Welcome

This is a documentation of my journey seeking "my best self"
I am a blessed woman, 2 healthy loving sons and an abundance of all that one needs.
This is not a journey to more of the material stuff, but in seeking my passion and living my best life.
Due to illness, parenting, and busy everyday life, life has lived me instead of me living life.
The purpose of this journey is to turn this back one step at a time.
How will I accomplish this? This I will learn gradually, one thing I am sure of each day of my journey will take me closer to myself.

Blessings,

ETA: I am separated and I can assure you it is for the better. The boys and I are doing good, they are sad but at least they have some breathing space now and don't have to march to the beat of their father's drum anymore. I am more relieved than sad and feel freed from his constant state of depression and lathargic way of living.


Posts tonen met het label Homemaking. Alle posts tonen
Posts tonen met het label Homemaking. Alle posts tonen

maandag 19 januari 2009

Working Willingly

Working Willingly Button
I decided to join Hadias and post my weekly "to do" list every monday as a reminder for self and as a boost to blog even when I don't have anything (positive) to say.

~Study
~Must Do
~Taking Care of My Home
~Training My Children
~Menu Plan Monday



~Study
-Sacred Woman (13 weeks)
-spending 1 hour a week on designing and drawing


~Must Do
-Go to doctor with Shaq-
-Call utility company to make arrangements for payment
-Make arrangements with girlfriends about joining a gym together
- Estabblish weighlifting @home routine at least 2x a week

~Taking Care of My Home
-Zone 4 master bedroom and closets
-Get laundry back on track!!!
-Iron school clothes

~Training My Children
-Teaching my son better studying habits
-Teaching my son to speak my native language (sranang tongo)
Focus of the week: HONESTY

~Menu Plan Monday
Mon: white beans and vegan "ham" in tomatosauce served with brown rice
Tue: Spaghetti with zucchinni
Wed: Mash patatoes, veggieburgers and haricot beans
Thurs: stir fry (mushrooms, haricot beans, cabbage, tofu) served with basmati rice
Fri: Sabbath meal Javanese fried rice served with "prawn"(vegan) crackers, fried plantain and tomato/cucumber/lettuce salad
Sat: red kidney bean stew served with brown rice, fried plantain, pickled cucumbers
Sun: Baking and cooking with Shaquille


JAH I-TINUAL BLESSINGS!

woensdag 19 maart 2008

A New era

These last weeks I've been running around organizing a babyshower for my sis-in-law (it was great fun we had a high tea sil had a great time and was extremely delighted), preparing for the arrival of my parents (next weekend) and inlisting our sons in new schools. The eldest will be finished with elementery school in June and will be attending grammer school as of next schoolyear. The mere thought of it makes my stomach act "rollercoastery" my baby will go to school all alone on his bike and he will not need me anymore (I know that is dramatic but it is how I feel!)
I still remember the first day of kindergarden his hand squeezing my sweaty palms, we enter the school gates and he let's go of my hand and runs off to play on the swings and I stand there lost wondering how I will survive walking out of the schoolgates and attending work as if I did not just dropped my son off with total strangers. I can assure you that that was one of the longest days in my life, I wanted the schoolday to end so I could pick him up from school and pretend I never left him. When I picked him up he was full of stories and was extremely exited about the whole first-day-of-school experience, I was exausted from worries of what might have gone wrong. Now that we are entering a new fase I feel the same, sweaty palms, "rollercoastery" stomach and an uneasy feeling scared of what lies ahead. My son on the other hand is exited and totally ready for this new fase.

As if having to send my eldest off to grammer school wasn't enough I also have send my baby ehum pre-schooler to elementary school in April of this year.We found a new school for him because we weren't really satisfied with my eldest his school, the tour from the new school was wonderful, they have swimminglessons, musiclessons, a daycare where the lil ones can rest if school is a bit too much, artlessons and the school has separated grades 0 to 3 from grades 4 to 8 so the little ones won't feel quite as small.

