Thanksgiving will be here before you know it! One of my favorite ways to decorate for the different seasons is to use printable wall art. It doesn't cost much of anything in terms of money or time, yet it adds an instant seasonal update. I especially like using Scripture verses to keep God's Word as the main focus in our home. I purposely created this printable with a white border around it. There were 2 reasons for that: #1. It looks classy, but I didn't have a frame with a mat, so I just created the mat right on the printable. #2. My printer doesn't print all the way to the edge of the paper, so it works better when my printables are white at the edges. Hopefully you'll find that to be helpful to you too! Get the entire wall trio free when you subscribe to email updates! Just enter your email in the form right below this post. Please note: This freebie will only be available through November 9th, so be sure to get it while you can! [wp_eStore_free_download_squeeze_form id=2]

The Picture I Can’t Believe I’m Posting

The other night when my husband came home from his job at the cabinet shop his face was black.  “I've been glazing today,” he told me.

I hate it when he has to work in the finishing room, breathing all that stuff and even getting it all over his face.

Before I knew what he was doing, he disappeared into the bathroom and came out a few minutes later with a clay mask on.

“This feels so good.  Now I understand why women do this!” he said.

He left it on for about 15 minutes, then went and washed it off.  When he was finished, he was all excited about how wonderful his face felt.  I mean, all excited.  He went on and on about how it felt like an entire layer of his skin had been removed, how his skin felt so soft and clean, etc.  Now, my husband is quite a manly man (if you don't know what he looks like, you can see how rugged he looks in the pictures of our frosted glass door).  Believe me, it was quite unusual for him to be excited about something like a clay mask.

I felt his face, and he was right!  It was so smooth!  I was like, “Give me the clay!  I want to wash my face!”

Being the kind soul that he is, he decided he would give me a mini spa treatment and do my face for me.

And now, here is the picture I can't believe I'm posting:

Yes, it felt good.  Really, really good.  There was not a trace of oil or dirt on my skin, but it was not dry either.  It was perfect.  Absolutely perfect.  If you know me, I'm not a prissy girl.  So if a manly man and a not-at-all-prissy girl are raving over a clay mask, you know it's got to be pretty amazing!

Seriously, I know some of you must be thinking, “What is her problem?  She's a little strange.”   This is just not the type of thing I normally talk about.  But when I discover something that's great, I like to tell people about it, even at the risk of being thought of as strange.  (See how much I care about you? :))

So what exactly was this mask we were wearing?

It was a paste made with Bentonite Clay and water.  There are tons of different uses for bentonite clay, so if you decide you want to get some to clean your face, you will get a huge bang for your buck because you'll be able to use it for all kinds of other stuff too!

I just used some of the Redmond Clay from Vitacost.   (If you sign up for an account through my referral link, they'll email you a coupon for $10 off your first order – woohoo!)

Curious about all those other uses for bentonite clay I was talking about?  Do a little bit of reading here, and you'll see why it's such a good thing to keep on hand!

Have you ever used bentonite clay?  What do you use it for?

Anti-Procrastination: Using What You Have

This dirty little platter sat at the indoor yard sale for a good long while. I know that because I saw it there on several different occasions. It always caught my eye, but I always passed it up because I was trying to not to spend money needlessly, and I didn't know what in the world I would use it for.

One day I was there and I had a number of things that I was planning on purchasing.  I saw this poor, lonely platter still sitting there, unclaimed.  Since nothing is priced, whoever is running the store at the time will often just throw in any odds and ends that you have for free.  I knew this was my chance to snatch it up, and sure enough, they ended up throwing it in for free.

I still didn't know what I was going to do with it, so I just stuck it up in the attic.

Last Saturday I was at another thrift store and I kept seeing all sorts of pretty things that I knew I could find some use for, but I couldn't bring myself to spend any money and bring more stuff into the house until I was using all the stuff I already had stuck up in the attic.  (That platter was not the only thing I had shoved up there for future use.)

I passed up on all the things I found Saturday and determined that I was going to use all the beautiful things I already had.

