Christian Homemaker

I'm moving my blog from this one to blogspot.  The new blog has more features and a better archive system and is easier to add photos to!

http://christianhomekeeper.blogspot.com/

katiebellesmomma at 8:05:14 PM PST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

A few people have asked me what I use on my hair.  I have hair to my mid thigh and a perm, although my perm was 1 1/2 years ago, I still have curl.  I have been through so many books and read different things and there are a few trusted sources of information and I do know for a fact that some shampoos and conditioners actually DRY OUT the hair!  The ingredients contained within them are drying to hair.  It is sad that most consumers do not know this!

I have a list of shampoos that do not have this agent in them......the one I use and have used for YEARS is Finesse.  It is a very good shampoo and I use Finesse Bodifying Shampoo and for conditioner I use the Finesse Moisturizing Conditioner.  Almost ALL of Suave's shampoos/conditioners are excellent also. 

I also use pure coconut oil on my ends.  For gel, I use (and I believe it to THE BEST), Biolage Gelee.  Then for hairspray, I used Finesse Touchables hairspray for years but I can not find it anywhere around here!  So I had to venture out and try something new and I did find something that I actually like BETTER than the finesse hairspray and it adds a very nice sheen/shine to my hair because it has silicone in it........John Frieda's  Frizz-Ease Moisture Barrier Firm-Hold hairspray.  Believe me, I have tried many products and these products I now use are good! 

 

So here they are:

Finesse Bodifying Shampoo and Moisturizing Conditioner

Biolage Gelee

Frizz Ease Moisture Barrier firm hold hair spray

Pure coconut oil (you buy it in the oil section of the grocery store!)

 

***To update this post, I had another spiral perm March 2007 and it did really good and my hair is doing great.  I have since tried a new shampoo:  Garnier Fructis and I must say I am HOOKED on their products!  They have put my hair in some of the best condition its ever been and I use the shampoo, conditioner and leave in everytime I wash my hair (which is only 2-3 times a week).  I also tried Suave's gel and it has been working great on my hair.......although Biolage Gelee is still the best, its $14, whereas the Suave is a few bucks LOL. 

katiebellesmomma at 12:38:45 AM PST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

So the recipe I had gotten from a friend for homemade whole wheat tortillas didn't work very well.  I asked another lady how she did it and found she used more water and more baking powder.  So I revised my recipe and made them tonight and they were delicious!!  They are nice and fluffy, almost like a gordita and my husband loved them and even my daughter liked them so much she ate them plain LOL.  I made chicken fajitas tonight and it was mmmmmm good!! 

Here is the recipe:

 

3 cups flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour but they do get a little flaky with this)

3t baking powder

1-2t salt (depends on how salty you want them)

1 1/8 cup warm water

1/4 cup olive oil

 

Mix dry ingredients together.  In a seperate bowl mix the water and oil together.  Add the water and oil to the dry ingredients and form a dough by kneading.  You may need some extra flour nearby to prevent it from sticking to your hands.  Form into 8 balls and let sit for about 10-15 minutes.  Then heat a griddle or a pan on your stove to high with NO oil or spray at all, just a dry pan/griddle. 

Then roll out a tortilla and place in pan.  It should bubble up some.  Turn it over on the other side when you see brown spots on the side that is cooking.  Continue until all are done!  Enjoy!

katiebellesmomma at 6:13:03 PM PST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

I have listed this recipe before but since then I have "tweaked" it a little and so I got this one and it works the best.

I only spend $10-12 for the supplies to last for a years worth of detergent. I have a 5 gallon bucket and I make a large batch every 3 months usually. 

Here is the recipe:

1 bar Fels Naptha soap

1 1/2 cups Borax

1 1/2 cups Washing soda

5 gallon bucket

Grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan. Add 12 cups water and heat on medium until the soap melts. Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until it is dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 8 cups hot water into the 5 gallon bucket. Now add your soap mixture and stir. Now add 2 gallons plus 12 cups of water and stir. Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel.

You use ½ cup per each load and 1 cup for very large loads.

Optional: If you want your soap to have some sort of scent you can scent
this with ½ to 1 oz. of essential oil or fragrance oil of your
choice.

After 24 hours it will be very gelled, but I use a wisk and mixing spoon and stir it several times while it sets and it has stays at a nice consistency.

* The detergent does not bubble in the wash but it is cleaning!

