- Our dishwasher isn't working and since it's not time/budget wise to fix it right now, we are washing our dishes by hand! (ugh!) but, a strange thing is happening. The dishes aren't piling up in the sink. It's like our (my husband and me) excuse has been "Well, we have to run this load of dishes and then we can unload it and then we can put the rest in to be washed" or " I don't have time to unload the dishwasher and then reload it right now, so these dishes can just sit in the sink until I have time." With no working dishwasher we can't exactly not do the dishes, we have 6 people in this house, what would we eat on/ cook with? So, we are pretty much washing as we go...(crazy talk, I know!) ;)
- 2nd thing I've realized, Laundry sucks...seriously, it sucks the time/life out of me. And yet, it needs to be done. (much like the dishes, although I'm pretty sure what works with a broken dishwasher will not work with the clothes if the washing machine ever dies on me.) It piles up and it can't be ignored. Like I've said before, there are 6 of us and since running around naked isn't an option, I need to get on a schedule. I'd love ideas if anyone actually reads this and feels like chiming in :)
- I was reading proverbs 31 in the ESV version the other day, and this stood out to me: Proverbs 31:14 She is like the ships of the merchant;she brings her food from afar. I actually kind of do this, I have spent a lot of time over the last year figuring out when and where to get the best deals on our everyday food items. Just to put it into perspective, I live literally 30 seconds away from Safeway by car. I used to go there all the time for groceries, but I was spending a lot of money on the basics. So, I started driving to the Grocery Outlet, which is about 10-15 minutes away. I buy 90% of our groceries there and save a TON of money. I am also going to Costco on a bi-weekly basis to get the rest of the basics, this again is about a 15 minute drive, and saves money in the long run. I guess what got me so excited about this verse is this: I feel like I am falling short of my goal lately. The housework around here seems like a battle that I am losing and I'm not sure how to win. But when the Lord opened my eyes to this verse, I got a jolt of excitement, I do go the extra mile (or 5;) to save our family much needed money. Maybe I am over-identifying with this verse, but I don't think so. I feel like the Lord has given me a little boost, like He has said "Well done."
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Slow going
For some reason I am having a hard time with my "Year towards a Proverbs 31 woman". I get little burst of energy and then *blamo!* I crash. but, I am not giving up, so here are some things I've learned over the last 7 days.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Day 5 (august 30, 2009)
So, I am still working on photographing areas of my house. Because of the weekend, I haven't been able to devote as much time to this as I was hoping. ( 4 kids and a Husband take up a lot of weekend time, in a very wonderful way.) My other plan of attack is to go room by room with a notebook and write down areas of the room I need to focus on in either a daily, weekly or monthly way. While I know this is time consuming, I would really like to get a good handle on what needs to be done, then I would like to create some sort of schedule. ( I will post the schedule once I get it typed out). The thing I realize about myself is that once I have a plan, I can start to focus.
The other realization I have made is that no matter how much I do to get this house organized, if the kids and hubby aren't a part of the plan, it will never stay organized. Definitely family meeting time. This summer when I had all 4 kids home everyday, I started something called "8 minutes of cleaning". I would set the timer for 8 minutes and the kids and I would rush around and clean as much of the living room/playroom/kitchen as we could in 8 minutes. When the timer went off, we were done, regardless of what was left to do. But here's the thing, after 8 minutes, we had pretty much picked up the entire front of the house. Why 8 minutes? Well, everytime I would say to the kids "Ok, it's time to clean up" they would moan about how long it was going to take and how hard it was to clean. So I thought that if they knew there was a set amount of time devoted to the cleaning, then they wouldn't feel overwhelmed, and 8 minutes sounded like so much less then 10 or 15 minutes. And that is how "8 minutes of cleaning" was born. ( I may or may not have snuck over to the timer and added a couple extra minutes every once in awhile, but whatever... :)
The final idea I have had recently is still simmering in my little brain, but here is what I have come up with so far. As we all know it is so much easier to clean when you have company. For example, pretty much everytime I talk to my sister in Seattle, I do my dishes. It's gotten to the point where I think "I need to do dishes, I'll call Annie." This got me thinking about other areas of my housekeeping where I could use somebody to talk to. Laundry for example. What if I had a friend who agreed that every monday morning we would talk on the phone from 9-9:30, and just plan on having a bunch of laundry to fold while on the phone. Imagine how much nicer it would be to do such a mundane task together. I bet the time would fly and the laundry would get folded instead of sitting, clean, in the laundry basket all week. Again, this is just an idea, but I think I'll ask around and see who wants to be my laundry folding buddy ;)
Dear Jesus,
I feel like I have a lot of ideas but no set plans, please help me to see them through and to maintain the momentum that I have built. Help me most of all to continue to be faithful in my quiet time with you. I love you Lord, Amen.
