Weekly Cleaning Schedule

THIS! Let me just tell you, when I finally decided to give the infamous weekly cleaning schedule a try, I fell in love.

One night, my husband and I were talking about cleaning. Well, actually, I was venting about how I have no clue why I can’t keep up with the house work (yes, the hubs does help around the house!). Anyway, he said he was shocked I didn’t have a weekly cleaning schedule. I agreed, because, well, schedules and lists are just part of my personality. Lol.

So, I decided to give it the ole college try about three weeks ago, and boy am I glad I did! It’s amazing! Take a look at this one I found…

Weekly Cleaning Schedule

I’ve stuck to it about 85%, and even that has been great! I like it because it’s simple and doesn’t seem overwhelming when you look at it. I switched dusting to Monday and vacuuming to Tuesday. I was always taught to dust before you vacuum so you can vacuum up all the dust. Was anyone else taught that?  I also love doing one load of laundry per day. Our laundry has stopped piling up and it’s not as overwhelming now.

I read a blog from one woman (not sure what blog it was, sorry!) where she explained that the cleaning schedule helped her feel less stressed. She knew that if, for example, she saw her microwave was getting grubby, she didn’t need to take care of it right then. It was on her cleaning schedule and she knew it would get cleaned soon. I have found this to be so true!

Happy cleaning!

Oh, by the way, our kitchen table is STILL a no-clutter zone! This is one of the best changes we ever made!

Welcome Gift

Whenever someone moves into our neighborhood, I try to welcome them with some goodies. My go-to goody was Rice Krispie treats, but these are only good the day you make them. If the new neighbors weren’t home the day I made them, I ended up eating them all myself. Not good :/. Plus, you never know who may have allergies or other food restrictions. I decided to rethink my welcome gift and opt for something practical yet relatively inexpensive. After searching the Internet for a while, here’s what I came up with:

Welcome Gift

I wrapped a bottle of dish soap and a sponge in a kitchen towel, tied a cute little ribbon around it, and added a note welcoming the new neighbors to the neighborhood. You could even spice it up a bit by adding a fabric flower to the ribbon. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s practical and helps your new neighbors feel welcomed (which I would have loved when we moved to a new neighborhood!).

Declutter Mission

Home HandbookI’m on a mission to declutter this year. We have way too much stuff for our space. Actually, we have way too much stuff, period. There’s no need for it. Why are THINGS so important to me? In the end, my things aren’t going to matter anyway.

Instead of a New Year’s Resolution, our pastor encouraged us to pick a word to serve as our theme for the year. I chose the word surrender, as in surrendering to Christ and His plans for my life. I really want to live a life for Him, but it’s just so dang difficult! Why??? Grrr.

Anyway, I think letting go of many of my material things is part of surrendering my life to Christ. My focus should be on the eternal, not the temporal.

“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Colossians 3:2).

While doing some searching online, I stumbled upon Your Simple Home Handbook by Elsie Chandler. It has really good suggestions for decluttering, even though I probably won’t declutter quite to the extent suggested. I’m starting with baby steps! We’ll see how it goes. So far, all I’ve semi-decluttered is my closet. Pretty slow pace, huh?

What declutter plans have worked for you?

Back to School: College Student Gift Baskets

August means back-to-school! If you’re looking for something to give a college student, a gift basket is a great option.

Some family members of mine are going off to college, and I wanted to give them a practical gift as they start this exciting time in their life. I opted for gift baskets because who doesn’t like a gift basket??? Plus, I really enjoy making them :). I scoured the internet for ideas of what to include in the baskets and came up with some ideas of my own as well.

I’ll share with you the items I included in the two gift baskets below. One is for a commuter college student, and the other is for a college student moving out on her own for the first time.

Gift baskets are so simple and also allow you to be creative! Buy a basket or storage container of some sort, cover the bottom with some crumpled up tissue paper, and start filling it with all the goodies!