* If yours did not gel correctly after 24 hours then use more soap next time....like 1/2 bar, but you can still use it if it isn't very gelled anyway.

* When it sets you may get a "egg drop soup" effect.....just mix/stir with a whisk or blender.

katiebellesmomma at 3:41:04 PM PST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

The Christian life IS the best life there is to live!!  We had 2 wonderful services today and it was better than the superbowl!  I would rather be among God's people worshipping him in his house on the Lord's day than........well you fill in the blanks.  It is sad that some would forego church by staying home for the superbowl.  HELLO!  What is an idol?  Anything that you put before God..........anyway.......the services were great and tonight's service was something I've been needing.  Talk about a refreshing breath of fresh air!

God is good and I feel better in my body also.  I'm having such a wonderful time in school learning about the Bible.  It IS THE BEST time of my life! 

katiebellesmomma at 10:28:21 PM PST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

Going on Day 11 now with bronchitis.  My husband is going on Day 16 and this is NOT fun at all!  I'm so tired of coughing and wish it would stop.  Hopefully it will be gone soon so I can get back to my morning runs!  I really miss them!  I don't like doing no exercise....it makes me feel as the title says "UGH!"

I told myself I can do this, I can go knock on some doors and invite people to church in the cold and rain and I will be ok.  OOPS......well I got worse.  =(  My husband made me quit and go home because I and him too were coughing at the doors and it would echo through this subdivision we were in, it was so loud but we couldn't stop hardly lol.  We got about 25 doors and then he took me home and we got some rest.  They say rest is the best way to get over bronchitis, so I'm going to bed.........

katiebellesmomma at 12:40:28 AM PST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

Almost better!  This is Day 8 for me and Day 14 for my husband and we are still sick but getting better.  Weird thing is mine started in my chest with congestion and coughing and NOW I have a stuffy nose and ears and sore throat.  It is like it moved up, instead of the usual way down.  Usually you will get a stuffy head, then it will drip and you will get the chest congestion/cough, but not this time..........crazy! 

Our classes are done for this week.  It feels great to have them done and have no classes on Fridays.  Then I think Pastor will be out of town so we won't have class on Monday next week, just Tues and Wed!   However my hand that I write with hurts so bad and still hurts today.  Last night it was hurting so bad I was praying as I wrote, it was intense pain.  I guess my hand will have to get used to writing 4 classes in 2 days!  I also hit the top of the bone before class and it bruised.......so that didn't help LOL. 

I'm feeling really good about these classes and I am already putting more effort into them.  We have lots of homework to do, so that will keep me busy Friday night!

 

For dinner tonight, I'm making homemade whole wheat tortillas and chicken fajitas!  Tomorrow is going to be homemade pineapple/ham pizza with whole wheat homemade crust. 

I'm ignoring the house today because I'm going to try and get my notes typed.  I have a lot to do because we had 5 classes!  But I got one done, one halfway done and one 1/3 of the way done so far.  Then I will do the homework and study for each class this weekend.

 

**Oh I forgot to mention.  I had to get a new coffee maker because mine broke.  So I got one of those dual coffee maker/espresso/capuccino machines and I'm going to try it out today!  I can't wait........!

katiebellesmomma at 12:21:55 PM PST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

Me, my husband and my daughter all have bronchitis.  We can't seem to stop coughing and have fevers.  My husband is on Day 11 of this and I'm on Day 5 as is my daughter.  It takes 2-3 weeks to clear usually.  It is annoying!!  Especially during church I was hacking the whole service LOL.  I have class tonight and I'm praying God helps supress my cough so I won't cough through the class.  If you are reading this, feel FREE TO PRAY that hehe. 

I had to stop my morning run because I read if you have cough/congestion then you should NOT exercise till you recover, it will make it worse most likely.  Anything below the neck you should not workout, but above the neck symptons you can work out.  So I did what the WebMD suggested and got more rest than usual........I woke at 6 and went back to bed at 8 and slept till 1130. 

I'm moving really slow today because my lungs hurt so bad, I can actually feel the pain on the outside.  Probably from constant coughing.

I'm going to do some laundry today and clean my daughter's room AGAIN because she had a friend over and it got demolished once again!  Oh well......she has to play in it I guess hehe.

I'm in much prayer over this next semester, I want to do better than the last and give more effort.  I also want to study more and fully understand each class!  It went by so fast last semester that I still can not believe it is over! 

