?

A few years ago, Mrs. Roy ran across Flylady.net, a great organizational website.  Flylady really changed the way Mrs. Roy looks at things, especially the question about how much stuff we have.  Flylady challenged Mrs. Roy to go through the house and gather like items.  Mrs. Roy had cleaning supplies in every bathroom, the kitchen, the laundry room and the garage.  When it was all gathered, Mrs. Roy discovered she wasn't going to have to buy any cleaning supplies for a long, long time.

The same thing happened with scissors.  There were some in the kitchen, some in the bedroom, some in the living room end table drawer, some in the sewing box, some in the bathroom.  Once they were gathered and put in one place, finding a pair of scissors became a non-issue.

How many extra bars of soap do you have sitting around your house?  Are there some in each bathroom and maybe some in the laundry room cabinet or the linen closet?  What about shampoo and other personal products?  What about tape?  That stuff gets stuck everywhere - and Mrs. Roy's not talking about the adhesive, either. 

The benefits of this exercise are many.  First, if you designate one place for each item, you will always know where to find it.  Second, you will save money by not buying duplicates of things you already have.  Third, you will cut down on clutter all over the house.  Fourth, the peace of mind of not having to search every drawer in the house for the scissors or tape will be wonderful.  Fifth, you will save time by not having to hunt so you will be able to spend more time doing things you enjoy.

So, how much stuff do you have?  Start small; designate a place for the scissors and gather them from everywhere.  Next might be ink pens or cleaning supplies.  Just keep breaking it down and do one or two items at a time; soon you will know exactly how much stuff you have and that will save you time and money every time.

Life is good.

Goodwill Toward Men

Mrs. Roy has been reading a great blog recently that has shared a series of posts called Goodwill Toward Men.  Mrs. Roy loves her reminders of worthy causes and practical ways we can help those around us, not just during this Christmas season but all through the year. 

As Mrs. Roy tries to walk in His steps, it is a joy to find others following the same path.

Mrs. Roy's Holiday Treat Recipes

A month or so ago, Mrs. Roy promised to post some favorite holiday recipes, so here they are.  Fill up those cookie jars and Enjoy!

Rolo candy

Place small pretzels on an aluminum-foil lined baking sheet. They can touch; it doesn’t matter. Put one rolo candy on each pretzel. Put the pan in the oven at 250 for about 4 minutes; just long enough for the candy to get soft but NOT melted. Remove from the oven and push a pecan half into each candy. Put the entire pan in the frig for about 30 minutes to speed up the cooling process; then they are completely hardened again, you are done!

Acorns

Use bite size Nutter Butter cookies and Hershey kisses. Melt a small amount of chocolate and dip the bottom of each kiss, then press onto a cookie. When they have cooled a little, put the rest of the melted chocolate in a zip lock bag and cut a small corner off the bottom. Squeeze small drops of the chocolate onto the other side of the cookie to resemble a stem.

 Magic Squares

Melt 1 stick butter in a 9 X 13 pan. Pour in 1 cup of graham cracker crumbs and stir together and press out to make a crust covering the whole bottom of the pan. Sprinkle 1 cup chopped pecans, 1 cup coconut and 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips over the crust. Then pour one can of sweetened condensed milk over the entire pan. (Or you can pour the milk in first and put the other stuff in afterwards; either way works). Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes until the edges and coconut are browned. Let it cool completely and cut into squares. You can make small squares because it is very rich!