No going back. Becoming a minimalist.

They don't fight as much.
They are more content and play longer.
They are more creative and imaginative.
They "read" even more than they already did.
There is WAY less mess which in turn makes our home more peaceful.
They enjoy not spending as much time picking up every day.

What's the magic trick?? 

I took the kids' toys away.

All in the same week I came across three different things that inspired me to make this change in our home. The first was this super old-school book I got for free titled The Real Book of Games by Joseph Leeming, published in 1953.  It's full of simple games that...here's the kicker for me... require NOTHING or next to nothing.  Games that kids used to play decades ago. Games like I Spy,

number/letter guessing, question games, thumb war, battleships (on paper), duck-duck-goose except with a newspaper, those song clapping games, and alllll these other games like "we stand this certain way and push on each other and see who falls over first" sort of games. They're amazingly simple and again require nothing but fun and imagination! The book includes active games, quiet games, inside, outside, ice breaker type games, and games just for two. And I love it all. And almost all of it are ideas that have been lost through the years. Because of technology and things with bright color and noise.  And our need to be entertained by SOMETHING, even us adults. And it's sad. So that was the first thing that really got my heart stirring.

The second was a blog post titled "Why I took all my kids' toys away and why they won't get them back".  The results this mom had were shocking and inspiring and I immediately wanted to take action.

And another article AGAIN, titled "Why Fewer Toys Will Actually Benefit Your Kids". It explains the value of toys and how kids learn thru play, but at the same time it re-emphasizes the idea that less is more.  Keeping it basic. And again all those wonderful results of doing just that.

I figured, why not at least give it a try? So I went for it. And it has been glorious, amazing, wonderful, and I'm becoming very passionate about living this way and sharing it with others! I hear so many friends talking about how they need to figure out a way to organize their spaces, and my simple solution is really to just have less stuff!!!

Now here are the details. I've always been very reserved about the amount of toys we gave the kids, but still our home was very full on every corner, it seemed. It was organized but it still took a LOT to maintain that, and the kids were always overwhelmed at sorting everything back into their spots. Fighting was a constant, and while that is a heart issue that also needs dealt with, sometimes you reach a point where you just want to diminish the battles altogether.  So I did. One by one I packed up the stuff from the playroom and hauled it to the basement so that all that remained was a full bookshelf of books, a shoe box of Hot Wheel sized cars only, Trio blocks, art supplies, and the play kitchen (minus all the kitchen STUFF) but left a set of tea party stuff. And guess what, the kids never said a word about where everything went. It's been three weeks maybe and still not a word, not a single complaint. They did ask for something specific a couple days ago so I brought it up from the basement, and when they were done, back it went.  I've done much of the same with their bedrooms, pulled out the miscellaneous STUFF and left the basics. For Eli and Carter's room, it's the under-bed bin of Legos, the box of wooden train tracks, and art supplies. The kids mostly love having the closet empty so they can pretend it's an office and play school. And for Hannah's room, it's her jewelry-making set, small set of legos, books, art supplies, and one small bin of baby doll stuff for her one doll. Again, no comments, no complaints. It's amazing.

For now it's still a trial. Everything is neatly stored in basement shelving and not yet gone forever. And I do hope it gets asked for or cycled in in place of something else or whatever. But there is definitely no intention to stuff the rooms full again. Ever.

Simpler is ALWAYS better. Try it.

Blender solutions!

Kevin came home with this idea he got from one of the sites he browses (no, it's not Pinterest but it  could be from there!): For making single servings, fit a mason jar right on the blender, instead of using the big pitcher.  It's smaller and easier to wash, AND you can drink right from the jar itself!  

I make smoothies all the time, so I'm pretty ecstatic about this easy solution for something I didn't even realize was a problem!  lol

Cleaning Chart

It's taken a few drafts to get to this point, but I think I've finally created a cleaning chart that works for us and I can follow {most of the time, never exactly}.

Ya see, I'm fine at doing laundry, dishes, vacuum/sweep, and general tidying. But remembering to scrub floors, bath mats before they're mildewy, and wiping fridge shelves, not so much. Thus the reason for the chart.

The first cleaning schedule I made was mostly random chores spread throughout the week. This time I arranged it by zones, and for each zone I have a specific checklist.

 

L = laundry. One load {most} every day, taking a day off in the middle of the week. I'm trying to get better about washing, drying, folding, AND putting away early in the day. Instead of unloading the dryer to put more in {so it doesn't get mildewy} right before bedtime. Then I'm going to bed with a basket of clothes already waiting for me to finish the next day. I'd rather go to bed feeling FINISHED for the day. Still working on this though...

