Building a Home: July 2011

From Living On a Dime...

In this day and age of fast food restaurants and convenience food, we tend to think that most people, when going through a hard time, don't need a meal or a jar of soup brought to them.
Many years ago, before there were stores or fast food restaurants on every corner or microwaves in every kitchen, a neighbor bringing in a meal was sometimes a matter of physical survival. That isn't usually the case these days.
Even so, I hate to see bringing a meal to someone who is sick, has just had a baby or has lost a love one fall by the wayside. We often think the person or family can just pick something up or cook something easy in the microwave. They probably can but there are a couple of reasons why it is still nice to bring someone a meal.
Usually at these stressful times people are exhausted, both physically and emotionally. When this happens it is so hard to think and make decisions. Just ask anyone who has Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Trying to decide what to cook or buy for a meal can be very overwhelming. It's often the straw that breaks the camel's back.
Having someone call and say, "I'm bringing a meal for you tonight," can help so much to ease a persons mind, which is probably overloaded with other things. It is just one less decision to make.
Bringing food is a way of saying, "I love you," or, "I care." Food is comforting to most people. (I'm not talking about people overeating to comfort themselves so please don't comment on that). Being a grandma, the minute I know the grandkids are coming, I get out the cookies and candy and, when friends arrive, the first thing I do is bring out a plate of cookies or put on the kettle.
Taking a plate of cookies to a new neighbor says, "Welcome! We are glad to have you!" Taking a meal to someone who is sick says, "I care." Let's not let another way of saying, "I care," fall by the wayside.
I will try to share more ideas on this subject in a future post but, for now, here are a few suggestions to get you started:

Make things as easy as possible for the person you are helping. Send napkins, plastic forks and spoons.
Start looking now for inexpensive bowls, platters and dishes at garage sales. You can leave these dishes when you take food to people so they don't have to worry about returning the dishes. When you can, try to use disposable pans and dishes so the people who are already overwhelmed don't have to wash dishes.
There is a time and place to save the environment and this is not it. I save and wash most of the containers that I get when I buy things at the bakery or the grocery store and reuse them at these times. You would be surprised how many containers you get every day that would work great if you remove the labels and wash them.

Here's a few of the great blogs I've recently discovered...

- The Practical Housewife- Many of y'all will remember Mrs. Catherine from her former blog, Making It Home, a few years ago. She's SO encouraging to me to get my home clean for my family. She's starting a week by week cleaning challenge next week. YAY!!

-Mommy Evangelism- How in the WORLD are you still able to share your faith AND mother little ones at the same time?? Help (and encouragement) is here!

-Inspired to Action- I LOVE how Kat has a plan to keep herself focused on daily seeking the Lord FIRST and she also makes sure that she fits in exercise to keep herself physically healthy to serve her family.

-Renewing Housewives- Written to encourage us homemakers in our calling. GREAT blog!!

Building a Home

Worth reading...

I soooo enjoy these....

Saying I Love You with Food...

Some good blogs I've visited lately...