I got down the platter, scrubbed it up, made a little printable, and stuck it on with glue dots.  I was going to put clear contact paper over top of it, but I thought it ended up looking fine without it, so I just left it off.  Plus, that way it will be a whole lot easier to switch out the printable if I want to use it during different seasons.

What do you have that you're not using?  It's time to pull out those treasures and put them to good use!

If you're just joining the Anti-Procrastination challenge, be sure to subscribe to email updates or follow me on Facebook so you won’t miss a thing!

Time, Money, Health (Part 2)

If you missed Part 1 of this series, you can catch up on it here.

This is the beginning of the story of our family's journey to healthy living.

Healthy living is just that – a journey.  Sometimes the steps taken are very small.  Sometimes there are giant leaps.  But it's a journey, and the goal is to always be moving forward.  There are always new things to learn, new things to try, new steps to take.

The Beginning

The beginning of our journey started when my husband and I got married 6 1/2 years ago.  We were now the ones in charge of deciding what to eat (and we were the ones who paid for it!)

We both came from families who mostly ate food that didn't come from packages –  meat, vegetables, milk, eggs, etc.  I was the kid who got jealous when all the other kids had those cute little packages of chips, packaged brownies, and Hi-C drinks in their lunches, while I munched on a banana and sipped a thermos of water.  Mom didn't fix Hamburger Helper or Progresso soup for supper; she fixed spaghetti or meat and potatoes.

I felt like I was coming into my role as a homemaker with a healthier standard of eating than most Americans.  I would stay away from those middle aisles where all the packaged food was and mainly shop for meat and vegetables.

I also made a weekly stop by a couple of grocery salvage stores (stores where they sell expired or damaged goods for a deep discount) and pick up canned vegetables and bottled salad dressings to go with those healthy salads I was serving.  (If I'd only know then what I know now!)

Things were going smoothly – I had a nice repertoire of healthy meals to cook, and thanks to stores like ALDI and the salvage stores, our budget was staying fairly low.

Then I had a revelation.  I discovered a whole new world of saving money.  Instead of paying prices for our food that were only reasonable, I figured out how to pay even less money and come home with more food than ever before!

I'll be sharing the next step in our journey in the next post in this series.  Be sure to subscribe to email updates or follow me on Facebook so you won't miss it!

5 Minute Friday: Look

I am writing this post as part of 5 Minute Friday.

Today's prompt is: Look

When I saw today's word I realized that the Bible has a lot to say about Looking.  Rather than writing my own frail words today, I would rather let God's Word speak for itself.  All I've done is organize it into sections.

1. Look to Jesus

Numbers 21:5-8  And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.  6 And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.  7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.  8 And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.

John 3:14-15  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:  15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

2. Look on the fields

John 4:35   Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.

Matthew 9:35-38  And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.  36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.  37 Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;  38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.

3. Look for the Blessed Hope

Titus 2:13  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

Luke 21:28  And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.

Hebrews 9:28  So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

2 Peter 3:13-14  Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.  14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.

1 John 3:3   And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

Anti-Procrastination Challenge: Encouragement

We people like to focus on the negative sometimes, don't we?  When a restaurant gives us poor service, we take the time to write them an email or call to complain.

We will be sure to let others know what they did wrong, but sadly it's not nearly as often that we take the time to tell someone “Great job!”

If we're willing to take time out of our day to complain about something, let's make the time to be an encouragement to someone.

Find someone who does a lot of thankless, behind-the-scenes work at church or work, and let them know you've taken note and appreciate what they do.

Encourage someone who may be in the spotlight and everything they do is under scrutiny and is often criticized.  Build them up with your words while others may be tearing them down.

Seek out someone who is suffering through a trial and let them know that you're praying for them.

There are so many opportunities to be a blessing that we tend to overlook.  I challenge you to find one person today that you can be a blessing to through an encouraging word.

If you’re just joining the Anti-Procrastination challenge, you can take a look at all of the previous challenges I've posted here.  You may also want to subscribe to email updates or follow me on Facebook to receive each new challenge!