Being Hospitable, Part 1 Podcast

Welcome to the first-ever Listing the Week Post (the new, improved, official Monday material here.) It's your chance to get yourself in order and your week planned out before it hits you (on Wednesday) that you don't have a clue. It's my chance to be motivated to get things down on paper, because that's what keeps my life in order.

Without further ado...

The Food List (What's in the Pantry, Menu Plan Monday, and other Food To-Dos and Ideas)

What's in the Pantry this Week?

(The Food List)

From the Food List we get to the actual eats for the week:

Menu Plan Monday

(The Dinner List)

Monday: Smoked Ham and White Bean Soup, Fresh Bread
Tuesday: Melt-In-Your-Mouth Sausages, Pasta
Wednesday: Butternut Squash Curry (except with acorn squash), Rice, Carrot Raisin Salad
Thursday: Winter Squash Soup ( this one with orange juice or this one), Chicken Salad, and Yeast Rolls
Friday: Ham Tetrazzini, Marinated Cucumbers, Fresh Bread
Weekend: Sweet Pepper Chicken, Roasted Root Vegetables
Lunch Options: Topped Baked Potatoes, Filled Yeast Rolls, Quesadillas, Shepherd's Pie (for Joe).

The Kitchen To Do List

Make bread and yeast rolls
Dry lemon balm and feverfew
Puree and freeze basil
Make oregano-infused oil
Run vinegar through coffee pot and dishwasher
Wipe down open shelves
Make a dessert (I never think of these, but Joe loves dessert.)

Upcoming Food Posts at Kitchen Craft:

(The Food Writing List)

What to do with Winter Squash
Quick Chicken Dishes
Make Ahead Dinners
Breakfast Options (quick, suitable for toddlers, filling)
Simple Vegetarian Meals
Preparing Vegetables (simple, nutritious, and tasty)
In Season Fruits (and what to do with them)
Preparing for Thanksgiving Food
Better Holiday Sides

What To Do in October (what's left of it...)

• Go for a hike in the nearest wildlife reserve or state park.

• Visit the zoo. The weather is great. Dress appropriately (think layers) and take your own thermos of hot cider, cocoa, or coffee as well as some bottled water. Leave them in the car if you can't take them in, and enjoy them with a snack (peanut butter crackers, apples, cheese, trail mix, cookies, granola bars) before you head home.

• Pack some food, a couple of big blankets, a frisbee... meet at the park after work one weeknight or go during the afternoon on a weekend. If it's chilly, take hot soup in a thermos, wear layers, and warm up by chasing the frisbee around or flying a kite. Take a walk. Take photos of the fall leaves. Take a family photo while you're at it (great for Christmas cards). Enjoy your meal together.

• Plant bulbs in the yard before the first freeze!

• Plant trees or shrubs now.

• Check out free activities in your area and make plans now. October, November, and December usually have lots going on, but schedules fill up fast. Decide what you want to participate in. Say no to the mediocre stuff. Spend your energy and time on what you enjoy.

• Take a drive, hike, or bike ride in an area with lots of trees and enjoy the view.

• Find some live music in your city, schedule a babysitter, and enjoy a great date with your husband. Eat dinner before you go, if you're saving money. Enjoy dessert or coffee while you're out. Hold hands. Think warm, loving thoughts.

• Figure out what you're doing for Halloween. Do you take your kids trick-or-treating, or do you prefer a harvest party, or do you choose not to participate at all? Make your decision, let your kids know the plan, and eat plenty of candy corn.

• Make chili. October screams for a big pot of chili.

• Sit down with your husband and firm up travel plans, holiday activities, etc.

• Decide on a budget and a gift list for this Christmas, if you haven't already.

• Wake up early after the first frost. Bundle up and go for a walk in the crisp, frosty air. It's invigorating.

Thanksgiving Food

(The Random List)

Turkey
Cranberry sauce
Chicken and Dressing (you may know it as stuffing, no chicken involved)
Cornbread
Green beans
Pumpkin pie
Sweet potato pie
Pecan pie
Pumpkin Cheesecake (my sister's... mmm)
Mashed potatoes
Green salad
Jell-O Salad (always... somebody brings one)
Gravy
Roasted vegetables
Yeast rolls
Sweet potato casserole
Pecans
Pineapple cheese casserole
Candy corn
Gingerbread
Turkey sandwiches
Fresh bread
Coffee cake (the “morning after” food)

What do you think of?