I got a magnetic OrganizeHer folder (from Target) for the fridge, and I put my cleaning chart in the first page and use a dry-erase marker to cross stuff off my lists and wipe clean at the start of the next week. You could also use a plastic page-protector sheet. I'm a BIG fan of those (for reusable worksheets and whatnot)

Having this keeps you from feeling overwhelmed by your entire house. Just go day by day. Houses are all about keeping maintained. We all know they don't ever STAY clean, cuz we choose to LIVE instead! =)   If others, say your husband or friends if you've just had a baby, offer to help, you have a list right there and they know how to help.

Recently I also highlighted the chores that the kids help with. They actually are great helpers!!

So there she is! My 2012 Cleaning Chart!! Note, this is specific to our house and our layout and our family size, so feel free to tweak it as you go in order to fit your needs! This is at least a start and I hope it can help you too!

DOWNLOAD CLEANING CHART (file)

DOWNLOAD BLANK CLEANING CHART

Other cleaning ideas, for kids:
* Clean-up sticks
* Coin system

Clean-up sticks

We've tried responsibility charts.

We've tried a chore wheel (I never did blog this one).

We've done reward coins. (still do)

And now we do clean-up sticks....

Let me just say, the reward coins are still working really well, and even now Hannah is getting involved with it and taking initiative around the house, being responsible without me having to constantly remind. Eli has decided to take on emptying bathroom trashes and Hannah often offers to help with the dishwasher, along with cleaning up their dishes after meals, and getting themselves completely dressed in the morning and making beds.

But there was one area of the house that was always a battle to clean up.... The playroom. 

Enter clean-up sticks.

It wasn't enough for me to just dish out duties: Eli you do books, Hannah do play kitchen stuff, Carter pick up balls. Nope, not fun. SO, I found small clipart images (yes some of them still have the little watermark on them and I don't care one bit! LOL) for job people for each clean-up area:

librarian = books

grocer = food and dishes

banker = play money

car salesman = cars and trucks

athlete = balls

construction worker = Legos/Trio Blocks

artist = puzzles (I should make another stick for this one)
musician = music instruments

? = mystery stick a.k.a. whatever random job Mom tells you to do (for some reason when it's put like that, they get excited about it. Go figure??)

Come clean-up time, I select the sticks for the particular toys that are out that day, put the sticks face down in a plastic cup, and Eli and Hannah draw one, or two if it's really messy, jobs that they have to do.

 

Because it's their "job" they get paid according to how well they work. If they're late to their job (don't start right away) or work slowly and inefficiently or with a bad attitude they get deducted. The highest payment is $0.25 down to $0 if the job was not completed without my help.

So far this is working, and it adds a fun, practical element into clean-up time!

Could you do it?

If your husband told you that you could just wad up his undershirts in the drawer because they are after all just undershirts, could you do it??

I can't.  Must take the time to roll them neatly and arrange them in the drawer.

Now if my husband asked me to wad up his undershirts in the drawer, then after asking again to make sure that's really what he wanted, I definitely would.

But what about you?  Could you just save yourself some time and wad the shirts as your husband suggested??

Just curious.

Perhaps it's time...

... to pack away all those outgrown clothes!  Out. of. control.

I seriously feel like I just did this a couple months ago and here we are again! Not because we've the kids are particularly growing SO fast, but mostly because I've decided I should probably just put away all of Eli's 3T stuff (He's 4.5 now!).  He's been wearing a lot of it again this season, just a little tighter and shorter, but in effort to thin the closet, I decided to just strip it all out of there!  Same with Carter and his 6-9 month stuff--he was still getting by on some of that, but I decided to just pack it away anyway.  So this huge pile of clothes is getting sorted into bins and bins sitting in the hallway.  I actually got most of it done today! WHEW! It's such a big project to go through kids clothes like that!  Do you have a system??

"Golden Hour" at our house

This time I'm not referring to photography and the last hour of daylight.  I'm using the term "Golden Hour" to describe one of the most important hour(s) of our day.  What part of our day do you think that is??  You guys have been great at my guessing games, so let's see if you can figure out this one!  Then I'll come back and tell you more about what "Golden Hour" entails at this house!

