The Habit of Cooking Dinner

 Habits for a Happy Wife, Housekeeping Habits, Recipe Box  3 Responses »
Apr 232013
 

A few months ago I made it a goal of mine to cook dinner for my family more often.  I knew I had become lazy in the kitchen when my afternoon telephone conversations with my husband sounded something like this…

Him: What are we doing for dinner tonight?
Me: I made meatloaf and mashed potatoes!
Him:  You actually cooked?!

 

I had let our busy lifestyle become an excuse for me not to cook.  It was affecting my relationship with him, our family time together at the dinner table, and our finances.  I knew it was time to make a change and that is what I did!  Continue reading »

How to Replace Old Thoughts with New Thoughts

 Habits for a Happy Mom, Habits for a Happy Wife, Habits for life, Heavenly Habits, Housekeeping Habits  4 Responses »
Jan 152013
 

It’s so easy to compare ourselves with others.  I think we do it daily, in many different ways, without even thinking about it!

The first thing that comes to mind when I think about comparing myself to others is my looks.  It’s almost impossible not to see pictures of celebrities on a daily basis… whether one wants to or not.  ”I should eat salad for every meal so I have a figure like (fill in the celebrity you think is most beautiful).”  I firmly believe in being the best YOU you can be, but comparing ourselves with a “Photoshopped” image of someone who gets paid to be beautiful is never a good idea.  (For fun, I sometimes Google “celebrities without makeup.”  Now THAT comparison will make you feel a lot better about yourself!)

Another area in which I tend to compare myself is my home.  Whether it comes to the way it’s decorated or the level of cleanliness, I can always find someone who does it more perfectly than me.  Maybe she has more money and can afford a cleaning lady or high end decor.  Maybe she’s just better at doing it herself.  Whatever the case, there is usually one person I know whose house I wish mine looked like.  Magazines, HGTV, and even Pinterest can encourage this kind of thinking.  Notice this example:

Exhibit A:  My breakfast table, the day I bought it at a yard sale, dressed it up, and took it’s picture:

This is the picture I would use if I posted my table on Pinterest.

Exhibit B (real life):   My table after breakfast this morning:

table

Doesn’t look so good, does it?  When I compare myself to others, what I’m really doing is comparing their best (and often photo-staged) material to my worst… a dangerous practice which can breed jealousy, discontentment, and unhappiness.  When I was younger, this used to discourage me.

Then I learned a secret… you see, I really do enjoy looking at beautiful things.. homes, gardens, clothes, you name it!  I learned not to compare myself or my possessions, but to strive for excellence while remaining content with what I have.

  • Old thought:  ”Joanne has such a nice living room.  –Sigh– Mine will never look that good.”
  • New thought:  ”I love Joanne’s living room… what a great idea to paint the inside of her built-ins a different color… let me discuss that with Hubby and possibly put that on our future projects list.”
  • Old thought:  ”Those clothes look so much better on that model than they’d ever look on me.  I’m just an out-of-shape mess!”
  • New thought:  ”I love my new Pilates DVD… it’s helping me be as fit as I can be.  I may never look like a model, but I’ll be healthy and feel better.”

I still need work on this issue in several areas, but I’m constantly reminding myself to strive to be the best me, for God’s glory–not a “Photoshopped” imitation intended to impress others.

What areas do you still compare yourself, giving yourself the disadvantage?  In what areas do you give yourself a break, striving for the best you, not perfection?

~written by Kim, The Daisy Muse

Habits for a Healthy Home

 Habits for life, Housekeeping Habits  2 Responses »
Jan 102013
 

1180559_72433275 This time of year seems to bring about lots of fun, family, gatherings, and…sickness! Everywhere we turn we hear of someone who’s sick with the flu or with a stomach virus or strep. You want to “greet one another with a holy kiss” as the Bible says but honestly, you find yourself holding your breath when you talk to someone and offering your elbow instead of your hand in greeting.

You hear on TV or in the doctor’s office about the importance of using antibacterial wipes and hand sanitizers. Then you hear on the news that germs have become resistant to the antibacterial solutions so we’re actually worse off with them than without them. What’s a person to believe? 330422_4811 Well, I suppose some sicknesses are simply unavoidable but there are precautions we can take to attempt to avoid these modern-day plagues.

How do we stay healthy this time of year? Let us not forsake the washing of the hands.

Hand-washing is by far a tried-and-true method for preventing the spread of disease. You don’t need antibacterial solutions or any magic potions. Water will wash away those little boogers if you hold your hands underneath it long enough. The warmer the water, the better.