This Week's NOT TO DO List

No worrying.
No spending extra money.
No moping around!
No saying yes to everything.
No skipping my 'daily' walk.
No being sulky instead of telling Joe when I'm upset/worn out/overwhelmed.
No forgetting to call my friends back.
No fast food.
No more than two nights out between M and F.
No forgetting to eat/take a break during the day.

This Week's TO DO List

Finish painting storm door and front door trim.
Get fresh gas for mower so Andrew can mow and trim the yard.
Plant the remaining bushes and bulbs.
Get Joe to tape, mud, and sand the drywall.
Paint the drywall and the cedar in the living room and entry.
Get Joe to take closet doors down in master bedroom.
Write articles for Bright Hub.
Keep up with blogs.
Plan for the chili party.
Research high estrogen levels (which my midwife thinks I have).
Read with Mara and Robbie lots!
Answer emails.
Clean the house.
Oh, I think that's enough...

Image Credits: Menu Plan Monday graphic from OrgJunkie.com; the two fall trees from Athena's Pix; candy corn from 0595; Thanksgiving turkey from scubadive67; No sign from Neubie.

(Aside: I'm having lots of trouble getting photos to align correctly. My apologies. I'm working on it.)

Before:

What is all this stuff? And why is it in my closet?

Joe's set of shelves: not so full, but not pretty either.

Um... yuck. Clothes stuffed in everywhere, not folded, socks in cardboard boxes, random bags full of random stuff, shoes all over, old curtains and miscellany in the corner, lots of wire hangers. I hated finding clothes in here in the morning. I am in the midst of a master bedroom overhaul, and this is the first big thing I'm tackling.

And now <sigh of absolute happiness> the AFTER:

#1: Neatly boxed slips and stockings (see photo below).
#2: Joe's long winter underwear.
#3: My jackets and blazers.
#4: Joe's pajamas.
#5: My cardigans and sweaters.
#6: My shirts and thinner sweaters.
#7: Joe's sweaters.
#8: My hanging shirts.
#9: My pants.
#10: My shorter skirts.
#11: Joe's t-shirts.
#12: Joe's pants.

#13: My dresses and longer skirts.
#14: My long winter underwear.
#15: My pajamas.
#16: My tank tops and undershirts.
#17: My sweatshirts and t-shirts.

#18: Stuff from top of shelf.
#19: My unmentionables... neatly arranged.
#20: Joe's underwear.
#21: Joe's socks.
Empty shelves!

My helper.

I'm on a meme kick today.

Let's get the party started!

1. Do you snort when you laugh?

No, I don't... when I laugh really really hard I just get quieter and quieter and shake until my belly hurts and I'm just streaming tears. That's a good laugh.

2. Do you have any idea why we don't sneeze in our sleep? Wild guess?

Ummmm, maybe because in our sleep we are breathing deeper and in a more regular pattern so ... so... it prevents us from snorting things up our nose.
NO that's not it. I think it's because the anti-sneeze fairy patrol comes and dances on our bedcovers.

3. Do you give much thought to astrology?

Nope. I know I'm a cancer, and that's about all I know in that area.

4. What is the most expensive thing you've purchased this year?

Hmm, good question. OH, I know. Our most expensive purchase this year is most definitely the transmission for my van, which my amazing husband put in all by himself and saved us a lot more money that it would have cost to pay for labor. He's an awesome husband, truly, and my van runs great now.
5. What kind of shampoo do you use? Loyally?

I buy a different kind every time. I go by smell. Right now I have Sun ... something.

6. Whose music are you really diggin' right now?

I am in a musical desert. I got Plumb's last cd, which was nice but too lullaby-ish.

7. What is your favorite thing about the Fall?
Sleeping with open windows and a cool breeze at night, snuggling under the covers.

Yes. His name is Joe, and he also fixes transmissions.

Principle: Your behavior means more than your background.

This is good news for people with less-than-stellar backgrounds and bad news for people with a perfect past.
Oh wait. I've never met anyone with a perfect past. Have you? I guess that makes it good news for all of us.
True, there are prejudices to overcome, assumptions to dispel, and first impressions that aren't accurate. You have to deal with what other people expect from you because of what they know (or assume) about your background. You still have to reckon with the emotional burdens and false ideas that you carry from your past. But you aren't locked in there.

