Quick, before I get Sidetrack'd

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about simplicity and living a simple life. Over the past few days and weeks, the idea seems to be everywhere I look – on blogs I read, in my Bible class at church – pervading my thoughts. My ideas aren’t cohesive enough at this time to write about my perspective on the topic, but I wanted to share a couple of links to blog posts that I’ve enjoyed recently.

Last week Meredith at Like Merchant Ships did a series entitled “How to Live Well on Less”; links to each post in the series can be found here. She writes about budgeting, purchasing, decorating, and finding beauty in what you own.

Then I read a post by Brant at Letters from Kamp Krusty titled “Here’s to Nothing!” in which he writes about how his family’s approach to life has impacted others in their neighborhood.

I would enjoy hearing your thoughts on simplicity as well – what “simple living” means, how it can be accomplished, things you’ve done to simplify your life or household. Leave a comment and let’s see what where this discussion might lead.

First, a little of this…

Lauren is so kind; she named me a “Thoughful Blogger”. This was designed to recognize “those who answer blog comments, emails and make their visitors feel at home on their blog; for the people who take others people’s feelings into consideration before speaking out, and who are kind and courteous. This award is for those generous bloggers who think of others.”

I am honored that Lauren thinks of me in this way. Thank you!

And now, a little of that…

Susan and Janice of 5 Minutes for Mom are having another great giveaway. They’ve teamed up with Best Buy to give their readers a chance to win an Insignia 37″ flat-panel LCD HDTV!! Click here for all the details.

I hope you are all having a wonderful Monday!

Here we are; it’s Monday again and time to reveal the menu plan for this week. It was kind of tricky to plan this week as Matt requested that we only have things that we don’t usually make. But, armed with internet access, a plan came together.

Monday – leftovers from this weekend: pasta with fresh tomatoes, garlic, and parsley

Tuesday – enchiladas (filling will be from tamale casserole recipe), chips with guacamole & salsa

Wednesday – leftover enchiladas

Thursday – southwest corn fritatta, salad

Friday – homemade pizza

Saturday – lunch: fend for yourself / dinner: eat out for Matt’s birthday

Sunday – lunch: pancakes / dinner: mexican at Life Group

Hope your week is full of good eats!

Using the integer generator at random.org I have selected the winners in my Dog Days of Summer Bloggy Giveaways.

In giveaway #1 for the Gnomy’s Diary Angel – comment # 37 – Photojenic

And in giveaway #2 for the Sisterchicks book – comment #8 – Jana

Thanks to everyone for entering the drawings. I will e-mail the winners and get the prizes out as soon as I can.

Oxford American dictionaries list the following among the synonyms for challenge – test, tax, strain, stretch, stimulate, inspire, and excite. When I made the decision to participate in the challenge that Sheryl was setting for herself I had no idea what the next 21 days would hold. That was probably a good thing.

Beginning July 2nd I set out to pray for/about the following three things each day:

1. The words that come from my mouth
2. Our impending move, Matt’s new job, and the sale of our house
3. A new church home in Nashville

I have consistently been praying about the words of my mouth and the attitudes of my heart (because that is the root of all I say and do). Specifically, I’ve been praying the words of Psalms 141:3 and Proverbs 31:26.

Over the last few weeks I’ve noticed (and hope those around me have noticed) a shift toward kinder, gentler words. One particular focus of my prayers was that I would not be irritated with Little for interrupting what I was doing and demanding attention when I was focused on something else. I feel that God has really been softening my heart toward the gift that is my baby girl. When she seeks attention now, I try to stop what I’m doing (if that is feasible) and play or snuggle. As her Momma, I represent security and love to her, two things that she needs that only I can provide. Not that I’ve perfected this or conquered these issues, but I can see the work of God in the area of my motivations and speech. I continue to pray that I will speak words of wisdom, words of edification, words of love to those I interact with, especially Matt and Little.

The prayers about our move and selling the house really stirred things up around here. I’ve spoken about the saga surrounding our non-move in previous posts, so I won’t rehash all of that here; I will mention how God continues to deal with me in this area.

When we moved here two years ago we really felt we were being called to this place for a specific Kingdom purpose. As the Nashville situation unfolded I convinced myself that the lessons we’ve learned regarding what the church should be, how we are to be recognized as Christ followers, and what it means to be “in the world, but not of it” were the lessons we were brought here to learn.

Over the weeks of prayer about our move I was convicted that there is more here that God has prepared in advance for us to do. I felt led to repent of the way I had tried to “take over” God’s plan and decide what it was we were supposed to learn or do here. Now I look forward to seeing how God’s purposes unfold in and around my family.

Through these three weeks my patience has been tested, my emotions have been taxed, my mental capacity has been strained, my faith has been stretched, my prayer life has been stimulated, my hope has been inspired, and I’ve become excited about what the future holds.

Thank you to those of you who have read my posts and prayed for us as I went through this challenge (and the moving situation). And I especially thank our friends (some of whom I know read here although they rarely comment) who have come alongside us in prayer and conversation as we’ve worked through this time of testing.