When my youngest was born I promised myself that once he would go to elementary school I would start taking classes at the university, I feel extremely unprepared because I still don't know what study I would like to do! 4 years passed so quickly it feels like yesterday that he was born prematurely needing to be fed every hour even at nighttime. The time flies when raising babies, all the worries about teething, solid foods, first steps, vaccinations, pottytraining and bedtime rituals seem like a triviality compared to the new worries about sex-ed, playing truant,drugs and peer pressure. I trust that the Lord will guide our family in this new era, but like every mother in nature I am appropriately apprehensive about sending my babies into the a new world on their own.

II Timothy 1:7 "For God has not given us the Spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

Blessings,
Chayil

woensdag 30 januari 2008

Playing catch up

My house is a mess! I have been doing a little damage control here and there but this home needs lots and lots of TLC to get her back to normal living standards! One of my biggest weaknesses is not knowing how to cope with keeping the home while I am ill, another issue is what things to tackle first after a period of obliged bedrest.

I need to strengthen a bit more before venturing back into the real world on my own, so I had to cancel todays sewinglesson.
Lil man is @ the daycare till 13:00 and I decided that this would give me plenty of time to slowly conquer the worse space of my home. The family learn/craft/language closet.
I took some pics to show you'll what I was dealing with and to share the end result.
The before and after shot ;-) I am not a good photographer and have no idea why the doors look slanted LOL


I know what your thinking! Why did I let it get this messy, but I was just to sick to even care that the kids and dh took stuff out and just threw them back in! And yes we love boardgames this is only 1/3 of our collection the kids have more on their bookshelves. Now I need to find just a lil more energy to mop up the icky's that came out of that closet and to remove paint that is still left around the house from my quick painting action about 11 months ago (blush) I remove about 4 to 6 of those stains weekly lol I will be still removing when I get bitten by another paintbug that makes me do it all over again.
The top shelve is remnant of what did not fit on the bookshelves around the house and I just can't let them go yet.
My eldest son his teacher is coming over for tea tomorrow so I sorted some boardgames that we either don't enjoy anymore or have double to give to him for school.
I am dead tired now so I am going to take some painkillers and take a lil nap before the kids come home.
Blessings,
Chayil

zaterdag 26 januari 2008

Lasertherapy, weightloss and crafts

Still not completely recovered even though I am feeling much better. Apart from not being able to lift up my left arm further than my chest and the irritating spontaneous fevers I am doing okay. The hospital called and they asked me if I would like to participate in a experimental new therapy that includes lasers. The tricky thing is that I because it is experimental my insurance won't pay for it. This will cost me about 220 euros monthly for I have no clue how many months. I have decided to go for an intake and see what the doctors say. If they think that the illness is to far progressed I won't be able to participate, I am praying that this will be the answer to my problem. I refuse surgery because it is mentally killing me! In the last 10 yrs I've had around 60 operations all with total anaesthesia. I have memory loss due to this and it also gave me agoraphobia (which in the last year I have been fighting with great result) because my whole life was indoors either in the hospital or at home.

I can't wait for my skin to ease my friend asked me to join her and her sis for aqua jogging and I really really would love to do this! My body needs to tone up! I don't want to loose weight right now because I am hardly moving and that really shows every ounce lost is turning into flabby skin YUCK! So no more weight loss until I can do my Pilate's, yoga, walking and aqua jogging again. It is hard not to loose weight because I am not hungry at all due to the painkillers and fever. Last night dh went and got me "patatje oorlog" that is what the dutch call fries served with mayonnaise, peanut sauce and onions I know it sounds disgusting and I usually think so too but I ate it LOL all in the name of staying at the exact weight I am in now. It was really sweet of dh seeing that he is still master cleansing and was drooling all over my fries. Today is day 10 of his master cleanse and this man lost 22 pounds in 10 days!!! Starting tomorrow he will be breaking the fast and he asked me to make one of his favorites stir-fried noodles with paksoi and ginger on wednesday when he is allowed to eat normal again. He demanded that I make the exact same dishes in the following days so he can eat what we ate while he was suffering LMAO!

