Watering Petunias

Here's Janelle at 17 months watering petunias I planted out front.

Housewarming

We had some friends over for a housewarming on Oct 26, 2009. Our Pastor came and had a very special dedication ceremony and blessing of the house. We want our home to be use by God to raise Godly seed, win the lost, care for the broken, and to be a place of refuge from the world.
Unless the Lord builds the house

they labor in vain that build it.

Psalm 127:1 Our Pastor in the living room.




Dave made his famous wings. Hanging in the dining room.

The guys in the back yard with Dakota.

How to set a table

I decided to keep some of Janelle's Hope Chest items here on my blog so that as she grows I can check to make sure I'm teaching her the things she ought to know. Also it won't be a collection of papers that I'll end up moving around and loosing. And here I'll always be able to find what I'm looking for.
One of the things I think she should know is how to set a proper place setting. I'm 28 and I'm still not sure which side of the plate to put the fork on. So I found some instructions on ehow.com. I'll have to have a little dinner party so that we can practice.

Dinnerware
Step 1 Dinner plates are placed directly in front of the seat, about two inches from the table's edge.
Step 2 Salad plates are placed to the left, above the fork.
Step 3 Bread plates vary. If there is a salad course, they are placed on the right, above the knife (to the left of the glassware), higher than the salad plate. If there is no salad course, the bread plate goes to the left above the fork.
Step 4 If serving a soup course, the soup bowl is placed directly on top of the dinner plate.
Step 5 Clear dishes after each appropriate course. If several dinner courses are served, replace dinner plates as necessary.


Flatware
Step 1 For a formal place setting only the appropriate silverware should be used, never any excess. Utensils are lined up about 1/2 of an inch away from the plate and lined up evenly at the bottom.
Step 2 Forks are placed on the left side of the plate. Knives (with the cutting edge facing inward) and spoons to the right of the plate. Butter knives are placed directly on top of the bread plate.
Step 3 Silverware should be placed on the table in the order it will be used, so the furthest from the plate will be used first. For example, salad forks are placed on the outside of the dinner forks.
Step 4 Dessert silverware is placed sideways about 1/2 of an inch above the plate, toward the center of the table. The spoon is placed first, closer to the plate with the spoon-end on the left. The fork is placed above the spoon, facing in the opposite direction with the fork-end to the right--so that if the guest were to pull the handles of the silverware down around the plate upon dessert service, the fork would still be on the left and the spoon on the right.

Stemware
Step 1 Water glasses should be placed on the right, directly above the knife.
Step 2 Wine glasses (and any additional beverage glasses) are placed to the right of the water glass.
Step 3 Coffee cups and saucers are placed on the table to the right of the knife and spoon.

About Table Settings

Elaborate rules of etiquette govern formal table settings. Most people do not know these rules anymore. Some people may never attend a function with a formal table setting, but if you collect china you will be interested to know how all the pieces of antique china were used.If you do plan to attend a formal dinner, use this primer as a way to learn (or brush up on) your formal table etiquette.

Significance
The most important rule that governs a formal table setting is to place everything so that the whole effect is visually pleasing. The formality signifies a certain gentility and civility but has a functional purpose, too. Setting formal place settings allows guests and their host to enjoy the meal and appreciate its complexity.Formal dining etiquette dictates that the spaces between place settings are even and about two feet apart to allow both for room and for pleasant conversation between the guests. According to Emily Post, the centerpiece has to be in the exact middle of the table. The middle crease of the tablecloth should line up with the center of the table and be perfectly straight. The formal table should be lit with candles.

The Facts
The forks go to the left of the place with the salad fork placed closest to the plate. Next, the meat fork and the fish fork. The order of the utensils can be deduced if you know the order in which they will be used. The utensils closest to the plate are for the first course. The ones furthest from the plate are for the last course. The knives go to the right of the plate with the meat knife nearest the plate and the fish knife next to it. To the right of the knives are the spoons, beginning with the soup spoon. Dessert utensils are not placed on the table until the dessert is served.

Features
There are several different kinds of glasses set on a formal table. Water glasses belong above and slightly to the right of the knives. The wine glasses go to the right of the water glass. The bread plate sits above the forks parallel to the glasses. A butter knife sits on top of the bread plate with its handle parallel to the edge of the table facing to the right.Several other items complete the table setting. A place card goes above the plate on the tablecloth to tell each guest where to sit. Cloth napkins, neatly folded in squares, sit in the middle of the plates. A set of salt and pepper shakers are placed on a formal table for every two guests.

Function
There used to be a proper division of labor for who should serve which food. If a husband and wife were the hosts, the man served the meat and vegetables while the woman served the other courses. Everything from the main savory part of the meal had to be cleared off the table before the dessert would be served. The very last thing served was the coffee. Very fancy meals ended with finger bowls filled with water to get any food residue off of the guests' fingers.

Benefits
Knowing the geography of a formally set table is not only important when you are the host of a fancy event. It is also key to participating as a guest at this kind of meal. Now you can attend without wondering which fork to use for your salad. It should allow you to enjoy your evening savoring the good conversation and the excellent food.

