In My Home This Week: Slowing Down

In my home this week...

...I have been thinking about what's really important to me.  I've put off buying flowers for autumn because it's so hot and dry but it occurred to me last night that I might well employ deeper water saving tricks such as I'd used in the past to see us through this dry autumn...and incidentally water plants.  So I think I'll invest in a few flowers this week.   I really love flowers and enjoy having pretty things and spaces indoors and out.

This thought started as I watched a blue jay splashing happily in the bird bath outside the window.  How I have enjoyed watching those jays at that bird bath!  I smile every single time and it took just a few inches of water to bring me that easy smile.

Besides planning for flowers and finishing up two projects that are in progress but very nearly done, I've decided that since November begins with a family visit and ends with the first of the holidays that I'm going to cease making huge goal lists with big projects upon them until January.  I can see all about me the results of the  hard work we've put into our home and yard this year.  At this point, it's time to stop and think about what I want to change or do next year, plan for and enjoy the holidays and rest a little.

Iced Tea Chat: Water Bugging

Her mums look autumnal, don't they?  But yes, you can see we're back at the 'Iced Tea' stage of things. Ugh.  It's not that the heat is so awful, though it's bad enough if you're trying to work outdoors, but the gnats, the blasted gnats that simply must get right in your ear with an obnoxious high pitched 'bzzzzzzzzz' or fly into your eyes, mouth or nose if they possibly can.  So we'll do as this cool looking lady has done and take our tea indoors.  How's that sound?

My title says it all: Water bugging.  Water bugs do nothing much but skim along the surface of the water.  They never swim or get down into the deep of things.  They are strictly all about what's on the surface of things and to be honest, that's  exactly how I feel I've been of late.  True, there are those Proverbial Woman posts which are proving to be even more difficult to work out than I'd thought they would and I'd figured on them being plenty tough as it was.  So there's that bit of depth to my existence these days but the rest?  Skimming along.  I look busy enough but am getting little done for all the show of going places and doing things. Prayer time, Bible study, menus, goals....Just skimming.

Frankly I'm not fond of this state but it occurs now and again whether I mean it to occur or not.  Sigh.  I'm not bored, not in the least.  I'm not over tired nor overly busy.  I'm just not accomplishing much of anything for all that I appear to be busy at all times.  And my mind just won't truly quiet off, as I like it to do so that I can read and study and delve and create.  

Frugal Friday: Hurrying to Save for October

Reusing old things (this frame has been on the front porch for the past five years) is one way I stretch and stretch my decorating budget...

Saturday:  The cold wind of autumn finally blew in yesterday.  It was cold enough to snuggle last night and we did turn on the heat for a moment this morning, just long enough to bump the indoor temperatures up to 67F.

I'd planned to have leftovers today but with a bagel and coffee for breakfast, something more substantial and warming seemed in order.  Pot roast with a pineapple upside down cake sounded good to me and came together in minutes.

The Pineapple upside down cake used up the half can of pineapple rings I had left.  I used the juice in the cake in place of the milk the recipe called for.

I used the electric frying pan to make the pot roast since I decided a little late to start it.  I don't use that fryin pan very often...And honestly after today I'm thinking there's little reason to keep it.  It cooked awfully fast compared to the stovetop.  This appliance was a gift to me and wasn't something I'd normally have chosen for myself.  I think today made up my mind to let it go to a home that will appreciate it.

Last night after supper, before sundown, I put together the rice and chili left from last weekend and made up 7 burritos to go into the freezer. 

The Proverbial Woman: Vs, 18 A Light Seen From Afar

Proverbs 31:18  She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.  Her lamp does not go out at night.

Tet ('tate' rhyming with mate) is the ninth letter of the alphabet.  Tet is first used in Genesis 1 where '...God saw the light that it was good '.  The pictorgraph of this letter is of a snake in a basket and is said to represent the choice between good and evil and a possible perversion of goodness. 

The Hebrew word which begins with tet  is  Ta'amah.   It means 'she perceives'.   She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.  In some translations she 'discerns'... Either word here truly works well. Perceive means to 'become aware or conscious of, to understand'.  Discern means 'to recognize; to distinquish between'.  The word used here for merchandise is 'chacar'  the same as the word used in verse 14.  It means to 'go about, to travel'.  I believe that in this instance she is continually examining her motives and actions, distinguishing between them what is all too human and what is spiritually right.

Her merchandise in this instance is truly the value of her character and her actions. 

Isaiah 23:18  For her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness...

