Amy J. Bennett

Works for Me Wednesday: Dishwashing Tip

February 8, 2012 by Amy 12 Comments

Why is it so many times I think of a great tip, it’s something Scott came up with? Hmm. In any case, he doesn’t have a blog (and barely reads mine, for the record) so I get to post all his great ideas.

Like many of you, I’m sure, I keep a hand towel by the sink. In the case where I have to hand wash dishes, I always spread the hand towel out on the counter, wash, rinse and then like a game of Jenga, place all the dishes on the little hand towel. For years. And I mean YEARS, if I was losing at my game of Jenga and really needed more drying space, I’d just get another hand towel out and lay it beside the other and keep going. This was fine and all but Scott made it a little better.

See, about a year or two ago when I finally figured out how to cook something besides spaghetti (thank you, Ree), we figured out that the best way our house worked (ie, not have dirty dishes lying around for a week) is if I started and emptied the dishwasher, he reloaded it and he washed any of the larger dishes/pots left. I take out the trash normally so don’t feel too bad for him. This is the part where I don’t mind feminism so much. In any case, because he normally was left with several pots to clean, rarely was the one hand towel enough.

So.

He started keeping a large beach towel in the adjacent laundry room. When it was time to do dishes, he folded it in half and used that as the drying towel. It’s GREAT.

It’s super absorbent, unlike many of my hand towels
It expands to take up the entire countertop if we need it
We can use it forever because it’s never getting dirty, just wet. I do wash it occasionally just to calm my germ fears.
I only have one hand towel out at a time.

Ya’ll. It works for me! Or him. Whatever.

This post is linked up to WeAreThatFamily.com

Top Ten Tuesday: Jesus Lays the Smack Down

February 7, 2012 by Amy 8 Comments

Fig Tree (credit)

I haven’t done much updating this time around, but I have stuck with the Bible in 90 Days reading schedule since November. We just crossed (ha) from the Old Testament to the New Testament over the weekend. And can I just say that Jesus is CRACKING. ME. UP. I know! It sounds so strange on the surface but seriously, Jesus told ’em like it was and boy howdy, sometimes I think he got pretty frustrated and it’s hilarious to read. Or maybe I’m just an overly sarcastic person and reading it that way. I don’t know, a few ladies in my reading group found one of them funny too so maybe you’ll agree. Read this and you decide.

I’ll say by introduction that in Matthew, we go through Jesus’ lineage, John the Baptist, Jesus’ birth, and His first teachings but it gets really interesting about Chapter 7 when we start seeing Him interact with the Pharisees and Sadducees, as well as his disciples. He doesn’t mince words.

1. He starts out easy on them in Matthew 7:5 "How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye." I read that "You hypocrite" more like "You HYPOCRITE!" Can’t you feel his frustration at their hypocrisy? It’s a wonder He didn’t turn them into a pillar of salt that instant.

2. He does something similar in Matthew 22:29 when he says "You are in error because you do not know the Scripture or power of God." I find this funny because the Sadducees He was talking to certainly should have known the Scriptures but were incorrect in many of their beliefs. You know how when someone is lying and is getting everyone to believe them but then the one that knows the truth come in and says so and everyone’s like, "Oh". That’s what this is for me. Total smack-down.

3. Matthew 8:26 This is when Jesus and his disciples are on a boat and it’s about to capsize and Jesus is asleep downstairs. They go get him and his response? "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Basically I read that as "You guys are a bunch of scaredy cats!"

4. In Matthew 12:5 the Pharisees are trying to trap Jesus about doing good on the Sabbath. In the middle of his response, Jesus says, "Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent?" I love that "or haven’t you read…" I just imagine a teacher saying, "You would know that if you’d done your homework!"

5. In Mark 7:9 the Pharisees ask why his disciples didn’t wash their hands since it broke tradition of the elders and Jesus response? "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions." Bam! I feel some neck rolling with that "fine way".

