Frugal?.... or Cheap?

We make a LOT of cookies here at our house... and I use cookie sheets often. Since they get used so much, they tend to wear out, although I just keep using them.  In the last couple of months, my kids have been asking if they can PLEASE throw away a couple of the cookie sheets....

   I didn't want to throw the one away because though I had other cookie sheets for cookies, I didn't have enough cookie sheets WITH sides, so I kept using these. When I make things like 
Buttery Crescent Rolls 
I need something that will keep the butter from rolling off the sides into the oven and creating a fire hazard.

 You can see that the corner is not in good shape here.... in fact 2 or 3 of the corners were breaking and becoming sharp.

This still worked for setting under a pie, though and for other uses.

Yes, it looks like it should be replaced.

This is certainly not in the best of shape and someone had been scratched on it, so it's true.... it was time to replace it......and it probably had been for a long time. 

 This other cookie sheet was used for so many cookies... lots and lots. It has been my favorite cookie sheet for probably about 20 years since I found it at a garage sale for 15c.  REALLY!! I remember the price because money was so tight then and I really needed a cookie sheet and prayed... and God provided this one.  :)  When I bought it, it was in great shape and none of the aluminum was showing (I do not normally use any aluminum for cooking).

 Over time it has been bent a bit, it has cracked....and my guys have crimped it back together with a pair of pliers or a vise. After thanking them, I would say,   "See,it still works".... and it did.

The cookie sheet was also quite warped and bent out of shape and while I never would have bought them this way, I had gotten used to using them.

 In fact, both of them look pretty bad and out of shape. Both were warped and bent and damaged.

 I am determined to be content, though, and I have been and will continue to be. However, there comes a time where being "frugal" is actually being "cheap"... and that is not a good thing. I want to be frugal, but I do not want to be cheap or stingy. A while back, I told the kids they could throw them away as soon as I bought new ones... and I would look. Well, with all of the difficulties with my dad's health
 When An Emergency Strikes
in the last couple of months, I rarely even went to a store, so I forgot about it.  We were in high alert status and such things weren't really important... and I just forgot.

When we opened gifts on Christmas morning, it was different than usual, but it was still very good. 
 A Different Kind of Christmas

 One of my boys gave these 2 new beautiful cookie sheets to me for Christmas. I was really surprised.... and quite pleased. :) What a treat... and we all laughed because now, those old cookie sheets would be thrown away.

The guys celebrated by making the start of a "paper" airplane out of one of the old cookie sheets.  :) 

I realized that I could have (should have) made it a priority to replace those cookie sheets. Yes, I am frugal... and that is really a good thing. I save my husband lots of money, I am content and not a complainer and I will use what we can afford. I think I have gotten so used to doing without certain things that I just didn't even question it... I'm just thankful. Those cookie sheets have been made fun of much over the years, especially this cookie sheet... and I defended it... at the time I really couldn't afford to buy another one.... and I was thankful.... and if that's all I had, I would still be thankful for it... I believe that is the right thing to do.  But, I am sorry that I kept something too long and it started to scratch us.... it had served its purpose and it was time to get rid of it... so why did it take my kids to tell me that? 

I wonder how many times we do that in life.... we get used to things and we don't complain. It is good not to complain and yet I wonder how many times we accept things that should be discarded and replaced.  Those new cookie sheets are a joy to use... they sure improve the whole baking experience.
This week, we just had new windows put in.... we have saved for quite a while to do this... the old windows were old, but we were thankful for them and yet we are so enjoying these new ones.... and our house stays much warmer since the wind isn't coming in around the windows anymore. 

So should we just spend money on everything we think we need?  NO.... that wouldn't be right either. I see women who "need" this and that.... and buy things easily, and are not content. I have seen husbands who feel despair over their wife's spending habits and division is happening. That isn't the answer either. Rather I think we need to be thankful (the Bible says to be thankful and content) and we need to also evaluate what needs to be replaced  and do it when we can... while also being thankful for the old and the new. I am so glad for my new cookie sheets....   
 
Thank you for joining me today..... I hope you have a great week. :) 


























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Are You Sleep Deprived? Part 1

Sleep Deprivation? Is it real? Is it true? Is it important?

