Provident Living Plan for 2011

January- Welfare and You

1) the Bishop's storehouse  2) humanitarian aid 3) dry pack canning  4) a spiritual matter 5) R.S. presidency choice

February- In case of a Natural Disaster

1) oil in your lamp 2) emergency contact 3) ye shall not fear 4) R.S. presidency choice

March- CPR and Life Saving Skills
1) a matter of life and death 2) classes and options 3) who can you save? 4) R.S. choice

April- 72 hour kits
1) time to update 2) food ideas 3) blessing of being prepared 4) R.S. choice

May- Outdoor fun & Survival
1) hiking, 10 essentials 2) geocashing, using a GPS 3) camping using your 72 hour kit 4) building shelter

June- Water, can't live without it!
1) home storage 2) car storage 3) water preservation 4) 72 hour kits

July- How to prepare for a Fire
1) grab and run bags 2) draw a plan 3) meeting place 4) drills

August- Education, a life long endeavor
1) Further your education (by Pres. Hinkley) 2) increasing your talents 3) blessings and power of knowledge 4) tools for learning

September- Increasing your food supply
1) How much do I need? 2) how long will it keep? 3) a temopral commandment with eternal blessings 4) home canning, a new experience

October- Festive Foods
1)  Using your supply over the Holidays  2) rotate and restock (treating your supply as a grocery store)
3) run and not be weary  4) all things pumpkin

November- Gifts of preparation
1)  ideas for gift giving 2) Count your blessings 3) the gift of the Savior 4) practicality is essential

December- Gifts that keep on giving
1) sthe gift of charity 2) Service, a priceless gift 3) the greatest gift of all 4) the gift of praise

* schedule subject to change as spiritually directed for the needs of the sisters

The Gift of Service

Tomorrow is my lesson. So I asked the conducting R.S. President to bare her testimony on the gift of service. This is a handout I have been wanting to give ever since I found hot cocoa 10 for $10 at Albertson's in November.

(Service warms the heart and soul)

Have a provident week!

Gifts on a budget

This month I am encouraging gifts on a budget so we can live within our means. Two weeks ago I shared some gifts I made (as I already told you) and gave each sister a flower pin I whipped up over the weekend. This last Sunday I shared the gifts that I made from what I already had in storage (eg.): canned goods such as Cranberry sauce,  Pie filling, and mixes in a jar. Be sure that if you do mixes in a jar you include the recipes for a handout or at least have a handout with references where they can find the recipes on the internet on their own. I didn't do this, so I will be handing them out this week (by request). Some of my recipes included spiced cider, Mexican hot cocoa mix, fudge brownies, pizza dough, and chicken noodle soup. The nice thing about my doing this, is that my cranberry sauce was ready when I went visiting teaching, and the neighbor's gifts are now all ready to go!

Since I will be teaching R.S. this upcoming week, I have asked the conducting member of the R.S. Presidency to share her testimony on gift giving through service. These sisters are always so willing to do this and it helps others to be involved and the testimonies they share reinforce yours. This also helps others to recognize how they are already living the principles of provident living. I started doing this when I got the calling to teach R.S. so that it would break up my teaching them so I'm not constantly the one they are hearing. I think a variety is refreshing, so even if I were released from teaching, I'de still keep this up. Plus it gives me a little break! 

Hope this gives you some of your own inspiration. If it does, please share! 
                                                          

                               Have a Happy and Provident Week!  

Nov. & Dec. Theme

I was just called as a teacher in the Relief Society as well as Provident Living specialist, so for the third week (which is the week of my lesson) I have the member of the Presidency that is conducting bare their testimony of the principle we are focusing on for the month. Since in November we focused on the idea of making a budget and living within our means, for the last handout I got a memo pad I found grocery shopping one day of large $50 bills. I rolled them up and tied them with a ribbon (sorry I don't have a picture...they went fast too!) I first asked them who was on the $50 bill and only two or three knew. I told them how it would be nice to see more of his face this season (of course they agreed). I then asked them to use use the back to write their Christmas list and plan how they are going to keep gift giving within a reasonable budget this year.  The idea was to see "more green" this Christmas season having enough to save. 

So to go along with that, the month of December is to focus on gifts that are more meaningful for both the giver and the reciever. I have been doing 24 days of Christmas Crafts on my business blog and shared with them the items I have been creating for gifts for people on my list. Then I handed out a special gift to them and told them to remember that
"gifts from the heart are handmade"

It was fun seeing them wearing this around! They are really easy to make.

 Here is the tutorial

 Happy Living!!!