What you do, day after day, carries more weight than where you've been. People may expect one thing of you, but if they consistently see something different, soon that is what they will expect instead. That can be good or bad: what's good is that it depends on you. It's in your hands, your choices, your life. Who you are and who you become isn't a matter of determinism, but of your will.

Challenge Update

I'm doing better at getting up early: more early mornings than late ones in the last ten days, though I'm still not quite hitting my target. But I'm getting closer, and the more often I get up early the more I enjoy the time I have in that quietness and the more I want to get up (even earlier) the next day. I'm building strength here...

and with exercising, too.

The best idea I've had for exercising isn't mine. My neighbor asked if I wanted to start walking in the park with her. We live right across the street from the city park, which has a 1/2 mile paved walking loop. I feel a bit hamster-esque, yes, but it's easy to keep track of how far you've gone and easy to push a stroller. Last week I walked three times by myself. I went 2 miles the first two days and 3 miles the last day. This week my neighbor and I have walked together; we went 5 miles on Monday and 4 miles yesterday. My legs are so sore, but I feel so much better and more energetic overall. Having someone to exercise with makes a huge difference. If you struggle to fit it into your life consistently, see if you can't find a buddy.

House/Work

I'm working on getting some routines in place for the general (dull) repetitive (dull) house cleaning that must be done on a regular (dull) basis. (Do you get that I find it kind of, um, dull?) Routines are perfect for dull duties: you set up a routine, you pay close attention the first few times you follow it so that you don't leave anything out (that's important), and then you can go on auto-pilot while you're employing it the rest of the time. You can think about your next great writing project or hair style, talk to your kids, call your best friend, listen to a podcast, sing with the radio. Whatever. Makes the dull stuff much better.

Here are some house routine articles and tips I've come across:

Great article at Minti: Routine for Grown Ups - Easy House Cleaning Tips.

The Queen of Kaos (whose posts and podcasts I enjoy) has good advice for Creating a Daily Routine.

AOL Home offers some ideas to develop A Cleaning Routine for Busy Women.

Old-Fashioned Homemaking also tells us how to Create a Cleaning Routine.

And Zen Habits offers a somewhat broader article on how to Handle Chores, House Cleaning, and Errands with Simple Systems.

Hope you find those helpful!

This ebook is a compilation of several posts, articles, and tip sheets that I have written for Writers Unbound. I've pulled together the best of the more beginner-oriented information and put it together in a pretty little downloadable ebook so that you may peruse as you wish, online or off.

To preview it online, just click on the link below. To skip the preview and download it, right click on the link and choose "Save Link As," then choose "Save" in the dialog box that opens.

The Get Started Guide for Freelance Writers

P.S. This book is a free resource, so feel free to pass it along to friends or link to it from your website. I only ask that 1) you pass it along in its entirety, and 2) you link to the download button from this website (don't upload it to your own website for distribution). Thanks!

I'd love to hear what you think! Is there anything missing? What did you find helpful? Do you hate ebooks? Do you wish there were pictures?

Proverbs 9:13: A foolish woman is clamorous. She is simple and knows nothing.

Clamorous: "to make a loud sound like Engl. hum); by implication, to be in great commotion or tumult, to rage, war, moan, clamor" from Scripture Text.

What does clamorous look like? In a clamorous wife, this is what you'll see:

• A woman who continually questions direct authority (her husband), often by appealing to a different (or what she considers "higher") authority)
• A woman who refuses to let her husband make decisions (big or small) with giving her input
• A woman who gets offended if her husband dares to make a decision without getting her input first
• A woman who knows that her way is the (only) right way. She may not say it out loud, but inwardly she is critical of other's different methods (especially her husband's)
• A woman who is not content to be quiet and just see what happens
• A woman who is not willing to let a mistake go unnoticed and/or unpunished
• A woman who is quick to notice her husband's faults, weaknesses, immature habits, vices, and "lack of spirituality"
• A woman who uses the intimate knowledge of her husband's imperfections to justify her own usurption of his authority
• A woman who nags
• A woman who nitpicks about details
• A woman who makes everything a big deal
• A woman who remembers mistakes