Yes, it is real, it is true and it is very important. As moms, most of us have been sleep deprived at one time or another.... like when a new baby arrives and needs to eat every 3 hours.... or during times of stress to finish a project or a job.... or during an emergency... or other times. After the crisis is over, we tend to sleep to "catch up" on the sleep we lost.... and life goes on.


College kids sometimes feel like they thrive on being sleep deprived, and pulling all nighters gives certain "bragging rights" and seems to demonstrate invincibility.  There's a certain admiration that can come from waiting till the last minute and then staying up all night long.... to "study".  We all know that sometimes it's not all study and sometimes the "need" to stay up is only because of procrastination..... but we are young in college and we can handle it..... extra caffeine in the form of coffee or soda can help make it through the night... and the next day.

A new baby in the house leaves parents perpetually tired.... and a toddler in the house can leave a parent ... perpetually tired.... and teens in the house can leave a parent perpetually tired..... and after a while that tiredness feels normal.... and we become used to tiredness... to being sleep deprived. It is hard, but sometimes we take a nap, get some extra sleep... and continue on and it is no big deal, right?

After all, we expect to be tired...we have busy lives and our children need us and it is good to work hard... for the Lord, right? Hmmm....

God does say things about sleep... and He gives His beloved sleep...

Our human nature can be so prideful... we can be so out of balance. Work is a good thing, caring for our family is a good thing, working hard is a good thing... sleep is also a good thing, and it is necessary.



As I have shared before, I have adrenal fatigue issues and have to be careful....  and I have been learning just how important sleep is... and one of the frustrating problems with adrenal fatigue/exhaustion is that though the body desperately NEEDS sleep, sleep is hard to come by. The body can become UNABLE to sleep well.  We do pay a price eventually.

There can also be long term consequences to sleep deprivation... things that don't go away after a few early nights or naps.

As a young woman in college, I did the study hard, lose sleep thing... pulling all nighters at times. Since vacation times were short and making the time at home last longer (12 hours away)... we travelled at night many times. I juggled study and work and pushed myself. One summer, to help pay my college tuition, I worked 2 jobs back to back.... 8 hours each, so 16 hours straight... and sometimes more than 5 days a week. On the night job, an old gruff security officer stopped in each night and chastised me... saying, "You're going to hurt your health." Well, I was young and foolish and feeling invincible...and I continued on. I felt I had to ... to pay the bills.

After college, my parents had moved and were then 21 hours away, SO I drove to see them once or twice a year. Since I was still paying college bills... and was frugal, I drove straight through to avoid hotel costs. Like I said... the foolishness of youth.

After I got married and we had children, there were those responsibilities to make me tired, but I did well with it...  and continued on.  Our second son was born with severe medical problems and needed LOTS of care... all of the time... and I had a toddler at the time also....  and I started to learn what exhaustion was.... that exhaustion went on for years... we could not leave son #2 with a babysitter... only a registered nurse trained in trach care could watch him and that wasn't available, so we did what we had to do.... and so on. Do I regret that? NO NO NO... what a blessing all of my children are... and my husband... I am blessed. I do regret; however, not putting a bit more emphasis on my health- especially my sleep, over the years.

After a while, the constant sleep interrruptions became so normal... and my husband's job schedule changed a few times, so that my body never could settle into a good pattern for sleeping. When I woke  in the night, I learned not to lay in bed for hours watching the clock, but instead I would get up, have time with the Lord, write, do lesson plans, make a list, etc. It was easier to just start the day, than to work so hard to sleep more - especially when there was a sick child or Son #2's alarms would go off frequently in the night. My body ended up never really sleeping deeply. I worried that I was getting Alzheimer's or something since I couldn't remember words... I couldn't even think how to say "refrigerator" one time... and had to take my husband to the kitchen and point out the thing I was talking about. That was scary... but it wasn't Alzheimer's... it was sleep deprivation. After more concentrated rest, that was gone.

Did you know that some of the consequences of sleep deprivation can be:

-reduced alertness
-impaired memory and cognitive thinking
-higher risk of injuries
-higher risk of car accidents
-genetic changes affecting the body- including heart problems and obesity
-osteoporosis
-diabetes
-obesity
-brain deterioration
-stroke
-stresses on relationships
-much more....


They say that driving while sleep deprived can make you just as dangerous as a person driving drunk. That is scary.... response time slows down, nodding off happens, and more.