Change in plans

I know that I said I was going to do "how to use your food supply for your Holiday meals"...or something of that nature, as the theme for this month. But as I was sitting in Stake conference that happened to be a State wide broadcast, something the first speaker and member of the 70 said hit me hard and I knew then that I was to change my plan and prepare our ward in a financial direction instead. He said, "there are too many, even within the church, that are living on the edge of their income or even on barrowed money".

*Bam!

Like a ton of bricks. I knew then, my course needed to change. All the while I was trying to figure out why ideas for my origional plan weren't coming, I suddenly knew that it was because I needed to redirect my focus. Once I did, the creative juices just started flowing! So last week amidst my preparing a talk for sacrament meeting as well as a segment I was asked to speak in for Young Mens (both of which went very well despite myself), I created these fun handouts.

After standing up and giving my piece on this, and sharing the above quote from a man of God, I told them the purpose of this month was to encourage us all, as the Christmas gift giving and black Friday approach, to make a budget and stick to it. To concentrate on living within our means. I then bore my testimony of the blessings that are ours as we listen to these men of God and follow their counsil. Whether or not it was well recieved (which it seemed to be) I did what I was inspired to do and I believe many will be blessed for the reminder. I for one will be one of them!

Until Later, have a Provident week!

Wrapping up the month of October

We went to the Cannery on Thursday and the turnout was great! New people came and others tried new things, so I think it was a HUGE success. I notice about ever order included dried apples since they were able to try them and see whether they liked them. I think any time you have that kind of reinforcement you know what you have been doing is successful.

Since there were 5 weeks in October, I went ahead and took advantage of it by passing around the cannery sign up again and handing out notes that read:
                                         
One thing our family has done to
increase our year supply this
month:
 __________________________

 __________________________

 __________________________

 __________________________

 Name:_____________________

I thought that by doing this it would help to get some feedback as to how effective all my work has been, as well as help people to really think about what they really are doing to prepare their families each month.

Each time we give a provident living minute, we don't need to make it elaborate, we just need to offer encouragement, support and spiritual understanding of the temporal commandment to be prepared.

This Sunday is our Stake Conference, it is giving me time to get things in order for the following and decide how I'm going to kick off November. I'm going to be offering suggestions on how to use your food storage for your Thanksgiving feast. I would love to have any ideas you might have to offer.

Until next time....

Happy Provident Living!

Apples to Apples

Today I made a display table outside the Relief Society room to encourage building up the food supply since it is the theme of the month. As you can see, it was complete with the cannery order forms for people to take at will. Next week I will be collecting all the orders and we will be going to the cannery on November 4th. This will be the first time in around six months. I told them in the Provident Living Minute that I am expecting a lot of participation this month. I think I laid it on thick last week when I told them that I want us to be faithful and do what the prophet has commanded in building a food supply.  

When I spoke to them during the Provident Living Minute, I passed around the sign up, gave them canning recipes for apples since they are in season, with a reference to D&C 89:10-11 where it talks about eating fruit in its season and then testified that as we preserve our food in its season, we are obeying the word of wisdom.

Then I read them the scripture passage I had attached to the recipe cards I handed out (sorry I don't have a picture of that, however you can find the recipes here). And passed around a can of the dried apple chips from the cannery for them to try. Some of them had never tasted them before and had asked me about them during the "don't forget the treat" Provident Living Minute. So I decided to let them have some. They LOVED it!

Hope this loads you with more fun and happy living ideas. Till next time, have a wonderfully PROVIDENT life!

This weeks handout

This week I will be doing a display of clear canisters I use in my cupboard to display whatever canned goods I have gotten from the cannery to encourage cannery sign ups. These canisters are labeled using my labeler. I also canned applesauce and apple pie filling last week that I will put on the display table w/ the canisters just outside the R.S. room. I will be passing around apple recipes to encourage people to take advantage of the apple harvest that is in abundance here, along with the cannery sign up. Have a Provident week!

October Theme-increase your food supply

I die cut these at our local craft store, Ben Franklin. If you use paper you buy there, the die cutting is free. I took paper I had purchased there already from my scrapbook stash and found a die cut box that was small enough to fit 2 on an 81/2 x 11 sheet of cardstock. Used pattern paper to repeat saying over and over on and cut them out to fit across the side of each box. I had this decorative ribbon and jute on hand and stuck a carmel and 5 candy corn in each one. My project loving 9 y.o. helped me assemble them using sticky dots, we put a little filler paper in and the candies and tied them up real cute. The two red ones have sugar free candies in them for the diabetics in our ward. This helps them to set them apart from the others. 