You might immediately recognize yourself or someone you know in that description, but those qualities are a bit abstract. Here's a more specific version of what a clamorous wife might look like:

• She says, "I don't care," when he asks her which restaurant she prefers, but she gets offended when he picks barbecue instead of Italian. He should so know better.
• She snaps at him on the phone at least once a day.
• She corrects him when he corrects the children and rolls her eyes when he serves them cold hot dogs and chips for dinner.
• She tells him how to drive.
• She is pretty darn good at the silent treatment.
• She is waiting for him to grow up. Everything will be fine then.
• She asks the women in her Bible Study to pray that her husband will begin having "regular time with the Lord."
• She thinks his jokes are stupid, and he can tell.
• She has pretty strict "rules" about when, where, and how sex is acceptable. She has never voiced them, but she doesn't need to. He knows. He sighs and accepts it.
• When her husband is busy, worried, distracted, or late getting home, she believes he is acting that way purposely just to hurt her feelings.
• A wrong turn is a big deal. Being ten minutes late is a big deal. A one-day-late birthday gift is a big deal. Having to remind him of their anniversary is a big deal. Overcooked steak is a big deal. Having to work an hour late is a big deal. Everything she doesn't like a little bit is a big deal.

Gulp.
You, too?
Hmm.
Let's go make some cookies for our men who put up with us when we decide to be clamorous women. When they call at lunchtime, let's answer the phone with a great attitude and tell them how happy we are to be their wives. When they get home a little late from work, let's greet them with a long kiss, a cold drink, and the smell of a great dinner simmering in the kitchen. When they put the kids to bed "the wrong way," let's shut up and see how the kids enjoy something different.

I think this can be a great day.

I've been writing for Demand Studios since May of this year. It's interesting, because I get to write about rather diverse topics. Here are a few from the "waste no time and get things done" category:

How to Be Goth in Less Than an Hour

How to Write a Book in 14 Days

How to Power Clean.

Due to the holiday - and our trip to MS for a family reunion - I'm starting the monthly challenge a bit behind. Just two days. Details, friends, details.

Speaking of details, let's just get right to it and I'll break down this monthly challenge. Here's where I am, personally, professionally, esoterically speaking... (everybody go look up esoterically now. Oh, nevermind. I'll do it for you. Here.) Where was I?
Right. Where I am, in broad, somewhat vague "life" terms: 1) happy about the birth of our third baby, 2) happy and excited about the major life/career change my husband is navigating (more on that in the future), 3) happy with the progress I'm making in my writing career, 4) overwhelmed by the thought of being a mom of 3 and getting too busy with day-to-day and forgetting to enjoy these children, 5) freaked out and trying to remain calm about the major life/career change my husband is navigating that will, necessarily, constitute a major life change for me, too, and 6) aware that if I don't exhibit some serious self-discipline all the progress I've made in writing will crumble around me.

Hm. I think that just about covers it. Basically, I'm looking at a lot - a whole huge heapin' lot - of change right now. I am not really a big fan of change. I like Christmas traditions and having the same bedtime every night. I am not a naturally spontaneous person. I have come to appreciate spontaneity, and enjoy it, and even, sometimes, purposely incorporate it into my life. (Is it still spontaneity if you "purposely incorporate it" into your life? Probably not.)

So, just from a basic "me" point of view, change is more threatening than welcoming. I know from life experience that even the most threatening change can end up being amazing. However, I still default to feelings of panic more than feelings of happy, calm, comfort. This is true whether the change is planned or unplanned. Change itself that makes me a little nervous.

Change makes me nervous because I feel out of control. I can't predict what life will be like, if I will like it, if I will be able to handle it. I can plan for it, but I can't preview before we go live. I would like a preview.

September is about counterbalancing that out-of-control feeling by taking charge of what I can. Not everything, and not all at once; I'm talking about a steady effort in dealing with those things that I've put off and in building self-discipline in areas that I've allowed to grow flabby.

Enough introduction. Here's my plan for the September RECLAIM YOUR LIFE Monthly Challenge. (I think the title is kind of catchy...)

1) Set priorities
2) Set a basic schedule
3) Simplify maintenance
4) Create routines
5) Choose project(s)
6) Choose a personal goal(s)
7) Track progress for one month

More on this tomorrow. For now, I'm off to write some other articles, as that is next on my schedule. La de da!