I Made Buns!!!!

No more canon ball buns for me - these are the real deal! Thanks to my thoughtful mother-in-law who taught me this evening how to make buns, I now have some idea of how to do this. See?    

They're smooth, uniform in size, sooo soft - like they're a bun or something!  

Look! I can even SQUISH it ... 

...and it's so airy and soft it actually puffs right back to its original shape! Whoa. 

Here they are -aren't they beautiful? Uh-hem. ...Notice half the pan is empty? Yeah ... we ate them. Mmmmm.Hot. Buttery. Goodness..... 

Turns out what I had been doing wrong was ... everything. 

• Yes, you can put all ingredients in the bowl together, except the flour ( I did one at a time, mixing after each one)
• No, you don't need to 'dissolve yeast in water with sugar'. (I was following directions. Silly me)
• Yes, you add all flour at once. (I would add 2 cups, mix. add 2 cups mix. Apparently not necessary)
•  ... then she showed me what kneading is. "Oooooh! THAT'S what it is! I never did that! No wonder my buns never turned out!" I pretty much always skipped that part, because it was all I could do to get it to rise once - I sure didn't want to risk punching it down just to have it stay there! 
• No, you don't need to try to speed up the rising process by putting them in a 150 degree oven. That ruins it. Just in a bowl, in a sink with an inch of barely warm water, covered with a towel, and you're good. (or, if your house is warm, forget the water. I just happen to live in a fridge. ... I mean air conditioned home)

I'm SO excited that my M.I.L was kind enough to share her knowlege with me - and offer it, in fact! She knows I want to make buns, but have had no success to date. She's brought us dozens and dozens of her fantastic buns, and I've looked forward to every one. (and eat them immediately!) Now, ... I hope ... I'll be able to bake buns for my family and others too.  ... Of course, she's welcome to bring hers by anytime! 

Can I bake buns?  YES I CAN!! Thanks, mom-in-law! 

The Cost of 'Free'

What do you think when someone says, "Nothing is free"?

Personally, I detest it. It seems so pessimistic and unfair. But, I suppose, we do not live in a just world. Life isn't fair. I'm slowly realizing that it's true -everything does cost something.

I recently signed up to take surveys in exchange for gift cards. Sweet. Free stuff to take surveys? Sure I'll check that out! It soon became clear that I would invest nearly 3 hours of my time to get that 'free' $10 gift card. That's not free at all!

Searching for coupons, deals and free stuff costs me time, thought and energy. I must invest myself to find these $1.00 off deals. ... is it worth it?

What about love? Surely love is free? Not from humans it's not ... it requires time, thought and effort. To love requires an investment of myself in someone else's life.

I think the word 'free' is overused and widely abused. (mostly in the name of gaining attention and generating sales) Nothing really is free. It may not cost any money, but it's sure not free. I should say here, that 'free' is still my favorite price! I love not paying money for things. What I am saying, is that we need to first count the cost.

Do those surveys cost you hours of your time to gain a free Tshirt? How could you better invest those hours?

Do your many projects cost you hours, days and weeks of your time that could be better invested elsewhere?

I often wonder, 'If I were to die in a month, what would I do differently today?'

Questions like these help me to align and re-align my priorites, and 'keep on the right path'. In those moments when I really don't want to read a story to my children, or even speak to them gently I remember (sometimes) that, if I knew I only had a month to live, you can bet every dollar you have that I would definately take the time to read stories and speak gently! ... I pray that as I practice living this out, that it will become the 'norm' instead of the occasional success :)

Some helpful verses:

“But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it?"

Luke 14:28

"When she speaks, her words are wise, and kindness is the rule when she gives instructions"

Prov 31:26

"A wise person thinks a lot about death,while a fool thinks only about having a good time."

Ecclesiastes 7:4

Is Time Money?

At what point does the time invested in searching for deals outweigh money saved? Is the effort and work worth the money saved? Is it actually worth my time to seek out deals, coupons and freebies?