       The note on the front says: Increase your food supply and don't for get the Treats!

Fun time to be creative and use fonts you  never get to use ;-) This idea is to remind people that what we have on hand should be the things that we will daily use and fun foods we eat, we will enjoy even more in an emergency. Such as Chocolate chips. Hot cocoa from the cannery. Granola bars (s'more flavor of course!) and many other fun, quick and easy foods.
    
 Hope this gets the creative juices flowing. You could also just pass out mini candy bars with the attached saying or a few candies in tiny plastic baggies found in the cake decorating isle. Don't spend a lot of money!

72 hour kit handouts

Well, I finally got myself organized in my Provident Living calling after much heartfelt prayer. I wanted to know how to magnify my calling better and inspire the people in our ward to be constantly thinking about ways to keep their families prepared. I decided to post these things specifically for my sister since we share the same calling, although miles and miles apart. I didn't even think about how it could help other people in the same calling for me to have prayed about it on my own.  I hope you can get inspired by the things I share. That will make it all worthwhile. As the needs are different in every area, don't be afraid to pray about inspiration for your individual wards and branches. I'm so enjoying my calling and hope this changes up your perspective a bit.  This is not my regular every day blog, it is especially for projects and calling info. so it will not be updated quite as much as my family one is. The following is what I did for the handout in Sept. My theme for the month was 72 hour kits. I bought fun fall paper from our local michaels and used that for every handout for fall. Just an added touch. I want everything I do to either be little or no money invested, after all...what is the fund for your provident living calling?!

From my old paper route I had a ton of rubberbands and bought the cheapest box of garbage yard bags I could find. Punched out the scallop edge with a stampin' up! punch and sticky dotted the layered papers together. With 9 y.o. help, I had them finished in a jiff!

the lighting is terrible today, so I had to use the flash. The phrase on the spoon says:

Here's the "scoop" update your 72 hr. kit!

This photo is just to show the folded 1/2 sheet I had copied and cut in the library that tells the steps to take in updating a 72 hr. kit. Here is what it says, you can copy and paste it into a word document and use it as you please...change it around as you see fit:

Steps to take in updating your 72 kit :

                                                             (Updates should take place every 6 mos.)
1. Replace all food & water that is not fresh and has or will expire before the next scheduled update.
2. Ensure medication and vitamins are not expired and replace if
   necessary.
3. Update clothing if needed, making certain it fits properly, and change
   diapers sizes for babies (if needed).
4. Double check that documents and credit cards are up to date.
5. Replace Batteries and ensure they are charged & flashlights function
   properly.
6. Label your kit with the date so you know when it was last updated.
7. Mark your calendar for next update.



After teaching a class a year ago on 72 hr. kits and making sure you update them once every six months to a year, I decided to pass out reminders. This handout was for that. After I handed it out, I told them to let me know if they were needing a list for starting a 72 hr. kit. There is so much online information, you have to weed through it and decide which one is right for your own family. I just give them a basic list and tell them to think of other things they may need by actually using their kits on a campout some time. If you would like a copy of my end product list, let me know and I will gladly send it to you. Leave a comment including your e-mail address. Happy Living!!!

Project of the Month

We are finally finishing the garage, what was going to be the first project in this house.

     Unfortunately I only have after shots of this one! It would have been so worthwhile to have befores because the change was so dramatic. However, this is all I have. We finally finished the bathroom. After much hard work of pulling out concrete and ripping up an already peeling floor of parkay flooring, we remodeled the shower and tiled the floor. What an accomplishment! Lots of work from the boys and Steve and I in tearing it out. This house sure wasn't built cheap!

Everything around here ends up being more work than we bargained for. The one thing that is sure, is that when we finish redoing it, the reward is incredible and the results are definately incredible.  This house is definately becoming our own!

Older Boys' bathroom/guest bath (downstairs)

Closet Reorginization

 Before:

My mother came and while she was here, organized my vaccum/scrapbooking/craft & sewing closet. It didn't stay nice as long as I'de hoped although the basic organization was still intact. I then realized that the solution was in making more shelves so that I wasn't stacking things on top of each other and which also allow easier access to what I needed. So, that's when this project became serious. I got busy and added more shelves using plywood and 2X2s we already had in the garage. It was actually rather fun, no cost, and the results were so rewarding in the end! It's so much easier to keep things in their places now.I love when I can apply my energies to things so worthwhile!

After:

Amazing what adding a few shelves and organizers will do, isn't it? I have so much floor space. It's wonderful! Now, time for a new ironing board cover, wouldn't you say?! Happy Organizing!