I started working on one of the projects for the Blogger Craft Club okay I am not going to lie I actually finished one of the projects I know I know we weren't starting till Monday but I was bored! Really, really, really bored! But that is okay because I was so drugged up due to the painkillers I made a million and one mistakes! My lines are quite crooked but other than that it's wonderful ;-P.

Okay I need to get ready to go to the market with dh and lil man (the big lil man is at a soccer game) we need to get oranges for the breaking of his fast and some other veggies and fruits. I am going to get some fabric for my niece her birthday gifts (apron and chef's hat and I will add a set to bake cookies and some cookie recipes my kids like) she's going to be 3 and she is as cute as a button LOL I am praying that I will make it to her birthday party this year caus I haven't made it to any yet!!! My first niece ever and I haven't attended any of her b-day parties! Every year around her b-day I am too sick and need to be hospitalized. Not this year I will go no matter what!!!

Okay I really need to go now I am leaving you with a pic of my lil one and my niece. They are not only cousins but best-friends too :-D

Blessings,

maandag 17 december 2007

Blessed Monday

Good morning everyone!

My to do list:
Go to the wholesale and get dh his christmas gift and my binder I have just 2 more gifts on my christmasshoppinglist and than I am all done :-)
I also found a very nice binder I have the orange version.
organize 2 shelves in my walk in closet
my afternoonroutine:

12:00 Lunch and meds Done
12:30 vacuum livingroom
13:30 fold laundry
14:00 read with lil man (he's in the daycare today so this is off the list)
14:30 Task of the day from my forum wich is clean out bathroom wastebastkets Done
14:45 1 hour in the zone wich is the bathroom Done
16:00 tidy kitchen and prepare stuff to cook Done
16:30 cook
18:00 dinner with family





Ok I am going to shower and get ready to leave now

zondag 16 december 2007

Nice and quiet sunday!

I just love sundays, the only day of the week with no obligations, errands, chores or long to-do lists. The day passes by slowly, while the kids play upstairs with lego and dh plays some kind of civilization game on his laptop. The perfect day to start working on my own christmas gift. I spend more than an hour looking for new inspirational pictures and quotes for my control journal, I found wonderful pictures like this one to make the journal more appealing to the eye and fun to use.

So far I have the following "chapters or tabs" for my journal:
Menu's
Recipes
Homework (lil assignments I do with the boys)
budget
hobbies and decor ideas (free patterns etc)
cleaning scedules (morning/afternoon/night routines and zones)
calender and planners
birthday and holiday card sending list
Miscellaneous
Medical info kids (vaccinations, allergies etc)
Bible and kebra nagast studies (starting january I want to finish both in 2 yrs time)
Blessings ( I use this to write down the lil blessings of daily life)

If anyone thinks of one that would be useful please feel free to share!

I need a new binder, I used a normal ringbinder but that is too small to fit all the recipes and ideas I collect over the year. Being the only girl in this house I want a pretty girly and frilly binder lol one that is not appealing to the lil and big men so no one will be tempted to read and misplace my journal. I am soooo jealous of all you american ladies with all kinds of cute binders and accesoires too put in the binder, I guess I will have to get creative behind the sewingmachine and make a cover for the new binder. I am going to the wholesale tomorrow and intend to spend a good while in the officesupplies section. 2008 is going to be the year of orginazation and making my house a home, so I want to be prepared ;-)