Maybe you think that you are not sleep deprived... and maybe you are not.... I hope that is true. However, it is good to do a little research and also evaluate your life. They say that while losing sleep for one night won't seriously hurt you... losing sleep for a week of nights CAN be a bigger problem....after just 7 days or so.

Maybe you are just a little sleepy sometimes during the day... or a bit grouchy... maybe forgetful.... or extra hungry.... or sluggish... or other things... they can ALL be symptoms of sleep deprivation... and that CAN hurt you.


I am not a doctor, nor am I an expert on this subject... I am just someone who has studied it and is trying to recover from effects of ignoring it. This is a "heads up" post.... maybe you can see that you are not at your best and that you have shorted your sleep. Whether it seems to bother you or not... it is a dangerous path to take and I encourage you to think about it.  There is a lot of information on the subject.... and I will be addressing more in the 2nd post of this series. I hope you will return and see if it can be of any use to you.

Thank you for joining me.  I hope that now you are able to answer the question.... Are You Sleep Deprived?

   Part 2 of the series is here..... Yes, I'm Sleep Deprived, So What?

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#sleepdeprivation    #sleep    #healthproblems   #sleepy  #nap  #tired 

Homemade Family Heirloom

Recently, we came across an item that is special to our family. It is a baby quilt I made for our oldest son before he was born. It has been well loved and is not in great shape anymore... it needs more delicate handling than it did when I first made it.


  I had already lost one child through miscarriage, so when problems started with my second pregnancy, the doctor put me on bedrest, for a time. I was still grieving the loss of my first baby and was determined to protect this precious one as much as possible, so I obeyed the doctor.

I have never been a person to sit (or lay) around and do nothing though, so it didn't take long for the enforced rest to get really old. I found a pattern in a book and decided to make a baby quilt.....

  This project required:

embroidery
applique
cutting and sewing pieces
lots of hand sewing
machine sewing
hand quilting
etc.

I used fabric I already had since money was tight and I couldn't get to a store with being on bed rest.

I had never done any applique before, so that was a new thing for me.  I did that and the embroidery by hand and could do it laying in bed, although sometimes I was allowed to sit up for short periods of time also.

It sure felt good to be doing something... and to be making something beautiful for my baby.... anticipating his/her arrival rather than fearing what could happen.

I loved the ribbon idea... with the two fabrics showing the front and backsides of the ribbon.

Some of the damage is apparent here... the embroidery floss is tattered and worn away.

 The colors are very faded from what the original was.....  the backside was originally a soft (baby) yellow.

My oldest slept with this quilt for many years.... I made it with colors that would be appropriate for a boy or a girl since at the time I didn't know which we would have. 

I learned as I went on this quilt... my exposure to embroidery wasn't very large, so I did the best I knew how to... and my husband and I enjoyed how it turned out.

Here you can see where the fabric is rotting in a few areas.  The quilt still feels soft and usable... but it sure isn't something to use carelessly.


 

I had made a set for the bassinet - there was a small quilt with it. I also made a matching set for the crib and there was a quilt with that also... so our son didn't use this quilt for the first year or so.... and I was keeping it "nice".  

  One day I realized that keeping it "nice" meant that my son wasn't using it at all and would have no attachment to it... it would be special to me, but not to him.... so we started using it with him and it became very special. We travelled a lot by the time he was 3 years old for surgeries for our second son, so it was very nice to have a familiar special quilt for him to keep with him. He used it in hotels, hospitals, Ronald McDonald House, home, doctor's offices....and more.

Now, it is showing some age... after all that son is now an adult.... and I realize how very precious the "damage" is.... This is not just a beautiful quilt in pristine condition that was untouchable... this was well-loved. It reminds me of the Velveteen Rabbit story ... where love made the special things "real". Well, this became extra special... and when we came across this in the attic, it brought back so many sweet memories. :)

How glad I am that he was allowed to love it.... that I didn't just "save" it. Now, we are saving it for him to show his family someday.... and I am really enjoying having it for right now.  It was a huge amount of work... it took many hours to complete and my inclination was to protect it all those years ago.... but the loving it received only made it more special.... and precious. Now, it is an heirloom worth passing down in the family

I'm glad you joined me today... and I hope you have a wonderful week. :) 

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Homemade Pizza - Yum!

We love pizza.... .and we REALLY love homemade pizza... and we make a lot of it. :)  It may sound hard, but it isn't.

 The first step is to start with the dough.... I use my
Basic Homemade Bread Recipe 
for the dough.