6. In Matthew 16, Jesus was trying to talk in code about the Pharisees being like yeast. The disciples do not get it in the least and start discussing how they didn’t have any bread so Jesus responds, "You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread?…How is it you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread?" I can just imagine some eye rolling about here. FUNNY.

7. Matthew 16:23 "Get behind me Satan" Mm-mm. Power!

8. In Matthew 17:17 a demon-possessed boy is brought to Jesus that the disciples could not heal. His response? "You unbelieving and perverse generation…How long shall I put up with you?" I imagine a great big sigh right here.

9. In Matthew 21:19 Jesus is walking by a fig tree and gets aggravated because there is no fruit on it "May you never bear fruit again!" Hmph! Take that, tree! The best part is the tree really does shrivel up and die.

10. This has to be my favorite. In Matthew 15:15 Peter asks Jesus to explain a parable and Jesus’ response is simply, "Are you still so dull?"

OK, maybe it’s my sarcastic sense of humor but, if you read those passages in context I find Jesus to be quite entertaining. You can’t get past "are you still so dull?" without a giggle. If nothing else, I love how he exerts so much truth and power to put them in their place. Then again, that probably means he has to be asking why I’m so dull on the regular.

So what’s your conclusion? Does Jesus hit your funny bone?

Read more Top Ten Tuesday posts at ohAmanda.com

Weekend Recap

February 6, 2012 by Amy 5 Comments

I would tell you about my weekend in succession but I’m afraid it would be dreadfully boring to read. Scott worked nights all weekend so that means we basically stayed in all weekend other than a few trips to the grocery store, a quick drive-by of the library to return books (before the due date, even), church and Sunday dinner. I didn’t even make my weekly trip out to CVS. At home, the highlight was reorganizing the tupperware. I only needed to do one load of laundry. I never painted the hallway that desperately needs it. We just didn’t do much at all.

And yet.

I layed around the girls’ room while Emma gave me fake tests. I scored a 100 on my spelling test. I wrote an entire essay on an article she made me read. Seriously. Three paragraphs. I turned it in and she didn’t even read it. Hmph! We ate all our meals together. I made all their snacks. We watched part of the Super Bowl together until they got bored. They watched the same movie at least twice. They danced with the music on loud. They played with their cousin. I introduced them to Little House on the Prairie. I referreed arguments. I pushed them on the swings.

It was nothing and everything.

A perfect weekend.

Another Reminder to Eat a Healthy Diet

February 4, 2012 by Amy 6 Comments

Do you need some reading for the weekend? Perhaps something else to mull over while you do laundry? Over the past few days I’ve gotten completely lost in cancertutor.com. I found it on a Google search after our friend Joy, who is battling breast cancer now, was talking the other night about how much diet affects/causes cancer.

The site’s purpose seems to claim many alternative cures to cancer, AIDS and other diseases for which I can make no claims. They seem legit but it’s a tough call to make a leap of faith on the kind of processes they are suggesting. Many are quick to label it quackery. On the other hand, I think all of us could agree there are natural solutions for our bodies’ health issues.

A small part of the site which I’ve been fascinated with though are the articles on how to Prevent Cancer and The Cancer Diet, which isn’t required for me but I think includes some interesting facts about how food and cancer are related. Most of the the stuff we know…lots of fruits, veggies (heavy on the green ones, including grass), nuts, beans and little to no meat are best. But there are many other nuggets (no McDonald’s pun intended) that I’ve found like how bad peanuts are for you. As I’ve heard before, sugar feeds cancer cells. Food like margarine, french fries and aspartame cause cancer.

I don’t know what to think of the site but I do know at minimum it was a good reminder to eat a healthy diet which I have STUNK at the last few months. Ugh! Why is it so hard? Why can’t blackberries taste like a banana split?? And many apologies for posting this on Super Bowl weekend! How about a side of guilt with those wings?