(Cont'd)

Geez, I hope I didn't build this up too much!  It's really not that exciting, you guys!  LOL You had some great guesses though--naptime is definitely one of the most important hours of the day!!  But it just IS.  Just like getting dressed or eating meals, we have nap.  The kids are really good about it.  They occasionally have phases where they test me every day for a couple weeks or so, but most of the time they're good.  So anyway, Golden Hour is not naptime.  And though family time is oh so wonderful and precious, on work days we don't even have an hour together, so that's not Golden Hour either.  And here I'm going to finally reveal what it is, as boring as it actually is...

"Golden Hour" is the hour before Husband gets home from work.  I've always tried to tidy up before he got home.  But it occurred to me lately that rushing around for 15 minutes is not enough.  So exactly one hour before he gets home, we start cleaning up.  REALLY cleaning up.  Make sure all the folded laundry is put away and the couch is cleaned off, living room vacuumed, dining room ready to dine, kitchen cleaned up as much as possible, bedroom tidy, playroom somewhat together, and makeup freshened.  If I do too much earlier in the day then it's already undone before Kevin gets home! So having this defined hour has helped us, and giving it a fancy title motivates me (and the kids) to get to business when the clock hits 5:30pm!  And I think Kevin's been noticing it's been a little cleaner lately!

So that's it.  That's what Golden Hour is.  Exciting Huh??

The things we SHOULD have learned.

There's a lot of brain work involved in managing home and family but nothing we ever learned about in school.  So just for fun I came up with some "test questions" that include some of the skills we use today!  Feel free to add some more in the comments!


Math

1. If you have approximately 6 loads of laundry to do and you keep adding 2/3 of a load every day, how many loads of laundry should you do each day in order to be completely caught up by the end of the week, assuming today is Monday?

2. Choose a recipe of your liking. Now triple all the ingredients.

3. Your errands require stops at Store A, Store B, Store C, and Store D.  Based on the items being purchased and the location of the stores all over the city, create a logical route for the driver.

Accounting

4. Given this list of regular monthly expenses, create an appropriate budget for a family of four.

Science

5. What regular household products can you use to get stains out of clothes? Do an experiment to find out which solution works best, for whites and for darks.

Home Ec

6. Plan and prepare a week of meals, making sure to use up any ingredients currently in the fridge or on sale at your local store, and time your meals carefully so everything is done all at the same time Husband returns home from work at 6:15pm.


That's a start of practical things we could have learned in school to prepare us for real life.  What else could we add to our list??

Responsibility Chart --Revised

So I made a responsibility chart for the kids awhile ago, things they need to without me telling them to (see this post) but they still were just not motivated, not remembering to do their stuff without me harping on them all day.  But I came up with another idea, and this time it seems to be working!  I printed the chart but this time I put that DIY laminating paper on it (and magnets stuck on the back) so we could reuse it instead of reprinting every week.  Instead of using stickers I'd put check-marks on it with dry erase marker (which does come off if you scrub hard enough with Windex &paper towel).  Well, Hannah wanted in on it too.  So I used red marks for Hannah and blue marks for Eli.  Then I decided to make it a contest.  Whoever has the most check-marks at the end of the day gets two marshmallows, and if you helped at all during the day you get one marshmallow.  They've been doing great with their responsibilities (though still not a full chart, but I'm still pleased).  And when one remembers to do their chores, I can say loudly, "Oh look!  Eli remembered to put his cup in the fridge!!" And then Hannah will usually follow.  Or Hannah's the first one to do it and Eli will follow.  The great thing about siblings!

So here's the new chart...

Traits of a Good Help Meet

Alright guys, I did it.  I finally {what a year later probably?} finished the book.  I'm not sure why I'm such a sloooow reader, but it in no way portrays my like/dislike for a book.  I LOVED this book, Created to Be His Help Meet by Debbi Pearl {thank you, Julie, for loaning me the book for half a decade! I WILL get it returned to you!}

This one quote pretty much sums up Debbi's theme of the entire book:

"No matter who or what your husband is, your job is to be his help meet.  When you approach him with light in your eyes, that light will reflect back to you."  (284)

It was pretty amazing reading some of the letters from people throughout the book and how just a change in their own attitude is what then made ALL the difference in their marriage, even in the very worst of all marriages! 

At the end of most chapters Debi lists some traits of a good help meet.  I kept a running compilation of these traits and here's the master list.  Read through it slowly and evaluate yourself and imagine the kind of woman this is...

Traits of a good help meet:

* She is joyful.

* She makes love fun.