The other realization I have made is that no matter how much I do to get this house organized, if the kids and hubby aren't a part of the plan, it will never stay organized. Definitely family meeting time. This summer when I had all 4 kids home everyday, I started something called "8 minutes of cleaning". I would set the timer for 8 minutes and the kids and I would rush around and clean as much of the living room/playroom/kitchen as we could in 8 minutes. When the timer went off, we were done, regardless of what was left to do. But here's the thing, after 8 minutes, we had pretty much picked up the entire front of the house. Why 8 minutes? Well, everytime I would say to the kids "Ok, it's time to clean up" they would moan about how long it was going to take and how hard it was to clean. So I thought that if they knew there was a set amount of time devoted to the cleaning, then they wouldn't feel overwhelmed, and 8 minutes sounded like so much less then 10 or 15 minutes. And that is how "8 minutes of cleaning" was born. ( I may or may not have snuck over to the timer and added a couple extra minutes every once in awhile, but whatever... :)
The final idea I have had recently is still simmering in my little brain, but here is what I have come up with so far. As we all know it is so much easier to clean when you have company. For example, pretty much everytime I talk to my sister in Seattle, I do my dishes. It's gotten to the point where I think "I need to do dishes, I'll call Annie." This got me thinking about other areas of my housekeeping where I could use somebody to talk to. Laundry for example. What if I had a friend who agreed that every monday morning we would talk on the phone from 9-9:30, and just plan on having a bunch of laundry to fold while on the phone. Imagine how much nicer it would be to do such a mundane task together. I bet the time would fly and the laundry would get folded instead of sitting, clean, in the laundry basket all week. Again, this is just an idea, but I think I'll ask around and see who wants to be my laundry folding buddy ;)
Dear Jesus,
I feel like I have a lot of ideas but no set plans, please help me to see them through and to maintain the momentum that I have built. Help me most of all to continue to be faithful in my quiet time with you. I love you Lord, Amen.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Days 2 and 3 (august 26&27)
This has been an interesting couple of days. One would think that this new journey I am headed on would mean that at the very least I would have a slightly cleaner home than 3 days ago...one would be wrong...
I have mostly spent the last three days going around and around in my head, attempting to get a game plan set for this whole thing. At the very least, a bare bones schedule to which I can begin to follow. So far, I've got nothing....nada..zilch. Am I giving up? No way, I am however feeling a bit overwhelmed. I should really take pictures of every room in my house and post them here if for no other reason than to shame me into action. I mean real pictures, not the usual faked pictures where I de-clutter and cursory clean one section of a room so that I can take a well positioned picture and then post it on facebook with the tagline " My newly painted bedroom :)", thereby duping my friends into thinking that my room is always clean and shiny. Since my intention here is to be honest and open, then pictures would go a long way in at least spurring me on to continuing down this path...so I will work on that...but no pictures of the garage, there are still areas that I am not ready to expose to the world just yet ;). This picture thing does give me an idea. Have you ever done what I just described? You re-decorate your room, or re-paint it and then you take pictures to email to interested friends or family so that they can see all that you have done. Well I do, because my mom and sister live far away, I like to show off my projects via email. Anyway, sometimes when I "stage" the room just right and take a picture, I notice trash or a sock in the picture that I missed during my clean sweep, or I realize how cluttered an area looks that didn't look so cluttered when I just scanned the room. So what I'm thinking is, maybe I will try taking a picture of a room before I start to de-clutter and organize it, and see what inspiration I come up with. Maybe I will discover areas in the room that need work that I never noticed before.hmmm...I'll try it tomorrow and post my results. This of course could totally be a waste of time, but at this point it's about trial and error. Wish me luck!
