It’s hard to believe it has been a month already! I’ve not done things exactly the way I want to because I really want to be on a schedule with the preparing of the posts to the site. I am managing to get them posted on schedule but sometimes that means I’m staying up a little later than I should. You see, I’ve been starting my days a bit earlier to get some prayer time in, which has been working out really good but I’ve been staying up a little later than usual and that doesn’t work very well for very long. My intention is to get on track this weekend.

Another area I’ve been struggling a bit with is my daily schedule. There are things I like to do but they are not the things that I gravitate towards. I like that I’m participating in at least one Zentangle challenge a week now because I really enjoy being creative but here again, I don’t gravitate to it out of habit , yet.   I have started getting in a bit of enjoyment reading this week. After Tiffany and I come in from working outside for a half an hour, I’m too hot to go and take a shower right away, so I sit at the kitchen table and turn down the window air conditioner and have it blow right on me and here I sit and read for about thirty minutes. If I take a shower while hot and sweaty, I come out of the shower and get hot and sweaty way too easily. I was taking this time to start working on my blog but I don’t like to stop once I start, so I changed things up a bit and it seems to be working better, IF I am diligent (a.k.a. not getting sidetracked) when I do begin working on the website.

Then there is practicing songs. You see, this is an area in which God is dealing with me. I have to be diligent to always have a song prepared, so that I am ready should I be asked to sing. Singing is one of those areas that I’d probably let slide, if it were just up to me, but God has confirmed through others that He wants me to sing, so it is my job to be obedient and always be prepared.I do love to sing;  I just don’t love to practice, as my mother can attest to.   Now finding the time to practice during the day can be challenging IF I’m not staying on task throughout my day.

Recently I have gotten sucked into Facebook too much. Checking it once a day is important to stay connected with people and things going on in the world but checking it all the time is a huge time waster. Just like playing my computer games (Taptiles, Solitaire, and Minesweeper) is good for keeping my mind alert, but they can take over my time and steal from things I really do want to do but are not as accessible or easy to start doing.

I’m going to have to work on “list week” for the Holiday Grand Plan today and over the weekend, as I have yet to do anything with it and it is already Friday. It has been an unusual week though starting with Labor Day on Monday and then hubby has been home this week because his work van is in the shop and he finished up a job last week, which is quite alright because he has been working so hard without a break for a good long while now . . . he needed a break. I don’t know about you, but things go differently when hubby is at home, and rightly so.

Saturday is a memorial service at church for a church member that passed away recently. I volunteered to help in any way they might need me, so I’ll be heading over to the church Saturday morning to help with that and show my respect and support. I think Mike and Sean are having a work day here on Saturday. I’m not sure what they are going to do; the chicken area needs to be enlarged and the house needs to be prepped for painting. There’s always something to do.

We recently got a water distiller. They recommend periodic cleaning with citric acid. I found out that Alka Seltzer has citric acid in it. After reading what a friend shared on Facebook this week, I decided to try to clean our distiller with it. Here’s what she posted:

From https://www.facebook.com/sandra.caraway:

Now look what you can do with Alka Seltzer.

• Clean a toilet. Drop in two Alka-Seltzer tablets, wait twenty minutes, brush and flush. The citric acid and effervescent action clean vitreous china.
• Clean a vase. To remove a stain from the bottom of a glass vase or cruet, fill with water and drop in two Alka-Seltzer tablets.
• Polish jewelry. Drop two Alka-Seltzer tablets into a glass of water and immerse the jewelry for two minutes.
• Clean a thermos bottle. Fill the bottle with water, drop in four Alka-Seltzer tablets, and let soak for an hour (or longer, if necessary).
• Unclog a drain. Clear the sink drain by dropping three Alka-Seltzer tablets down the drain followed by a cup of Heinz White Vinegar. Wait a few minutes, then run the hot water.

I just saw a demonstration that there may only be a sip or two difference in a large and extra large cup of coffee purchased out somewhere . . . is it really worth it? (See what I mean? Facebook sucked me in again!) Seriously though, this guy had two to-go cups, one was a large and one was an extra large. He had them both upside down in the sink so you could see that they were both empty. He filled the large to the brim and dumped it into the extra large and it was just a tiny bit from the top. Crazy!

Tiffany had been having some pretty bad headaches for several months. Mike said he thought it was her sugar consumption. So we decided that she wouldn’t eat much sugar. We didn’t go fanatical on this or anything but bought her some sugar free Nesquik instead of the  regular chocolate powder for any chocolate milk she had. I really cannot remember what else she had been eating that we cut . . . but basically when she’d be hungry I’d suggest fruit or veggies as her snack. Today she had some generic Chocolate Hazelnut spread (Great Value brand because we forgot to get any at Aldi) with a banana on the way home. By the time we got the groceries in the house she was complaining of a horrible headache. Clearly she won’t be having that any more. Fortunately Sean will probably eat it with pleasure, so it won’t go to waste. We are wondering what the key is though because she had donuts on Monday and didn’t get a headache. Well, we will figure it out eventually.

Until next time, have a good weekend and God bless,

Michele ºÜº