* She is thankful and content.

* She asks God for wisdom.

* She learns to understand and appreciate her man for who he is.

* She learns to be flexible.

* She fears God.

* She believes God's word as it is written.

* She considers her position as a help meet a privileged command.

* She acknowledges the "good traits" in her man.

* She speaks of her husband with esteem.

* She defers to him.

* She never responds to him with scorn or ridicule.

* She provides an oasis for her man.

* She fixes meals that please him; she does not cook to suit herself.

* She plans and prepares well ahead of time.

* She exercises self-discipline.

* She establishes a haven of rest.

* She will adjust to her husband's time schedule and eating habits.

* She will relax and enjoy her family, instead of fretting.

* She glories in answering her husband's needs.

* She learns to know his needs even before he is aware he has them.

* She empties her mind of the cares of the world so her body can respond to him with eagerness.

* She soberly considers the needs of her children before her own interests.

* She invests time in training them to know and do many things.

* She schools herself in diet and medicine to be better equipped to keep them safe.

* She grows in grace and knowledge.

* She is gracious and honest.

* She is without guile toward her husband.

* She can be found at home.

* She takes her responsibilities seriously.

* She maintains safety for her children in the refuge where God has put her.

* She fears blaspheming God's Word. She knows that whatsoever you sow, you will reap.

* She is at home being an earthbound guardian angel to her children.

* She makes valuable uses of her time at home, creating a clean and pleasant haven.

* She helps.

* She is a doer.  She busy serving others.

* She serves her husband first, her children second, others next, and herself last.

* She is genuine and well-disposed.

* She is yielding, willing, and eager to accomplish injunctions or desires, and abstains from that which is forbidden.

* She looks for ways to obey and reverence her husband.

* She channels her mind into positive ways of saying "yes".

* She never considers herself to be an exception to the rule of being a help meet.

There's sooo much I've learned from this book!  I really want to be a whole different person when it comes to my marriage and home and parenting, and I'm praying for a better start right now!

More posts related to this book:

* ABCs of Being a Help Meet

* My Mission Statement for the Home

* Reverence

* More on Reverence

* My Homework: being a better help meet

* What I am learning

Be productive.

So after the last two posts here and here about how sluggish I am with my homemaking, now I have some encouraging Bible verses for you...

Philippians 2:14-16
"Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life--in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing."

1 Thessalonians 4:7,11
"For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life... Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and that you will not be dependent on anybody."

Ephesians 5:15-17
"Be very careful, then how you live--not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is."

Colossians 3:23-24
"Whatver you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive and inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving."

Proverbs 21:27
"She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness."

Galatians 6:9 NKJV
"And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."

And just let me add, boosting my homemaking skills {or attempting to} does NOT replace the time playing and training I do with my children! I'm just trying to make better use of the time I usually spend checking email and social networks! As much as I've been really trying to work on it this week, I'm still failing! *sigh* BUT the day is not over and every minute counts!

I am a slothful woman.

The last couple readings I've done in Created to Be His Help Meet have been really convicting me on how lousy I am at being productive with my time. Read this, this spoke directly to me. How 'bout anybody else??

"Modern inventions have provided a way for a woman to stay at home and still not be a keeper at home. We can sit at home in body while traveling in spirit by means of the telephone and the computer...'keeping the home' is more than staying at home; it is having a heart that is fixed on the home." (p212)

I am so guilty of checking email and Facebook way too often. I crave the social interaction with others and right now in life, it's mostly through a computer. Yet as much as I crave that, my focus should be elsewhere... my HOME. Why is that so hard??

Probably because when the children are actually playing happily or they're napping and there is finally FINALLY a quiet moment in the day, chores are boring. Every day the same things. And before it's done it's already undone! {You know what I'm talking about.} How can I get more excited about it? Or maybe not EXCITED, but joyful and diligent. I know, I know, there are several verses about working as serving the Lord, not being idle, and the like, but I just can't snap to it!

Then I read this today and it nagged on me again!

"All the key words in Proverbs 31 are action words... In the end, it is the woman's work that speaks of her worth." (p221) Well, I still think our attitude speaks VOLUMES too, and the way we react to things and care for our children. Which oh I need to get better with that too!!

But read on...