 

**For dinner tonight, I'm making Red Beans and Rice and Kielbasa soup with some homemade bread or maybe some honey muffins! 

katiebellesmomma at 1:33:30 PM PST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

Me and my husband agreed before we even married that we both wanted 5 children.  We waited 3 years before having our first and we want to have our second upon completion of Seminary.  I have thought, do I really want 4 more?  I have a few friends who have 5 or more children and they say it is actually easier with more than with one or two.  I was perplexed!!!  How could it be easier?  Well one lady shared that she has 7 children I think it is and they do the housework, the dishes, laundry and they even cook!  So she has all this time free because her children do chores and take care of the younger ones.  Amazing!  She homeschools them and the older kids will most of the time help the younger ones with their schoolwork also. 

Then there is the money issue.  We live on my husband's income and I wondered what it would be like to have more children.  Well there are several women who have more kids than me and their husband's make less than my husband and they make it ok!  I'm willing to sacrifice and live more frugal later on if it means I have more children.  We know for sure we want one more, a boy hopefully, but not until we finish Seminary. 

We prayed for a daughter and we got her.......even prayed for the eye color and hair color and amount of hair at birth and it all came out as we prayed!  It was amazing........I was telling the doctor as he did the ultrasound that it is a GIRL........because I prayed.  Well he, evidently not believing in God, didn't believe me.  He kept saying it looked like a boy and right after I said that it was a girl because I prayed for one......my baby in my womb opened her legs so wide that there was NO way that was a boy LOL.  It was like God was showing that doctor.......oh ya lookee here hehe.  LOL  Oh it was awesome and he hadn't seen that happen like that before and there was no doubt she was a girl! 

Having a girl has been wonderful.  I'm teaching her how to be a woman, homemaker already!  She loves to pretend to do what I do.  She would watch me iron and wanted to help so bad but I couldn't let her because it was hot, so we found a girl's ironing board and iron that makes the sounds and got it for her.  She loves it and irons clothes now! 

Also she loves to help fold laundry, put it away, load the dryer and wash dishes.  She is always wanting to help here and even at other's homes.  It is great to see her at age 3, already have a serving spirit and she is very generous.  She shocked me one time when she had got a package of candy and the boy next to her at church did not have any.  I didn't even say anything and my daughter gave him her whole package and said you have it and smiled at him.  I was floored!  I didn't think they learned this stuff until age 10 or so LOL.  She has taught me a thing or two!  ; )

Whatever the Lord wants for us, we will do.  He knows we want a big family, so we will see in time and above all follow God's will above our own! 

katiebellesmomma at 12:44:53 PM PST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

Well tonight ended Orientation and we start classes on Monday night.  We also got our schedule and they are only doing classes on Mon, Tues and Wed now and none on Fridays! We start on Monday night..........

My classes this trimester are:

Pastor's Class
Harmony of the Gospels
Practical Theology I
Historical Books I
Doctrines I

We have Pastor's Class on Monday's and then Tuesday and Wednesday's are the other 4 back to back........they call it a "double header". We have a class and then get a 15 minute break before the next class.   So Fridays are a FREE day!!!!!  Only catch is.......the workload/homework will be increased they said.  Also Monday we will not always have a class, it depends on Pastor's schedule as per when classes will be.  We may do like last trimester and have several of them in a row.

Sounds like some intense subjects this time around and I'm ready to do more studying also!  We have Fridays free.......so that will be a day that I will use to do most of my work or maybe we will make Friday nights a Family Night.....and go out and do something or stay in and play games together or whatever.  Guess it will depend on how much homework we have! 

I got my grades and I have to say that I didn't expect what I got.  In one class I really thought I was going to get lower than I got.  Then in the class where I thought I did the best of them all.....I got the lowest grade of them all.  LOL Oh well.......going to try harder and do better this trimester!  I'm not doing it for a good grade but for God!  The effort is for God above all.

My husband did very well and I'm proud of him........he puts forth so much effort, even though he works long hours, he does his best. 

My prayer is that we as a team, me and my husband, do better this trimester and keep on keeping on! 

I was really nervous about starting Seminary and actually didn't think I had what it took to make it through, even one semester!  However, God has helped me and showed me, just put forth the effort and study and do the work and PRAY and he will take care of the rest!  He has.......God is Good!!!

katiebellesmomma at 10:39:06 PM PST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own