The Dog Days of Summer Giveaway that Shannon is hosting has been lots of fun. I can’t believe the number of bloggers participating!

So here are the details on my second giveaway this week (look here for the first giveaway):

This time around one random commenter will win a copy of Robin Jones Gunn’s book Sisterchicks do the Hula! This is a used copy (read at least 3 times); the corners are a bit dinged, but all the pages are intact.

I read this book a few weeks ago; it was fun and light reading – just the right kind for the Dog Days of Summer! Although it was an easy read it does carry a message; about friendship, motherhood, and a relationship with God. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Now to the nitty-gritty: To be eligible to win please leave a comment on this post. One comment per participant, please; duplicate comments will be deleted. Make sure that there is a way I can reach you (either via e-mail or your blog) if you win. On Friday, at 4:30 pm central time, I will use an online random number generator to choose a winner. This giveaway is open to US and Canadian addresses only, my apologies to any overseas readers.

To my few “regulars” here at Sidetrack’d: I will be back soon with a real post; I just finished Harry Potter which has consumed much of my normal blogging time this week.

Welcome to those of you who are visiting from Rocks in My Dryer. I’m glad to see you at Sidetrack’d and hope you will stop by again sometime.

Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer is hosting a super fun blog carnival this week rounding up all kinds of bloggy giveaways. At this point there are 250 participants and more giveaways will be added throughout the course of the week! Click on the cute little doggy button above to check out the host of bloggers who have joined the fun.

So I don’t miss out on all of the excitement, I’m hosting my first ever giveaway!

A randomly selected commenter will be the recipient of the darling little angel pictured below. This is the Angel of September from a collection of figurines known as Gnomy’s Diaries. The Gnomy’s figurines include the Angel of the Month series as well as a line known as The Legend of the Fortune Fairies (which I collect). I really like these figurines because of the child-like qualities in the design; they just have the sweetest little faces.

To be eligible to win please leave a comment on this post and tell me what you collect; if you don’t have a collection, no problem, just tell me that. One comment per participant, please; duplicate comments will be deleted. Make sure that there is a way I can reach you (either via e-mail or your blog) if you win. On Friday, at 4:30 pm central time, I will use an online random number generator to choose a winner. This giveaway is open to US and Canadian addresses only, my apologies to any overseas readers.

Head over to the Dog Days of Summer Bloggy Giveaway headquarters and see what else you might win! I plan to have at least one more giveaway this week, so check back Wednesday (look here for giveaway #2).

Okay, I’m running a bit behind today and I totally blame it on the copy of The Deathly Hallows staring up at me from the desk!

Here’s our menu for this week:

Monday – clean out the fridge/fend for yourselves

Tuesday – Papa John’s pizza

Wednesday – meatloaf, twice baked potatoes, fried green tomatoes (roll over from last week)

Thursday – leftovers of meatloaf

Friday – pasta with tomatoes and garlic, bread

Saturday – lunch: egg salad sandwiches / dinner: pasta leftovers

Sunday – lunch: eat out / dinner: Life Group meeting

Hope your week is filled with good eats!

I’m so excited; yesterday I was able to get a Monk & Neagle CD via BooMama’s great CD Extravaganza! It should arrive in 10 days or so, and I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it after I’ve listened once or thirty times.

Click on the button above or the one in the sidebar to hear some of their music.

Mary at Owlhaven is hosting a blog carnival today challenging us to write about our childhood homes. If you are interested in playing along or if you would like to read about others’ memories of their childhood homes, click on the cute picture at the top of this post.

I lived in one house my entire childhood; I came home from the hospital to the house and, 22 years later, left when Matt and I married. My parents still live there.

Our house was a two story traditional style home. All of the living space was on the upper level (bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, etc), but we had a finished basement that served as a den/family room. The basement is the backdrop for many of my childhood and teenage memories – dancing with my brother to “Eye of the Tiger”, playing school with my baby dolls and stuffed animals, playing “house” with my cousins, hanging out with friends watching television and playing games. That room was (and still is) the center of much of our family activity.

There was always a pool in the backyard and it saw many pool parties, water fights, and strange and dangerous feats performed by teenage boys. I learned to swim there, and my brother fell through the ice one year “ice skating”.

And the Christmas memories, these are a big part of my childhood memories. We always had two Christmas trees in our house, one on each level, and each served a different purpose. The upstairs tree was our “formal” tree and presents that went to other people (extended family, friends, etc) went under that tree. Our downstairs tree was the family tree. It was always decorated with the “ornaments” that my brother and I made, paper chain garlands, colored lights, and lots of tinsel icicles. Coming down the stairs on Christmas morning to a tree brimming with gifts from Santa and parents and stockings hung by the chimney with care is the epitomy of childhood Christmas.

One of the great things about my childhood home was the proximity to our extended family. We lived within a few miles of both sets of my grandparents, several aunts and uncles, and a bevy of cousins. This allowed for numerous family get togethers and a childhood filled with the warmth and love of family. My cousins and brother were my best friends throughout my childhood.

My childhood home is filled with memories – the bad along with the good – but most of the the ones I hang onto are good. I hope Little has memories her childhood home as good as the ones that I have.