Follow the recipe for the bread dough, and then after the first rising, rather than put it into bread pans, just divide it up and put it on pizza pans. If you like thick pizza, use more dough.... if you like thin crust, use less. Press it out, working around until the whole pan is covered with the dough.

Next add sauce.... we just use pasta sauce for this kind. Again, use as much as you like... we like a lot, so we use more.

Another option is alfredo sauce... we love using that.

 Another favorite is bbq sauce... for a BBQ Chicken pizza... it is wonderful.  The bbq sauce can be spread on alone or use some pasta sauce with it also. Spread the sauce out on the crust.

 Then add your toppings.....
cheese - any kind you like - mozzerella, cheddar, and more.

Other toppings can include:
pepperoni
pineapple
hamburger
peppers
onions
ham
chicken
mushrooms
and more....  as many... or as few as you would like.....

You can use a regular pizza pan or cookie sheet.... or pizza stones. 

Cheese can be put on first.... or last... or both. :)

Bake at about 350-400 degrees... for about 15 minutes or so. If I use both racks (I usually do since I make about 6 big pizzas at a time! :) ... so when using both racks, I switch the pizzas from one rack to the other halfway through the baking time so that both the top and bottom get done.  Watch carefully so they don't burn.  Enjoy.... we sure do. :)  Thank you for visiting.

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Organizing Medicines For Older Parents

As you may have seen by now, my dad recently had a big open heart surgery and is now recovering. Mom lived with us for almost 6 weeks while Dad was in the hospital or rehab center. When Dad got out of the rehab center, it was quite overwhelming for him and Mom to think about tending to all that needed to be done when they went home on their own.

Dad has always been very capable and hard working, but the surgery has taken a lot out of him. He should recover much more yet, but the transition from being in rehab to going to live at their home without full time help was a bit daunting.... even Dad's voice is weak right now whereas it used to be very strong... he is just quite weak even though he is improving.

He was put on many medicines, and there was concern about keeping them all straight... and he was very overwhelmed with it. To make things easier for him, I used markers and put a colored circle on the medicine bottle.... the orange circle means morning and the blue one means evening..... then I wrote the number he takes at those times...... IN the circle. It made it really easy to see at a glance what he needed to take.

I also made a "key" for it.... listing the medicines he takes in the morning and those for the evening. The ones that are PRN, or "as needed" are marked with yellow.... and on the list I circled the bottom one on the morning and evening list to also show that they are also "as needed". That didn't show up here and when I tried to "fix" it with the paint program, I made it worse, so what you see here is not as clear as Dad's copy is.


 Dad has been so pleased with this...... and said it has simplified things for him a lot. If they lived closer, I would have offered to put his meds in a divided container, but since they live several hours away, he had to be able to do it and understand it. There are better systems, but this works.... and I was pleased to get it done... as I was so tired and my brother and sister in law were picking Mom and Dad up the next morning.

Sometimes, I am surprised how things that we take for granted as being "easy", are actually becoming more complicated for Mom and Dad and it is a good idea to help them.  On a future post, I plan to share the system we came up with to continue their therapy exercises.... it is work, but so helpful... and what a blessing that we can help our aging parents.

Thank you for visiting.... if you have aging parents who are needing help, it can be rather difficult... especially if they don't realize they need some help and you don't want to step in where you are not needed/wanted. It is a dilemma, but though our world looks with scorn on the older generation, God doesn't and it can be a blessing to help our parents... even if it is difficult.

 "The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness." Proverbs 16:31


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Gentle Joy Homemaker- Top 10 Posts For 2014

Sorry about the previous post that was empty... we had an issue with it, but I think it is fixed now...

What a year!  Gentle Joy Homemaker has just passed its 1 year mark.  Out of 84 posts for the year, here are the top 10.......







The apple butter cinnamon rolls post was THE top post for the year....

Apple Butter Cinnamon Rolls    

   Dehydrating Foods Part 1

 Is It Really Just Innocent Fun?

Dehydrating Foods Part 2

Easy Way To Start and Grow Sweet Potatoes

My Energy Has Increased Because of Doing This...

Basic Homemade Bread Recipe

Buttery Chocolate Chip Cookies

My Garage Sale Prayer List

Strange Recipes From Old Cookbooks


Thank you for reviewing a great year with me.  :)


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