1007703_14164525 BUT if you have a house full of kids who aren’t as germ conscious as you, you might be undoing your good intentions as soon as you touch the sink knobs, hand towels, and doorknobs. Some people don’t actually wash their hands after using the bathroom but will use the hand towel to dry their hands from—well, we just won’t go there.

It is important to encourage your family members to wash their hands after using the bathroom and after having their hands in their mouths while eating. Little ones can be taught to sing their ABCs all the way through while washing their hands. That’s a good amount of time to wash away the germs.

Teach your family members to turn the water on with their pinkies or palms. While soaping up their hands, soap up the sink knobs too. They can then gently splash some water over them and rinse their hands. When they turn off the water, the knobs are clean—or at least cleaner than they were when they started.

If you have little ones, using disposable hand towels or kitchen paper towels will work wonders too! When someone in my house is sick, which isn’t often, I make sure that he/she uses a separate hand towel.

I have caught (on more than one occasion) my kids using the kitchen hand towel to wipe their fingers off when they’ve gotten food on their fingers. Or they will lick their fingers and then wipe their hands on the hand towel. World War III just about breaks out when I catch them doing that.

Now I do use antibacterial wipes around the house on doorknobs, kitchen cabinet handles, the refrigerator and microwave handles, bathroom handles (sink, toilet, and shower). I also use them on the remote control, which we discovered was a culprit for spreading nasty germs. And I have been known to use them on my poor little Chihuahua, Posey. Truthfully! We realized that we’re all picking her up and kissing her on her head and neck and petting her. If someone in the house is contaminated and touches her or kisses her, then the next person to touch her (usually me) is going to pick up those germs.

Another sickness prevention is instructing your family members to cough or sneeze inside their shirts. Some people say to cough or sneeze into your elbow. But if you have time, open the collar of your shirt and sneeze in there. Germs can’t escape as easily. 868469_63747375

Also make sure to replace toothbrushes or wash them on the sanitize cycle of the dishwasher. Get rid of them after you’re sick or sanitize if you want to keep sickness away. And if you have a houseful of little ones, be sure that they each know which toothbrush is theirs and how important it is not to handle their siblings’ toothbrushes. Wash off the tube of toothpaste too or give each child his/her own tube.

Now when you’re in public, there’s one bit of advice you’ll hear on the news, in commercials, and at the doctor’s office that is dead-on.

Keep your hands away from your face.

If you do not touch your eyes, nose or mouth when you are away from home, you’ve got a better chance at staying pretty healthy. And do not eat or drink after others. I know it may be tempting when you’re at family or church gathering and there’s all sorts of foods and drinks to try. But resist the germ devil!

So there’s no need for a HAZMAT suit in the winter. Just a little germ consciousness. Stay healthy!

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Time. . .

 Habits for a Happy Wife, Habits for Happy Kids, Habits for life, Housekeeping Habits, Technology Habits  4 Responses »
Jan 032013
 

 . . .it is precious, it goes by way too quickly, and we only have a certain amount of it.  How am I using my time?  Am I using it to glorify God?  {So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. I Corinthians 10:31} A few months ago, I was quite convicted by the way I use my time. . .especially how much time I spent on the internet.  I wouldn’t have said I was “addicted” to Facebook, but I would catch myself sitting down to the computer “just for a minute,” to see what was going on. I also read quite a few helpful blogs. . .some spiritual, some on homemaking, some on photography, some that belong to friends; and I also love Pinterest.  None of these things in themselves are bad, but I was not using them in the best way.

 About that same time, I watched a web seminar on life balance.  The teacher showed us her daily schedule.  It was amazing!!  I will never be as detailed as she, but I knew it was time for me to make a schedule of my own.  One thing she mentioned that stood out to me was that when we get distracted from what we are working on, it takes about 10 minutes for us to really get back into the task we left unfinished.  For me personally, I know that I would waste precious minutes deciding what I should do next, and if I couldn’t decide fast enough, I would sit down to check FB or something while I thought about it. . .well, I’m sure you know where that usually leads. . .30 minutes later, I’m caught up on everyone else’s life, but still hadn’t decided what I needed to do next with mine!

 This has been SUCH a huge help to me over the last weeks!!  There are times I am not able to stick to the schedule, but when I can, it helps me keep my mind on track.  One advantage to all this is that I don’t have to feel guilty about my computer time, because it is in the schedule!!  I have three times a day that I can sit down, and enjoy catching up with the world.  At one point in my struggle, I thought maybe I should cut out FB or some of the blogs I read, but I know it is important for me as a Mom to continue growing and learning from others, and it is wonderful to feel like I can connect to far away friends and family members that I can’t see in person.