"A slothful woman is wasteful by not taking care of things in a timely manner, therefore causing her goods to be damaged. {you mean mildewed because it sat in the wash too long, or stained because I let it sit too long before being treated, or molded because we didn't eat something soon enough? Ugh!} A slothful woman wastes her time and often the time of her friends. {not so much my friends' time, I don't think, but I definitely waste my time!} A lazy woman puts off a job, saying it can be done tomorrow... {Oh I NEVER leave the dishes for the next day! ha!} The portrait painted here of this good woman [in Prov. 31] is that of a diligent worker." {sigh}

It's just so hard to find balance in this season of life. I am NOT one of those ladies who will stress so much about getting things DONE that she doesn't relax and enjoy her family. I have no problems leaving the dishes 'til the next day because instead I'm enjoying a nice evening with my husband. Or if I'm playing Legos or building train tracks with the kids, I don't get laundry put away. But at the same time, I do need to get my butt in gear, and just DO my chores, follow my cleaning schedule so I'm limiting what needs to be done that day, so then I can relax and enjoy my family {and "clean" house} without feeling guilty like I should be doing something instead! Anyone else relate??

So how can I help myself focus??
1. Set rules about computer time and stick to it.
2. Get school things printed the night before so everything's ready for the next day's lessons instead of spending time in the early morning still scrounging things together.
3. FOLLOW my cleaning chart.
4. Pray for God to change my heart about homemaking.

SO with that being said, it's 10:30pm, Kevin's working nights, and I still have dishes that need washed, a living room that needs cleaned up, and muddy clothes that need dealt with. I'm off!!

Creative substitution.

So I was making sweet tea in preparation for Saturday's birthday party, and I was just going to pour it into an empty tea gallon jug, but my funnel had disappeared. Soo... what to use? Had some empty 2-liter pop bottles from a previous party, so I cut the bottom off, flipped it over, and voila! Perfect!

Answer Me This: Laundry

What's the best way you get stains out of your laundry??

1. Baby poop.
2. Spaghetti sauce.

For baby poop blowouts I usually soak the clothes in a bucket of Oxyclean for a few days hours and then include them with the regular laundry. But lately that hasn't exactly been working as great. Probably because I've been forgetting about them soaking them too long, the clothes come out a little nappy. or something. Or the stain is still not out completely. Probably because I let them sit for way too long before doing anything with them in the first place! But still, there's gotta be something that works.

For spaghetti sauce I usually throw it in with the regular clothes and just hope it will actually come out clean, but it never usually does.

So help me! What are your tricks?? I always feel disgusted when another perfectly good outfit gets "ruined" because of stains! But I don't exactly have time to manually treat every piece of clothing that gets anything on it! Is there a magic potion I could use??

Our morning routine.

I started this schedule a week ago, and when we follow this, our day goes really well! This is mostly just up 'til lunchtime. I've been trying to be better about following it when daddy is home too, especially when he's working on projects. There aren't times on it, just a precise ORDER of events. I tried to alternate between together time and apart time, quiet times and hands-on times. But it covers all the basics: all beds made, dishes (trying to get a handle on these), Bible time, independent play, and my chores. Take a look....

First load of laundry in

Breakfast/Devotion

Dressed, Responsibility Chart, and Chores (cups in fridge, clothes down laundry shoot, everyone makes beds in which Eli helps Hannah)

Dishes. Put clean dishes away, Eli and I wash breakfast dishes

Bible Time (we all get our Bibles and read for 15 minutes or so. then I ask Eli to share what story he "read" about or I share what I read about.

Room time for kids/zone cleaning for me. about 45 minutes of this. Have learned this is not enough time to work out and shower. REALLY trying to get so I'm dressed before the kids are up so that I can just use this time for chores.

Planned activity for kids. could be a project, could be a trip to the park or library, play date, or errands, etc

Lunch.

Free play.

Nap.

Somewhere in there Carter naps, but I'm not going to try to plan around that. We'll just continue with things and he'll join us when he's up. Alrighty, so now I'm off to start our day!

Spring Cleaning 2010

Ah, I FINALLY found my planning notebook that's been MIA {in the way back, under the couch} for several weeks now!! And here is my spring cleaning list that I've been waiting to find!

1. Take a box load to Goodwill.
2. Print pictures for playroom clock.
3. Clean porch.
4. Clean the shed outside and sweep up all the hay that's in there for the cats. It STINKS and I hate it!!
5. Take and print family picture for office frame.
6. Take a box of kid toys to Paul and Holly's house for whenever we're there.
7. Pass on or donate all maternity clothes.
8. Scrape loose plaster, mud, and repaint upstairs bathroom with special bathroom paint because with the lack of ventilation in there we've got mildew issues!
9. Paint master bedroom.
10. Vacuum van.