This woman knows her personal value is truly based upon her character, who she is in private as well as in public.   I think we as women struggle with this.  I know I did.  I had no clue what my value was as a person, as a woman, a wife, a mother.  I had to learn these things and if I could change much about my past, I'd choose to change those choices I made that failed to recognize my worth and the 'profit' of my example to others.  I would not have allowed certain behaviors, on my part or others', that discounted my worth.

Her lamp does not go out at night.  Immediately, this passage reminds me of the passage of the bridesmaids in Matthew 25:1-13 where five of the ten bridesmaids showed up without oil for their lamps.  They were unprepared and missed the coming of the bridegroom.  This Proverbial woman is prepared spiritually.  She is, I think, also secure in any battles she might face.  Dark times come to us all.  We struggle with big issues at times.  This woman is aware that even in the darkest hours,  her spiritual lamp does not go out. She is safe in her God.

Matthew 5:14:  You are the light of the world...

This verse too speaks of this woman, of any of us, who  have sought after that personal relationship with God (and for Christians the relationship with Christ). We take on the light of his presence, and  shine out into the dark world about us. 

Proverbs 31 Woman: Strong At Heart

31: 17 She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong.

Chet (Cate as in mate) is our eighth letter and is represented in pictorals by a fence.  Some Jewish mystics say that Chet is the light that comes through from the doorway of heaven.  It represents life and wisdom and because it is the eighth letter it also said that it represents grace.

The letter Chet is formed from both Vav and Zayin connected by a thin line.  This is believed to be because it is love which makes us as one with God.  The letter is often used to represent life and because of it's shape, it is said that it is the same form in which the blood of the lamb was painted upon the doorposts of the homes of the Israelites in Egypt on that first Passover.  Often this letter is associated with new beginnings.

The word in the verse is chagrah and it translates "to gird oneself, as with a belt or armor".

I happened to hear a commentary on this verse just the other day.  In it, the teacher said that the woman had pulled up her skirts and tucked them into her waistband much as peasant women had done while working in the fields for years upon years.  That is certainly a vision of a woman hard at work isn't it?  And coming on the heels of reading of her purchase of a field and planting a vineyard it is most certainly an apt vision.

For all this I could not forget that the letter's pictograph represented a fence.  Why a fence?  What do fences do?  They protect.  They keep out the unwanted and contain that which is valuable to us.  Fences are usually our first line of defence in battle.  

I cannot help, in reading this verse but   to think of  Eph. 6:10 Finally be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, so that you can stand against the Devil's schemes.  Reading the Lexicon verses in which the word chagrah nearly all of them refer to armor or weapons.

So I do not feel I am far wrong in thinking that this verse, in a spiritual sense, represents the preparation of this woman for battle.

In drawing closer to God, we must, above all, learn to be spiritually strong.  Otherwise we will not grow in our relationship with him because we will be distracted and overtaken by a world of cares orchestrated by satan to keep us from our purpose.   In the same way, when the blood of the lamb was painted upon the doorposts of the Israelite homes, God told them to spread that blood in order to protect themselves during the spiritual battle that raged about them.   Hence, when this woman dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong  it is surely a simile of her readying herself for spiritual battle.  Sometimes it is enough to put on the armor, to show oneself ready for battle and aware of the raging wars between earth and heaven.  But  we see in this verse that indeed, she makes her arms strong.  She has gone the extra distance to be fully prepared to fight if necessary.  She has disciplined herself as a soldier, going back to verse 10 and  the word chayil which I shared had a meaning of army.  She is an army because she will not fight alone as a solitary soldier but has aligned herself with God and his hosts of angels to do battle. 

The Proverbial Woman: A Lasting Harvest

31:16  She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.

 Zayin in pictograph looks like a sword and the meaning of the word is sword or weapon, but the root word means sustenance or provision.  The word is paradoxical. It implies that sustenance must somehow be wrested by an act of destruction of some sort. 

The word which begins with zayin in this verse is 'zammah'.  It means 'to consider', not in an offhand manner but to think long and deeply, with purpose and planning.

On the surface of it,  this verse points out that women in that time period were able to own property in their own right.  She considers a field...and she buys it. She assessed the possibilities of the land, she knew the value of it. Perhaps this was the decision that she struggled with.  Perhaps the wresting has more to do with the planting: with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard. 

A woman who plants a vineyard. It doesn't say she bought a vineyard, she bought a field.  Turning a field into a vineyard is hard work.  And here I think is a portion of the meaning of the paradox in zayin.

The Hebrew word which represents 'fruit of her hands' is 'peiry' and translates 'fruit of her efforts'.

The letter zayin is the seventh letter of the Hebrew alphabet and represents the number 7, and the seventh day, the Sabbath.  The Sabbath day is a day of rest.  The paradox of a letter that represents the seventh day in a verse about something that is clearly labor is not without purpose.  Nor is the symbol of a sword, a weapon of warfare, without purpose. And let us not forget the 'sustenance' meaning of the root word.  Just exactly what is going on here?