I was also careful to schedule in times when I can play or read with the boys.  Maybe this isn’t a struggle for you, but I am such a task-oriented person, that I can forget to slow down and spend fun time with my kids.  Also, I purposely put in time for reading for myself!  No kids books allowed during this time !  At one time, I was months behind on the magazine subscriptions I had been given, and I was having a terrible time reading any books.  There are so many books out there that are helpful to me in this stage of life, that I felt it was very important to schedule reading time in.  Plus, I needed a “down time” for me.

 To help me with the “what chore to tackle next” dilemma, I scheduled each  day to have its own task.  That has been a HUGE time saver for me!  I no longer have to think about which area of the house needs help the most; each area has its own day.  Adding 15 minutes of  deep cleaning and organizing to each day has been a life changer for me.  I will have a difficult time completing spring/fall cleaning for my foreseeable future, but doing a little at a time is SOOO helpful!  It doesn’t seem like much time, but it is amazing what you can accomplish in it!

  Another resource that has been a huge help to me over the last few years is a book called Shopping for Time by Carolyn Mahaney.  In it, she encourages her readers to start their day early. . .as in around 5 am early.  As I read that, I thought I could NEVER get up before 6:30 or so.  As you can see by the picture below that I took some time ago, my day used to start at 6:30.  Well, when my husband’s job changed a few months ago, he started leaving for work by 5:45.  If I were going to be up to kiss him goodbye, my day needed to start at 5:30.  It has been one of the best habits I have ever formed in my life.  My children do not get up until 7:30 or 8; so I have quite a bit of time in the mornings to get my day started off right!  Now, don’t get me wrong, getting up that early is NOT easy; it is a daily struggle; but it is a struggle that is worth it.

 One thing to remember is to be careful not to make the schedule into THE SCHEDULE!!!!!  Too often, we search for another list or formula  to follow, rather than depending on God’s grace to help us do what He calls us to do.  Having the best-laid schedule in the world will not help me in the long run if I depend on my own strength to accomplish the tasks before me, and then become prideful at all that “I” finished that day.  This is not intended to be something that everyone in the house has to follow to the exact second, making everyone within the house completely miserable {no, son, I cannot help you go potty right now; I will in 11 more minutes when my 15 minutes of organizing is done}.  Please don’t do that to your family :)   This is to be a flexible guide that will help us use our time in a way that will bring the most glory to God.

 Now, go make out a schedule, and tell me how it works for you!

  ~ Written by Amy @ JerAmy

One Chore

 Housekeeping Habits  1 Response »
Sep 042012
 

Over the years I have tried many different approaches to cleaning house. For the first several years of our marriage I had a monthly cleaning schedule that worked very well. It looked something like this:

But by the time I had a few little guys running around, it was no longer practical. If it was a hectic day and I missed one of the monthly tasks, would it then be a whole month before I got around to it? Or would I do it the next day and throw the whole schedule off? Or would I do it on the weekend? And what about all the things that didn’t make it to the list? Eventually I gave up on the schedule completely and moved to an entirely as-needed cleaning regimen. Really what that means is I just accepted living in a dirty house most of the time.

Since I’ve been on Pinterest, I’ve seen several seemingly revolutionary cleaning ideas, and most of the ones that really resonated with me are those that suggest one chore a day. Two of my favorites were this one from Fun, Cheap, or Free, and of course chore sticks, a fun twist on the one-per-day idea. But what I’ve settled on is somewhere between the two, I think.

I found this great almost all-encompassing, downloadable list from Housecleaning Central. It comes from a professional cleaning company, so it is pretty thorough. I LOVE that the list has a column to mark the date the chore was completed (or maybe it is for a check mark or initials, but I use it for dates). I started with their list, took out the parts that didn’t apply to my house, added a couple things, tweaked it a bit to make it fit our needs, and now I’m using that as my jumping off point for the one-chore-a-day idea. I set up a little reminder on my phone that pops up each day reminding me to do “One Chore”. Then I pick something from my list and do it.  If it is a busy day, I pick something small. If I have some extra time, I pick one of the bigger jobs. Sometimes I’ll choose a project I’ve been putting off, like sorting through the kids clothes for the next season. Sometimes I find I’m in a rhythm and I’ll do more than one in a day. This is the first time, probably ever, that I can say I’m actually enjoying cleaning the house.

Now, I have to stress here that I don’t count any of the daily maintenance jobs as my one chore. Otherwise I’d be done first thing in the morning after I unload the dishwasher :) I don’t count laundry, vacuuming (needs to be done almost daily at our house), washing dishes, etc… Those are the no-brainers that have to be done every day. But those chores that I rarely remember to do, like clean the cobwebs from the ceiling, or the things I find myself putting off, like cleaning those dusty blinds… those are the things this method is perfect for.

 

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