I’m very curious if anyone is familiar with any of these treatments or is pretty smart about a cancer prevention diet. Would love any information, stories and particularly any healthy recipes you have!

Emma The Painter

February 3, 2012 by Amy 7 Comments

Over the years, Emma has tried a few activities. We stuck with gymnastics for about a year until we took a break during the summer and never went back. Neither of them disliked it but neither of them were bent on going back so we didn’t.

Then came guitar lessons. She was sure she wanted to play guitar like Taylor Swift. And I really think she still wants to. However, she realized it takes a whole lot of practice and dedication. She quit lessons a few months in and then went back a few months later for another few weeks all to find out she still didn’t find enough interest in it to really practice like it required.

Well, for months as Lexi has continued with Taekwondo, Emma hasn’t been doing anything. I’ve agreed to let her do nearly anything she wanted. She just wasn’t interested. In fact, one time the only thing she could come up with was giving ME painting lessons. Finally, a place called the Painted Parrot opened in town. On their site it seemed like they were more geared towards parties. It’s actually pretty cool. You get a group of people, show up and you all paint the same picture. She supplies everything. But I wasn’t sure if she did private lessons. It was never opened when we went by but after a few weeks I finally made the call. Sure enough, she does individual or small group lessons. She supplies everything, the kids pick out what they want to paint and she helps them with their technique.

Emma went yesterday for her first lesson. I actually had to talk her into going because her friend at school started gymnastics yesterday and she was sure she wanted to go with her. I insisted she go to the lesson we had agreed to and then she could decide.

When I went to pick her up, Emma was busy helping clean up. She seemed assertive yet comfortable, responding to questions with confidence and clearly in a happy disposition.

Walking out, she declared she was definitely going back and said, “You know how sometimes when I go new places I’m shy and don’t talk much? Well, it wasn’t the same today. I answered her questions and talked a lot. It was so much fun.” I said, “So you’re comfortable there?” She said, “Yes!” And there was something about her that seemed very mature. There was no shy little girl walking out of that studio. She talked the whole way home about how she had painted and the ways she had shaded the tree and what stars she had picked and on and on.

2012-02-02

She was already picking out her painting for the next week over dinner, really mulling over what she wanted it to look like. She had picked a palmetto tree this week since it’s our state tree but thinks she wants to do some mountains next week. I was a little concerned Lexi was going to be upset she didn’t get a picture but she was super supportive of her, telling her what a great job she had done.

I’m not sure where this will go, but for now I think Emma’s place is in front of an easel, paintbrush in hand.

How to Stop Negative Thinking

January 31, 2012 by Amy 10 Comments

Source: imgfave.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

We all have negative thoughts. Many of them are untrue and lead to fear, anxiety, self-doubt, discouragement, even jealousy.

Perhaps you’ve looked in the mirror and said, “Look at that – you’ve gotten so fat. You’re so lazy. And unhealthy. Really, you’re just not worth much at all.”

Or, you hear a sound at night and figure that it must be someone in the house. How far down the hall are they? What kind of weapon do they have? Which door should I run for and what neighbor should I go to? How will I get the kids out? By then, fear has taken over, your heart is racing, you’re sweating and trying to figure out how to dial 911.

Or perhaps your friend says something and it makes you think, “I don’t think she likes me. I bet she doesn’t even want to be with me right now. I am just so stupid. Why do I have friends at all?”

I would like to say all of these are exaggerated examples but they’re not. I’ve had versions of all of them. But they’re not the truth and we shouldn’t dwell on lies. 2 Corinthians 10:5 says

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

We have to take our thoughts captive before they spiral us into fear, anxiety, self-doubt, discouragement, or jealousy. If we are able to capture them at the start, we don’t have to go down these paths.