On one hand, during our brief time immersed in financial education, we learned that "The rich don't work for money". "The rich invent money" (create assets that produce money) Poor people trade time for money.

This makes sense when we know that we can 'invent' many things, but we can't 'invent' time. We each have the same number of hours in a day. How we spend, invest or waste it is up to us.

It makes sense. It is true. But, most people we met seemed to view this from a greedy, judgmental and selfish point of view.

On the other hand, when talking about stewardship, what is the best use of my time? The bible tells us it is good to work with our hands. Actually - here are the things a Proverbs 31 woman does or is: (NLT)

• finds wool and flax and busily spins it
• brings her food from afar
• plans the day's work for her servant girls
• inspects a field and buys it, with her earnings she plants a vineyard
• hard worker
• watches for bargains; her lights burn late into the night
• her hands are busy spinning thread
• extends a helping hand to the poor, opens her arms to the needy

This is an industrious woman. Actually, it looks like she's found a balance between business ('inventing' money through creating assets), and trading time for money. Hmm. And, notice that she does not judge or condemn the poor, but helps and opens her arms to them? Nice! She's got it all! She's got the knowledge, work ethic, and the heart.

I began this post completely confused, but after ranting a bit it's a little clearer. The answer seems to be what I've heard three billion times in my life - BALANCE!

Right. I knew that.

Thanks for letting me rant :)

Saving or Hoarding?

Slowly, piles of wax paper, foil, newspaper and tissue paper are growing in my cupboards. I begin to wonder ... where's the line between frugal saving and hoarding? "People who do alot of crafts have stock" a friend offered. ... I suppose.

I must confess, deep down inside I'm afraid of becoming a hoarder - of having these piles take over. I've seen it. It's not pretty. Literal piles of stuff grow until there are only pathways in a room, and you can't see the ceiling anymore. Shelves quickly fill with so many 'on sale' products that there soon isn't room for dust! No ... I definately don't want to travel that road.

As is my style then, I've gone to the other extreme. Haven't used this item in the last month? Then get it out of this house!  ... Okay, I exaggerate. If it's not used annually though, it's out! No clutter please!!

And now I watch piles grow. I tread unsure waters here, afraid I may be lulled into a peaceful sense of 'good stewardship' while piles of earthly possessions (and 'junk' no less) grow around me.  **shudder**

Everytime it comes down to changing the way we think about something, we're first required to reject our previous way of thinking, aren't we? ... and that's where it's scary! If I reject my previous way of thinking, I must blindly leap to this new way of thinking. Man, I hope I'm right about this!

I'd love to hear from you about this - do you have any personal insight into the difference between saving and hoarding? Have any helpful links you'd like to share? We could all benefit.  Thanks!

Wasteful Beginnings

We all start somewhere. Unfortunately, where I start is a place of great waste. I'm one of 'those people' who makes room in the fridge on grocery day by tossing bowls and drawers of food. I'm not proud of this. I'm weighed down with guilt each time I do it, but it continues. Foil wrap, cardboard boxes, leftover food, plastic bags - I throw away so much. And overspending? Oh yes! I can nickle-and-dime myself into a hole in a matter of days.

Enter 'Frugal Steward 101'. I can do better, I just need to find out how.

We've lived on half the income we have now, yet we still have no more money than we did before. Not uncommon, not the first person to experience this. I just can't stand beneath the guilt anymore. I must now make a choice - either stop caring about my wasteful habits and 'get used to it', or do something different.

So here we go. I'm going to do something different. I'm going to learn how to do this better. My hope is that our whole family learns self discipline, respect, the value of a dollar. I also hope that we can eventually acheive a debt-free existance that allows us financial freedom to do with these finances as God would have us do. Maybe that means we can travel and do mission work full time. Maybe it means we buy houses and give them away. I don't know. Whatever it is, it'll be great!

This is my wasteful beginning. I can hardly wait to look back in a year and see the fruit of it!