Dear Jesus,
Help me to continue on with this. Give me energy and inspiration and help me to resist the urge to "eat the bread of idleness". Fill me with your grace, because I know that ultimetly, that is all I need.
I love you Jesus,
Amen
I have mostly spent the last three days going around and around in my head, attempting to get a game plan set for this whole thing. At the very least, a bare bones schedule to which I can begin to follow. So far, I've got nothing....nada..zilch. Am I giving up? No way, I am however feeling a bit overwhelmed. I should really take pictures of every room in my house and post them here if for no other reason than to shame me into action. I mean real pictures, not the usual faked pictures where I de-clutter and cursory clean one section of a room so that I can take a well positioned picture and then post it on facebook with the tagline " My newly painted bedroom :)", thereby duping my friends into thinking that my room is always clean and shiny. Since my intention here is to be honest and open, then pictures would go a long way in at least spurring me on to continuing down this path...so I will work on that...but no pictures of the garage, there are still areas that I am not ready to expose to the world just yet ;). This picture thing does give me an idea. Have you ever done what I just described? You re-decorate your room, or re-paint it and then you take pictures to email to interested friends or family so that they can see all that you have done. Well I do, because my mom and sister live far away, I like to show off my projects via email. Anyway, sometimes when I "stage" the room just right and take a picture, I notice trash or a sock in the picture that I missed during my clean sweep, or I realize how cluttered an area looks that didn't look so cluttered when I just scanned the room. So what I'm thinking is, maybe I will try taking a picture of a room before I start to de-clutter and organize it, and see what inspiration I come up with. Maybe I will discover areas in the room that need work that I never noticed before.hmmm...I'll try it tomorrow and post my results. This of course could totally be a waste of time, but at this point it's about trial and error. Wish me luck!
Dear Jesus,
Help me to continue on with this. Give me energy and inspiration and help me to resist the urge to "eat the bread of idleness". Fill me with your grace, because I know that ultimetly, that is all I need.
I love you Jesus,
Amen
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Day 1 August 25, 2009
Proverbs 31:10-31 (New Living Translation)
A Wife of Noble Character
10 [a]Who can find a virtuous and capable wife? She is more precious than rubies.11 Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life. 12 She brings him good, not harm,all the days of her life.
13 She finds wool and flax and busily spins it. 14 She is like a merchant’s ship,bringing her food from afar. 15 She gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her household and plan the day’s work for her servant girls.
16 She goes to inspect a field and buys it; with her earnings she plants a vineyard. 17 She is energetic and strong, a hard worker. 18 She makes sure her dealings are profitable; her lamp burns late into the night.
19 Her hands are busy spinning thread, her fingers twisting fiber. 20 She extends a helping hand to the poor and opens her arms to the needy. 21 She has no fear of winter for her household, for everyone has warm[b] clothes. 22 She makes her own bedspreads. She dresses in fine linen and purple gowns. 23 Her husband is well known at the city gates, where he sits with the other civic leaders. 24 She makes belted linen garments and sashes to sell to the merchants.
25 She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future. 26 When she speaks, her words are wise, and she gives instructions with kindness. 27 She carefully watches everything in her household and suffers nothing from laziness.
28 Her children stand and bless her. Her husband praises her: 29 “There are many virtuous and capable women in the world, but you surpass them all!”