So what's on your big list this year??

I cleaned my room!

Well, my zone for this week was our bedroom. With the phasing out of maternity clothes and sharing a room with a sleeping baby, it quickly became a DISASTER. See for yourself! Carter sleeps in our bed with us, so the cradle became a pile zone when we picked everything off the floor to vacuum. Because Carter AND Kevin are usually asleep already when I come in from my late-night shower, I usually just end up setting my clothes on top of my dresser as I come into the quiet, dark room. Getting laundry actually put away is my LEAST favorite chore. And everything else, well, it just happened. So in order to help motivate myself to finally tackle this room and do it to full completion, I wanted to post some before and after pics (I almost just left the closet, but for the sake of the picture I finished) and to help anyone else who might also need a little kick in the hiney =) So here it is! I did it, and so can you!

BEFORE

AFTER

And even after these pictures I brought the cradle downstairs to the office in hopes of transitioning Carter to actually laying down for a nap instead of always sleeping in the bouncy seat during the day. I tried it this afternoon (now still actually) and although he didn't go down as smoothly, even with his ocean sound playing as usual, he did fall asleep on his own. Yippee! I don't think he's sleeping as soundly, he's fussed around a few times and gone back to sleep. But it's only the first day, and I'll call this a success!

It feels sooo good to actually accomplish a big tackle such as our bedroom! The rest of our house is mostly fine and just everyday clutter that gets picked up at the end of the day (most of the time). And I'm happy to say I got caught up on laundry this week too AND it's put away!!

I'm in love...

...with paper plates, and I don't know how to stop. Help!

My Mission Statement for the Home.

I'm now into the second half of the book Created to Be His Help Meet, and it focuses on Titus 2:3-5 and woman's domain over the home. A favorite passage:

"When a woman soberly considers the needs, time schedule, and resources of her home, then she will be a more efficient help meet. This planning will eliminate tension and help set a peaceful mood. It is the simple things in life that can break down a marriage and bring out a bitter divorce. But on the positive side, it is the simpler planning of life's activities that can bring health, prosperity, peace, and happiness to a sound marraige and produce gratifying family relationships. Men (and children) appreciate good meals, a clean house, and an atmosphere of peace--a refuge from the stress of life." (147-8)

Reading this reminded me so much of what I've come up with as my personal mission statement (Day 3's challenge of the 31 Days to Clean challenge) When writing my statement I adapted a quote that's always stuck with me from reading The Power of a Praying Wife in the first year of our marriage. So here is my personal mission statement for how I want to keep our home:

I strive to see that the heart of my home is a peaceful sanctuary--a source of contentment, acceptance, rejuvenation, nurturing, rest, and love for my family--while at the same time remaining a place of instruction, comfort, and joy.

It seems like a lot to tackle especially with two, soon to be three, little ones in the house. But I do feel it is so important, so I'm going to work to keep this atmosphere my goal. And most of all, that starts with my attitude.

"A wise woman doesn't let little things stir her spirit to agitation. With a quiet and meek spirit, she seeks to make all things better." (153)

This of course comes from one of my favorite Bible verses, "[Your beauty] should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight." 1 Peter 3:4 That sounds so beautiful and sweet, but is so, so, so hard to DO!!

So with all that in mind, this is my focus for the week:
* to be productive with my time and work hard to really tidy up all the way and follow my cleaning schedule (this means maybe posting it so I actually SEE it every day!)
* to have a good attitude
* to not get upset over the little things, allowing it to "stir my spirit to agitation"
* to spend time in the word and in prayer every day (even if it's just a little bit) so I can keep my peace and focus

And with that, I must sign off and get to work!

Answer me this!

Okay, so I have some random questions I'd love you to answer for me, and instead of continuing to add them to the end of my already-long Meanderings, I thought I'd start a new series. Nothing regular, but just whenever I have a question. Sometimes it's about parenting, like last week. Sometimes it's about homekeeping, like this week. And sometimes it's just completely random, like what's so special about dairy cows, if all cows make milk? I told you, random.

So here we go, this week's question:

Do you clean the inside side of your shower curtain? Do you spray it with cleaner or wipe it down? And if so, how often?

I was just looking at ours the other day, thinking it could use a clean. I usually do nothing to it, we just occasionally buy a new one when it's reeeeaally bad. So here I'm wondering what you do?