Decluttering my life

God recently exposed an area of my life that needs some work. I am a recovering pack rat and with the help of my loving husband I am decluttering my life. I was praying the other day that God would show me how to be a good mother and wife. I have been very frustrated about having all of these wonderful desires in my heart, and with great enthusiasm exclaiming before I before I go to bed "tomorrow is the day I change my life, I achieve all my hope and dreams, I accomplish the impossible", well maybe not quite. But I always have great aspirations for tomorrow only to lay my head on my pillow at night and say "what did I do today?" My heart has been so grieved as I watch my little girl's life passing by so quickly and fear I will lay my head on a pillow 20 years from now and sigh "Oh, all the things I wanted to teach her, wanted to show her, wanted to impart to her, all the ways I wanted to show my husband that I loved him, respected him, or was just thinking about him, all the people I wanted to reach out to, friends I wanted to connect with, and family that needed my love. But, what did I do today?" I start the day with a list of things to do, but I find myself sinking under it's heavy weight, powerless to accomplish the task at hand. I know my emotions are partly if not wholly to blame for my condition. I do the things that make me feel good at the time, and pay the price at the end of the day with disappointment and regret. Denny Kenaston in his message "The Three Mysterious influences in the Home", here, talks about how children absorb their environment. And how it is our responsibility as parents to create an environment that will foster children with heart towards God and their parents. We know that God is a God of order. Everything he created has purpose and proper place. Well I can't say the same for my home. And when your environment is cluttered so is your life. I'm not sure which one come first, a cluttered mind or a cluttered home, but they definitely lend themselves to each other, like a vicious cycle. Clutter drains your energy and blocks a healthy flow of progress. WELL I'VE HAD ENOUGH!!!!! I'm breaking this cycle and decluttering my home. I want to teach my daughter how to care for the things God has entrusted her with. And she will only learn from watching how mommy cares for her home, herself, and her belongings. I'm glad God has been gracious and showed this to me before months and years were wasted.
I will keep you updated with my progress. I know this is an attitude change for me, and it won't come by my simply throwing away some stuff. Pray that God would help me.
I know he cares.

Below is an article I found on how clutter affect your life.


Here are 10 ways excessive clutter can affect you and your life:


1. Family

Clutter causes irritability, resentment and stress that leads to temper tantrums, outbursts, and overall disharmony (especially, if people are having to deal with "other people's clutter". You may start to feel like you aren't a good parent or aren't a good example for your kids
Excessive clutter can cause depression, acting out, bad behavior in children due to their inability to focus caused by the clutter.

2. Relationships

Causes conflicts often due to chronic lateness
Can keep you from socializing because you don't have the energy or can't find clothes to go out. Keeps you from getting close to people because you don't entertain or want to have people visit you in your home

3. Loss of Self-Esteem

Causes you to feel like you aren't capable or are missing some basic skill that everyone else "seems" to have so you feel bad about yourself - the truth is you are not alone, many people have issues dealing with clutter

4. Emotionally

Excessive clutter often cause feelings of shame, guilt, anger and embarrassment that holds you back.
Clutter drains your energy - and you don't realize it till it's gone. Every item in your home has an energy to it. When items go a long time unused, unloved and uncared for, they become stuck, stagnant energy that actually physically drains you of your energy.

5. Physical Health & Stress

The stress caused by clutter is enormous. Every time you can't find something, or an argument flares up with a loved one, or you can't relax because you worry about all the things you need to do, but can't till you get the clutter cleared, your stress levels increase. Stress in turn, lowers your immunity and resistance and so you may have frequent, persistent colds.
Clutter can make it more difficult to eat healthy, cause headaches, fatigue, sinus problems and allergies and more.

6. Mental Health

Clutter decreases your ability to enjoy life. It causes stress, confusion, inability to focus, and often leads to depression. Sometimes clutter is initially caused by depression, but clutter also makes it nearly impossible to recover from depression. In my experience, once people start releasing their clutter, their energy comes back and the depression gets better, sometimes it goes away for good. Some people are extremely sensitive to their environments and just never realized what a difference it could make.
Even in people who don't have ADD, clutter causes ADD like symptoms.

7. Safety & Hygiene

In extreme clutter, people have a hard time walking without tripping or bumping into things. Often there are things hidden in the clutter that are very unsafe for children. I've seen some cases where a young child is pretty much confined to a playpen all the time because it just isn't safe to be out of the playpen.
Inability to clean cluttered areas can lead to extreme dust and even mold and mildew that exacerbates and even causes health problems in yourself and your children

8. Time

Simply having too much stuff eats up your time like crazy. Every thing you own requires some amount of care and organization. If you have too much stuff, it's much more difficult, time consuming, and expensive to get organized.
Having too much stuff often leads to procrastination and lateness which wastes your and other people's time and causes a whole host of other problems.
Not being able to find things is a huge time cost of clutter. For some people it wastes several hours every day.

9. Your Future

Holding on to clutter often grounds you in the past at the cost of your present life and your future.
Clutter distracts you from being able to think about your goals, projects, hobbies and get things done

10. Financial

Things have to have homes. Whether the home you provide for things is an extra room, a piece of furniture, or a container, you continue to pay for things long after you initially acquire them. Clutter directly costs money in the following ways:
Late fees for bills paid late
Credit card debt - often for unused stuff
Duplicates purchased because you can't find things
Some people move to larger home to accommodate the stuff
Renting storage facilities
Clutter affects people's careers. Studies have shown that people with cluttered desks and offices are less likely to be promoted. This of course affects how much money you can make.

Maybe you too can identify. Search your heart. If not pray for the rest of us.
Deborah