I recently learned a practical way to take these thoughts captive that I’d like to share. Think about your mind like a computer. Imagine that your thoughts are like surfing the Internet. Sometimes when we are browsing, we come upon a site with pop-ups. Do we ever look at these pop-ups? No. We simply ignore them or close them. We know they are garbage and they’re not worth our time to investigate. In fact, some of us go to extensive measures to make sure these pop-ups don’t show up in the first place.

That’s what we have to do with our negative thoughts. We don’t have to look at them, examine them, read them, click on them. Don’t follow these paths that lead to destructive lies. When a negative thought comes in our mind, we simply close that thought and move to something else. As an alternative, speak the truth if it’s an outright lie or find the good in the situation, even if there is bad. Listen, I know there is enough bad in the world to think all day on it, but we don’t have to. We can choose to think on the good parts.

Philippians 4:8 says

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

If the thought that comes up isn’t true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy, close it!

Weekend Recap

January 30, 2012 by Amy 13 Comments

Highlights from the weekend:

Both girls spent the night with Scott’s parents’ Friday night and we got to sleep in on Saturday. Scott’s back has been hurting him lately so he didn’t do his normal mountain biking first thing Saturday. I hate his back has been hurting but I loved sleeping in.
I got to do a bit of shopping on my own Saturday morning. I got a belt at Kohl’s for $5. I wish you could have seen my old belt. I bought that old belt from NY & Company in the mid-90s. Ridiculous! I also stopped at Hobby Lobby where I got completely overwhelmed. So many ideas and so little money. I walked away with absolutely nothing. That’s the kind of place I need a friend to filter through all the decisions with me.

meltingpot

Saturday afternoon we went to the Melting Pot with our friends Jake and Jill. The girls had a real! live! babysitter! We usually have family watch them but they were psyched to have a “real” babysitter at the house. The Melting Pot didn’t disappoint. If nothing else, you should go and have the dessert and be sure to get The Original – a mix of chocolate and peanut butter. Yum!

Right of picture: Lexi, Emma, Skyler and Scott in a tug of war at Discovery Place

After church yesterday we went to the Mummies of the World exhibit in Charlotte. I’m not certain I have formed a solid opinion of the mummies. In some ways, it was like a bad wreck you couldn’t look away from. At times, I wondered why in the world I just paid to walk around and look at dead people. Other times, it was very cool to see the hieroglyphics on some of the mummies or see how much different people were years ago. Very fascinating. But yes, if you think about it too much it’s very weird. The kids loved it though and were fascinated by how the people died and how old they were. But at the end of the day, they still preferred all the amazing activities that Discovery Place has to offer. At this age, they can’t seem to soak in enough facts about science.

The rest of the weekend was filled in with laundry and TV (Downton Abbey! Big Bang Theory! Blue Bloods!) and shopping. A great weekend for sure.

I’m curious, do the mummies gross you out or fascinate you?

A Mirror, Rug and a Debunking

January 26, 2012 by Amy 5 Comments

OK, so I’ve had a few small changes around the house. Nothing outstanding but they make me happy and I’m all about sharing the happy.

The mirror

First up, my mom found this mirror from Celebrating Home.

The mirror is a perfect fit with our new curtains and I love that it brings some green into the room. The plan is to find a dresser of some sort to go under it but clearly this decorating the bedroom thing is going to be a drawn-out process.

The Rug

I peeked in HomeGoods the other day after I hit up Old Navy and no lie, I saw this rug for my bathroom and was taking off to the check-out counter in no less than 25 seconds. If you know me and my indecisive nature, you know that’s a flat out miracle.

The Debunking

And finally, the other weekend Scott and I were bored and I said, “I feel like rearranging some furniture.” Well, that started 24 hours of drama with the girls’ room. Lexi wanted to keep it and Emma wanted them separate. I actually like the look of the bunk beds but they were serving absolutely no purpose. Neither girl wanted to sleep on top and it was clearly being used as storage.

After a trial night, both girls decided they really like having separate beds. Can you believe they happily spent 9 months sharing a twin bed?