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Simple Times

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Vol. 9, No. 7 -- December 5th, 2007

http://thesimplemom.wordpress.com/

debi

Copyright 2007 Deborah Taylor-Hough

ISSN: 1527-1269

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Celebrating 9+ years of saving your time, money and sanity!

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IN THIS ISSUE:

-- " Dear Readers "

-- Simple Living Quote

-- 15 Fast, Fun and Easy Christmas Decorating Ideas

-- Teaching Servanthood to Your Children

-- Letters to the Editor / Reader Tips

-- Assorted Information (archives, etc.)

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Dear Readers,

 

I went for a walk with my oldest daughter the other day and

brought my camera along. Of course, I had to stop regularly

to take photos of a variety of plants, landscapes, waterscapes,

etc.

 

At one point, my daughter said to me, " Your camera is becoming

your Nature Notebook, Mom. "

 

It sort of surprised me, and my gut reaction was " No, no, no! I

have to DRAW in a Nature Notebook! "

 

But then as I stood there focusing the camera on the smallest

details of an autumn leaf, I realized that in many ways she's right.

My camera really has become the ongoing record of what I see

outside when walking lately. I guess the memory card in my

camera isn't a true Nature Notebook, but it's surely an accurate

record of what I've seen in our various excursions when we're out

and about.

 

If you have children who don't enjoy drawing or feel un-artistic,

perhaps a digital camera's memory card could become their

personal Nature Notebook, as well.

 

For more information on keeping Nature Notebooks, check out

the following websites:

 

Nature Notebooks

http://brightkids.wordpress.com/2007/11/30/nature-notebooks/

 

A Childhood Saved

http://www.firescribble.net/acs/index.htm

 

 

You can view some photos from the walk with my daughter at:

http://dsimple.wordpress.com/2007/11/26/late-november-photos/

 

Simply Yours,

 

Debi

(Deborah Taylor-Hough)

Editor, Simple Times Email Newsletter

--Author of the popular 'Frozen Assets' series; 'A Simple Choice: A

practical guide for saving your time, money & sanity'; and 'Frugal

Living for Dummies®

--Editor, Simple Times, Solo Parents, and Bright-Kids email newsletters

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Visit my new site!

http://thesimplemom.wordpress.com/

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SIMPLE LIVING QUOTE

 

" Take time to examine your own expectations and true desires

for each holiday season. For example, decide how many gifts

to give your children at Christmas or Hanukkah, how important

it is for you to spend the holidays with all the extended family

(49 cousins and all), and whether Santa should bring a whole

pile of gifts this year or just a few stocking stuffers. The sooner

you start thinking about these things, the more easily you can

make changes in your spending patterns, celebration plans, and

time commitments. "

 

--From an online article adapted from the book, Frugal Living for

Dummies®, Wiley Publishing.

 

Read the entire article here: http://snurl.com/frugalholiday

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15 FAST, FUN AND EASY CHRISTMAS DECORATING IDEAS

Copyright Lesley Dietschy

Used with permission from EzineArticles.com.

All rights reserved.

 

 

Decorating your home for the holidays doesn't need to be stressful

or expensive. Being one of the most popular times of the year to

decorate, get your family involved and have fun making your home

beautiful for the holiday season.

 

Here are 15 Christmas decorating ideas:

 

1) Display your favorite Christmas collections. If you don’t have a

collection, now is a great time to start! My son and I collect nutcrackers

and every year we have a wonderful time selecting just the right one.

With a permanent marker, I write the year on the bottom of the nutcracker.

Not only do we enjoy looking at the nutcrackers during the holidays, we

also enjoying the fond memories of selecting them.

 

2) Make simple bows out of Christmas ribbons and attach them to your

curtains with pins. This is a very charming look.

 

3) Decorate your house plants by hanging small Christmas ornaments

on them.

 

4) Place a collection of Christmas books on your coffee table.

 

5) Fill a glass bowl with pine cones and Christmas balls and place on

a shelf or table.

 

6) Wrap your staircase banister with indoor Christmas lights, garland,

and bows.

 

7) To add scent throughout your home, tie 5 or 6 cinnamon sticks together

in a bundle using Christmas ribbon. Make as many bundles as you wish

and place around your home in baskets or bowls.

 

8) To decorate your table, tie Christmas ribbon to the stems of glasses

and/or handles of cutlery.

 

9) To dress up your chairs, tie Christmas bows around the chair so that

the bow is on the back of the chair.

 

10) Using a small brush or cotton swab, paint the edges of pine cones

with glittery gold craft paint. After the pine cones dry, place them in a

decorative basket.

 

11) Add Christmas garland to door frames, window frames and mirrors.

You can use tape to secure the garland to the surfaces.

 

12) Tie bows around door knobs using festive and colorful Christmas

ribbon.

 

13) Attach garland and Christmas bows to your chandelier. You can

also weave strings of red beads in the garland that will dangle down

from your chandelier and reflect the light, which will add sparkle.

 

14) If you live in a milder climate, consider decorating with Amaryllis

plants. These beautiful plants come in red and white, grow tall, and

provide a very elegant look.

 

15) Don’t forget to decorate your fireplace mantel and hang your

Christmas stockings. A few fireplace mantel decorating ideas are

adding garland, different styles and sizes of Santas, teddy bears,

and candles. You can also display your favorite nativity scene if you

have a large enough mantel.

 

Be creative with your fireplace mantel because most mantels are

the focal point during the holiday season. Another decorating idea

for your mantel is to purchase a bunch of miniature rosemary trees

shaped like Christmas trees, add mini ornaments to them and line

them up across your mantel. These miniature rosemary trees are

readily available during the holidays and come in festive containers.