"...Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." Deut. 8:3

Exodus 20:8 tells us that the Sabbath day is a day of rest.  I can tell you sincerely that in my experience keeping the Sabbath involves a lot of work!  In order to rest on that day, I must prepare our meals the day before.  I have to plan well ahead and anticipate what our needs might be (consider the field) during that day.  While we are not legalistic and we do sometimes prepare food or even wash dishes if there are a good many of them, it's always a struggle to not get caught up in the busyness of the usual weekly work day and to stay mindful of the spirit of the day: to rest, restore, refresh and renew.  It is a 'new crop' of sorts, a refreshed energy for the week ahead, that drives us to observe Sabbath, as much as the opportunity to spend the day acknowledging the wisdom of God's word and work in our lives.  It is truth that to reach this day and fully relax, it requires a good amount of work.  I find it is more than worthwhile, but there are six days to do seven days worth of work.  

I believe what we see in this verse is the Proverbial woman carving out time for God, considering the goodness of her God,  planting a crop of obediance thru the Torah law of keeping the sabbath.  And the example she sets becomes the long lasting harvest represented by the vineyard . That example is the fruit of her efforts that comes from living righteously.

This Week In My Home: Finishing Up October

In my home this week I...

...realized that next week is the start of November...And that means it's time to finish off October.  I took time to look over my goals for the month and see where I've ticked the boxes or forgotten things entirely.  It stayed so hot and dry, I never did get out in the yard except to clear the pots and baskets.  It's looking pretty grim outdoors just now and I hate it.  But I can't plant cool weather plants if the weather insists on being in the 90's, now can I? Basically if it's in the yard, it's been pretty much ignored.

Indoors things have been unsettled enough.  I tamed the guest room to a dull roar on Thursday and aside from clearing off the sewing table and moving the boxes of stuff to the shed, I'm calling it done for now.  Every time I moved a stack of something, I found things that had been buried.  Books, junk mail, clothes, etc.  It. was. not. fun.  It was pure shame that pushed me to finish it off as much as I did.  Mama came by on Wednesday and said "Oh....Terri!" when she saw the unholy mess in the room.  The next day it was a pure stranger, a neighbor, who had come in and stepped to the music room door to speak to John.  I hastily pulled the guest room door shut but that was incentive enough to make me hustle.  I tossed two bags of trash (empty boxes, padded envelopes {as though I couldn't get all those free at the post office or very nearly free}, ragged scraps of wrapping paper rolls and poster board with nary a school project for which to utilize it).  I packed up two bins of things I simply cannot use in decor because the house will have none of it.  I moved furniture and vacuumed and decided that since the bed was all clear and the room was neat enough, I'd call it quits that day.

Mama pronounced the floors beautiful but she was unimpressed with the house overall.  She said it looked cold and uninviting.  I confess I was puzzled by this assessment.  There are quilts and pillows on every chair.  There are lamps for ambient lighting and extra seating.  True, it's far less fussy than it was and there's more space than before.  There are a few pieces missing and those will be missing until I find what is needed to fill the area but for the most part, we really like what we've done.  It's peaceful and calm.  It's fresh.  I don't read it as cold or uninviting...So go figure. 

...plan meals for now and later:

Meals for now are just below.   The 'later' part is to use up leftovers in the fridge to make a freezer entree and a dessert as well as planning meals for the first weekend in November.  I have to plan them now because family are arriving at end of pay period when things are generally short.  I need to make sure I have the items needed for the extra foods required.  So I shall add them to my shopping list this week.

KFC leftovers

Pot Roast with vegetables, Lettuce Wedges, Apple Hand Pies.

on my own xs two

Sausage Pizza, Green Salad

Grocery Day Leftovers or deli

Roast Beef Hash, Green Beans, Orange and Pomegranite Salad, Rolls

...plan my work for the week:

Do a trial run of Thanksgiving for Two table.  Crud...I gave away the main plates I'd meant to use.  I'l have to re-think this one...

Paint the cabinet in the bathroom.

Bills, errands, groceries.

Purchase and place landscape blocks.

I hate to even say this but start a room by room declutter.  Yes, honestly.  There's nothing like shifting 5 rooms of stuff twice to make you aware of how very much you don't typically use.

Connect DVD player.

Spend time doing some shopping for self and home. 

Most of my work this week involves our food supplies:

Pantry organized and inventory done.

Freezer inventory and defrost.

Clean fridge very well.

Organize food cupboards.

...plan some real leisure time...honestly!

Watch a movie... or two!

Read.