30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised. 31 Reward her for all she has done. Let her deeds publicly declare her praise.
This is my goal. I am going to spend a year, 365 days, working toward being an excellent Christ follower, wife, mother and friend. This is not out of vanity, but I truly want my children to stand and bless me, my husband to praise me, I want to be described in the beautiful ways that this proverb describes this "Excellent Wife". To me this challenge (journey?) means the opportunity to work towards being the woman that Jesus wants me to be. Practically this means (for me) that I want to get my household organized, get into a regular routine for laundry, for cleaning, for meal planning and grocery shopping. To be a better steward of the household finances that I have been entrusted with. I want to be a more attentive mother. ( I believe that my children know that they are deeply deeply loved by me, but I know that there are areas that I can be more deliberate about my mothering.) Most of all I want to have some concentrated time reading my bible, talking with the Lord, and teaching and instructing my kids as a godly mother should. My vow to myself is to be honest along the way. I am excited about the challenges that lay ahead. Day 1 of this journey is this blog entry, it's not a huge step, but it's a step, and at the risk of sounding totally cheesy, every journey begins with a step.
Dear Jesus, inspire me, help me, keep me focused. This is challenge is hard to put into words, but I know that if you lead me, it can be completed. Please help me to "suffer nothing from laziness" because if I'm honest, that is a big problem for me. I love you Jesus, Amen.
A Wife of Noble Character
10 [a]Who can find a virtuous and capable wife? She is more precious than rubies.11 Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life. 12 She brings him good, not harm,all the days of her life.
13 She finds wool and flax and busily spins it. 14 She is like a merchant’s ship,bringing her food from afar. 15 She gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her household and plan the day’s work for her servant girls.
16 She goes to inspect a field and buys it; with her earnings she plants a vineyard. 17 She is energetic and strong, a hard worker. 18 She makes sure her dealings are profitable; her lamp burns late into the night.
19 Her hands are busy spinning thread, her fingers twisting fiber. 20 She extends a helping hand to the poor and opens her arms to the needy. 21 She has no fear of winter for her household, for everyone has warm[b] clothes. 22 She makes her own bedspreads. She dresses in fine linen and purple gowns. 23 Her husband is well known at the city gates, where he sits with the other civic leaders. 24 She makes belted linen garments and sashes to sell to the merchants.
25 She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future. 26 When she speaks, her words are wise, and she gives instructions with kindness. 27 She carefully watches everything in her household and suffers nothing from laziness.
28 Her children stand and bless her. Her husband praises her: 29 “There are many virtuous and capable women in the world, but you surpass them all!”
30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised. 31 Reward her for all she has done. Let her deeds publicly declare her praise.
This is my goal. I am going to spend a year, 365 days, working toward being an excellent Christ follower, wife, mother and friend. This is not out of vanity, but I truly want my children to stand and bless me, my husband to praise me, I want to be described in the beautiful ways that this proverb describes this "Excellent Wife". To me this challenge (journey?) means the opportunity to work towards being the woman that Jesus wants me to be. Practically this means (for me) that I want to get my household organized, get into a regular routine for laundry, for cleaning, for meal planning and grocery shopping. To be a better steward of the household finances that I have been entrusted with. I want to be a more attentive mother. ( I believe that my children know that they are deeply deeply loved by me, but I know that there are areas that I can be more deliberate about my mothering.) Most of all I want to have some concentrated time reading my bible, talking with the Lord, and teaching and instructing my kids as a godly mother should. My vow to myself is to be honest along the way. I am excited about the challenges that lay ahead. Day 1 of this journey is this blog entry, it's not a huge step, but it's a step, and at the risk of sounding totally cheesy, every journey begins with a step.
Dear Jesus, inspire me, help me, keep me focused. This is challenge is hard to put into words, but I know that if you lead me, it can be completed. Please help me to "suffer nothing from laziness" because if I'm honest, that is a big problem for me. I love you Jesus, Amen.
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