I have always dedicated new years to certain goals somehow it makes it more achievable. 2006 was the year of selfimprovement and stimulation I made a promise to myself to eat healthy and to move a lot more. I also started a special training for the dutch IRS and not only finished it with distinction I was asked to move to a more advance training in order to collect taxes and to make settlements with defaulters (hate that word) I finished that with distinction as well but sadly enough I became severely ill and had to quit. 2007 became the year of finances and gaining a healthy BMI. My BMI is a healthy 24 now and I have never been more pleased with myself LOL I made a plan to pay off all studentloans, debit and creditcards, and to save a lot more than we had been doing before. A week ago I made the last payment to dh his studentloans and most of goals set were achieved. I pray that my goals will be met in 2008 and that life will keep smiling at me and my family. 2008 is also the year I want to start taking balletlessons again and most important 2008 will be by the grace of GOD filled with little blessings! We are expecting 3 babies (no not dh and I but my cousins and my brother and sis-in-law) I am sooo thrilled and I can't wait to cuddle and kiss my sweet lil nieces or nephews. I am demanding to babysit them at least once a month so I will start putting on boxing gloves to fight off cousins and sis-in-law when I run off with their babies ;-P



Blessings,

vrijdag 14 december 2007

To Do list 12-14-07

vacuum living room

clean tiolet
Hang laundry
wash one load
fold laundry that is on the line now

make home cosy for the weekend

Cook

Off to do my chores!

Edit:

All done!





dinsdag 11 december 2007

Tackle it tuesday!

I found this site while surfing ;-) I haven't fully explored it yet but I like the sound of tackle it tuesday!

Tackle It Tuesday Meme


I have to move mountains today, or at least that is how I feel. It's after 9 a.m. and you guessed it I am not dressed yet, ofcourse I have an excuse I have to scrub the bathroom and figured I could do that right before showering. (yes I remember saying no excuses allowed LOL)



My to do list:



take 2 loads of wash off the clothesrack and fold them Done

hang the one that is in the washer now

clean breakfast cupboard

clean shelves kitchen

clean cutlery drawer

clean bathroom

clean tiolet

vacuum downstairs

vacuum eldest son his room and make the beds caus my auntie is staying in there. Edit: The room was a bit more work then just making beds. I dusted and cleaned the windows and after my lil break I will head back upstairs and finish it.

Make livingroom clutterfree (I am doing this after the kids are in bed)



That's enough more might have to be added to the list but this is enough for now any more would depress me.



Will be back with progress (I hope)

Edit: Thanks for the comments ladies! I was able to do all the things on my list but my internet was cut off because of a mistake the phonecompany made. They promised to reconnect it right away but right away turned out to be 20 hours later. I wasn't able to come and update :-(

maandag 10 december 2007

Flylady?

Some members of my forum and I started using the flylady system to get organized in april of 2006. We all started with babysteps and after that we all had a simple morning/afternoon/night routines in our control journals.

Some of the ladies have since than kept their home in perfect condition. They get up in the mornings make their beds, groom themselves while swish and swiping the bathroom, get dressed (shoes and all), have breakfast and start their days. I am not one of those ladies, everytime I am in pain and/or get hospitalized(wich both occur far to often) I fall off the routine and have to start the babysteps all over again. There have been times that I even had to restart babysteps in the midst of doing them because I was out of routine again.

There are 2 habits that I have taught myself to really stick too the first is making a menu and the second is shining my sink every night now I am not able to do the second one always and my sweet dh has made that his fly-task

As christmas gift to myself I am making a brand spankin new control journal. The one I have now is just not functional for this family. I am planning to make it extremely cute so I will want to look in it daily. I am also promising myself that even if I am in pain I will make an effort to get dressed and groom myself every morning before 9 a.m. no exeptions!!

If you are looking for a way to get organized and stay that way i highly recommend this system! Next to the daily routines the house is divided in zones and each week another zone is focused on this way all zones get thoroughly cleaned once a month. The zone is cleaned from ceiling to floor focusing on not just cleaning an decluttering but making the space more inviting for the familymembers and guests. This week is zone 2 the kitchen, last month I gave my tiny lil kitchen so much love I am still feeling it every time I walk into it. I started in the zone today and because I have a raised temperature (due to inflamations) and a hecke lot a pain I decided to do 2 cupboards today. I went inthere set the timer for 15 min and before I knew it I had cleaned 3 cupboards, one shelf and my messy drawer (you know the one I know you have one too :-D ) I might be in too much pain to go to yoga today but i got my zenn from spending time in the heart of my home