 

Christmas decorating is a great time to create traditions and spend

quality time with your family. Get out some snacks and drinks and

create a little " decorating party " that your family will love and look

forward to year after year.

 

Happy Holidays!

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

--Lesley Dietschy is a writer, jewelry designer, and the founder of a

network of popular websites including http://HomeDecorExchange.com

and http://www.HomeGardenExchange.com . Both of these websites

feature valuable information and resources to assist you in decorating

your home and garden.

 

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lesley_Dietschy

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O.U.R. S.P.O.N.S.O.R.

 

Copycat Cookbook . com

 

Cook your favorite dishes from your favorite restaurants

right in your own kitchen!

 

You will save thousands of dollars per year by cooking just

one of these recipes each week rather than going out to eat!

Learn to cook the highly guarded secrets behind dishes from

Red Lobster

Applebee's

Chili's

Olive Garden

TGI Friday's

Outback Steakhouse

Starbucks

 

http://stimes.drecipes.hop.clickbank.net/

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TEACHING SERVANTHOOD TO YOUR CHILDREN

Copyright Dr. Scott Turansky & Joanne Miller, RN

Used with permission. All rights reserved.

http://effectiveparenting.org/

 

 

At least part of the solution for a child's selfishness is to learn

how to be a servant. Our culture tends to not like that term,

but any good employer, mate, or team player knows how to

give up his or her agenda for others at times. That's servanthood.

 

Children need to learn how to be servants. It's not an elective;

it's a required course. Learning to be a servant will help children

be better employees, better mates, and even better parents. It

may be helpful to make servanthood a focus for a week or a

month in your home.

 

You might create a poster giving a working definition of servanthood

that goes something like this:

 

--Seeking to overcome self-centeredness by looking for ways to

help and care for others.

 

Or for younger children,

 

--Looking for ways to make other people happy before me.

 

You might have everyone in the family memorize a verse from the

Bible like Philippians 2:4, " Each of you should look not only to your

own interests, but also to the interests of others. "

 

Plan ways that each person can practice being a servant. As a

parent, you are already serving your children in more ways that

they probably appreciate. In fact, you might ask your child to

serve by taking on one of the tasks you usually do in family life.

This gives opportunity for you to model appreciation for service.

 

A child might plan and prepare a meal for the family, for example.

That's more complicated than many children realize. The work

required to think of others may be just what some children need

to get out of their own selfish patterns. Of course, those being

served often respond with delight and appreciation, the built in

reward for servanthood. This kind of role reversal can go a long

way to teach children to value others and appreciate the things

people do for them.

 

This parenting tip is from the book, " Say Goodbye to Whining,

Complaining, and Bad Attitudes, In You and Your Kids. "

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

--Dr. Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller, RN, BSN are authors

of a large number of books and other resources on parenting

and family life. You can visit them online and to their

free parenting email newsletter at: http://effectiveparenting.org/

 

You can order their books online at Amazon.com:

 

" Home Improvement: Eight Tools for Effective Parenting "

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/078144151X/simplepleasuresp/

 

" Say Goodbye to Whining and Complaining ... In You and Your Kids! "

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0877883548/simplepleasuresp/

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR / READER TIPS

We'd love to hear YOUR tips and ideas for simplifying daily life.

Send your simple living comments/tips to: DSimple

 

 

Re: Easy gift idea

A gift that is fun to make and to receive is home-made stationery.

With a color printer, you can create original writing paper that features

leaves, flowers, other interesting items that are decorative. Combined

with a packet of envelopes, and tucked into a bright folder ... and

shazaam, you have a gift.

--Eunice B., Arlington MN

 

 

Re: Three Wise Men = three gifts

We give our kids 3 presents for Christmas just as the Wise Men

gave Jesus. Frankincense was burned before worship, so the gift

is something that pretains to how the kids spend their time with God

(a new worship CD, bible, Focus on the Family magazine). Myrhh

was an annointing oil so the gift is something to annoint their bodies

(fancy soaps, sparkly lotion, bathrobe). Their gold gift is the gift

they've really been wanting (special toy, CD player). You can take

this even further and wrap the presents in special papers. The kids

have enjoyed it, it sure helps mom's budget, and it passes the true

story of Christmas in a hands-on way.

--Emily, Minnesota

 

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SIMPLE TIMES RECOMMENDED BOOKS

Book list for frugality and simple living

Go to: http://snurl.com/simplebooks

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SIMPLE TIMES ARCHIVES

 

Two years' worth of back issues are available by clicking the

" Read Messages " button at: http://snurl.com/st_archives

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As always, a special " Thank you! " goes out to Gary Foreman

and the friendly folks at the Dollar Stretcher for making this

mailing list possible!

 

== http://www.stretcher.com/ ==

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Feel free to forward this newsletter to your family and friends. :-)

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EDITOR'S BOOKS AND AUDIO RESOURCES:

Books and resources by Deborah Taylor-Hough

Editor, Simple Times Email Newsletter

http://snurl.com/debisbooks

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DEBI'S ON-LINE RESOURCES:

Personal Blog: http://dsimple.wordpress.com/

Frugality/Simplicity: http://thesimplemom.wordpress.com

Cooking Ahead: http://frozenassets.wordpress.com/

Bright-Kids: http://brightkids.wordpress.com

Tupperware®: http://snurl.com/DebiTupperware

Kids' Books: http://snurl.com/books4kids

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