Picture Perfect Cooking

Our church has recently started a new Sunday school class for our age group and the focus is on building friendships, friendship with God, friendship with Jesus, and friendship with our fellow man.  I have really enjoyed the lessons so far because they have made me stop and think about things that I normally do not. 

Am I a good friend to God and Jesus?  Do I stop and think what They would want me to do in situations as much as I should or do I just plow on through doing my own thing?  I know God and Jesus bore the ultimate sacrifice for me and actually ask very little of me for Their love!

Am I a good friend to C?  To me, marriage should be the ultimate friendship!  C is my best friend and I know I am very blessed to be in a relationship like that.  I happen to work in the office that processes divorce cases so I know how rare they are.  I try to put him first and not give in to my selfish “only child” ways, but it can be hard.  C is much better at that than I am. 

Am I a good friend to my friends?  Do I support them when they need it?  Do I reveal enough of myself so that they know who I really and truly am?  That is something that I have always struggled with…how much to share is too much?  There are things about me that very few people are aware of and I can’t seem to shake the notion that it is better to keep certain things to myself or to an extremely small group.  I hope that, in the long run, that being private was not a bad thing.

Finally, am I a good friend to myself?  You are probably thinking that that is a strange question, but when you stop and think about it, can you love someone else if you don’t love (or even like) yourself?  I think a lot of people struggle with this, especially women.  They get caught up in what is going on around them and forget to take care of themselves. 

Reading these lessons has made me think about these things more and I hope that leads me to better relationships with God, Jesus, and the world around me.

Read Full Post »

Raise your hand if you LOVE to clean your house?  I thought so…not many hands raised.  I am like that, too; I love a clean house but don’t really like the work it takes to get it that way.  One think that I now do that makes the job a little easier is to use as many non-toxic cleaners as possible.

I used to use regular cleaners that had strong chemicals and fragrances added to them to make your home smell “clean”.  Guess what?  A clean house really doesn’t have a smell at all, good or bad. 

When I walked down the “cleaning” product aisle at the grocery store, my eyes would start watering and I would usually sneeze at least once.  Why was I bringing this stuff into my living space when I couldn’t even walk past most of them without tearing up?  That’s a good question so I set out to find a solution.

After some online searching, I purchased a few products to try and have found ones that I have stuck with for quite a while now.  My favorite brands are Method, Mrs. Meyers, and Seventh Generation.  All three seem to clean really well without a lot of extra scrubbing that some of the more well known brands require. 

In my bathroom, I use Method Bathroom Cleaner (formerly Tub N Tile).  It has a mild fragrance that makes the rooms smell so good, but doesn’t overpower the senses.  I also use Method Le Scrub on my shower doors and tubs.  We have extremely hard water which leads to terrible hard water stains on the glass doors.  I had tried CLR, which did not work very well and the smell was hideous and then tried Le Scrub.  I still use Comet on my toilets because I have not found a replacement that I like as well.

For dishwashing, I love Seventh Generation products.  My favorites are the Free & Clear Dishwashing Liquid and the Lemon Automatic Dishwashing Gel.  I also use Seventh Generation’s anti-bacterial wipes.

Finally, to soften our clothes and add a slight lavender fragrance, I turn to Mrs. Meyers.  Their liquid fabric softener and dryer sheets are perfect and I make them last as long as possible.  I use just a tiny bit of liquid softener and thin it with water and I use each dryer sheet for multiple loads.

This is just my little way of keeping C & I safe from unnecessary chemicals which may or may not be harmful, but why take a chance.  I have read on other blogs that some people actually make their own products, but I have not quite worked up to that point yet.  It is interesting reading, though.  By the way, these companies have no idea who I am and have offered me nothing for these thoughts.  I just like them!

Read Full Post »