Commuter College Student Gift Basket

gift basket college commuter

Continue reading »

Bar Keepers Friend

Shortly after we updated our kitchen, I was preparing to take pictures of it for this post. As I was cleaning, I moved a rinsed-out mixed vegetable can I had put on the counter behind the sink the evening before and noticed RUST SPOTS on our BRAND NEW quartz countertops! I could not believe it! What bugged me the most was that when I put the can on the counter I even thought to myself, “This might leave rust marks. Maybe I should move it.” However, I decided against it because I knew I would be cleaning the kitchen the next morning. I thought “It won’t leave rust marks that quickly.” Well…I was wrong!

I tried cleaning the rust with vinegar – didn’t work. Windex (which is what the countertop installers recommended I use to regularly clean the counters) – didn’t work. Scratching the spot with my fingernail – didn’t work. I think I finally searched online for products that removed rust. Anyway, somehow I remembered this powder cleaner called Bar Keepers Friend that my grandma told me about years ago.

Bar Keepers Friend

Continue reading »

The Reason for the Season…

The Reason for the Season…is Jesus! I thought this would be a fitting time to share the story of the birth of Jesus.

Luke 1: 26-38 New Living Translation (NLT)

The Birth of Jesus Foretold

26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, 27 to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. 28 Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!”

29 Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. 30 “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”

34 Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”

35 The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. 36 What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month.37 For the word of God will never fail.”

38 Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her.   Continue reading »

Get Prayd.

Prayd Landscape

It all began with a light-hearted conversation during our Bible study about creating a prayer app. From there the idea grew, and my husband and his buddies began working on a prayer app – Prayd.

None of us had any idea how this would all pan out. We knew it could be anything from a complete failure to an utter success. One thing we knew for sure, though, was that we needed to pray about it! If the Lord was in it, and if my husband and his buddies kept their sights on Him, we knew something great could come from this.

Now, almost a year (filled with hours and hours of great work) later, the app is now live! Prayd allows prayer requests to be connected with pray-ers. God, the Father of Jesus Christ, gave each of us unique talents, abilities and personalities. These personalities are on full display in prayer—our hearts naturally go out to people struggling with needs that we can relate to. Prayd enables this by helping people find pray-ers and helping pray-ers find people (prayd.net).

Let me tell you, in just the few short months this app has been live, it has been such a blessing! I cannot believe the number of people joining the Prayd community by submitting prayer requests and praying for others in need. I have been so extremely blessed by simply having the opportunity to pray for strangers! It’s so weird, I did not at all expect to be so blessed by this; it’s amazing how the Lord works :).

My prayer is that others using the app are somehow blessed as well. I pray this app continues to further the Kingdom and connect others to Jesus Christ through the power of prayer!

Join the community. Get Prayd.

iOS Devices        Android Devices        prayd.net       @GetPrayd        /GetPrayd        +GetPrayd

 

Finally Fall

Yes, I know, it’s technically been fall for a while now, but it hasn’t really felt like fall – until now. Trees are changing colors, leaves are falling, mums are blooming, mornings are chilly, and nights are cool. All signs of fall!

All of this puts me in the mood for camp fires and chili. Who’s with me??

Here are a few pictures I snapped of the fall landscape over the last few days…

Mums

Fall Colors

Fall Landscape

Buster

Ok, so the last one isn’t technically ‘fall landscape.’ I just couldn’t resist taking a picture of this grey, fluffy cutie!

Craft Booth…Take One

My dad and I participated in our first ever craft fair this past weekend. It was quite the experience, and we learned a lot!

Pictures of our booth are below. I was happy with it for our first ever booth display. It just seemed so overwhelming, though – too much stuff in too small of a space.

We learned from other vendors that it’s not so much about having a ton of items as it is about having a really eye-catching display. Which, of course, makes sense. After seeing other craft booths over the weekend, we now have ideas about how to make our booth more inviting.

We plan to do this again, but need time to recuperate. Craft Booth…Take Two may have to wait a year :). This was exhausting! Lol.

DSC02715

DSC02721

DSC02722

DSC02728

DSC02727

DSC02742

Check out my Shop to see the currently listed items.

What suggestions do you have about creating a successful craft booth?

My Not-So-Helpful Helper

Buster, our cat, almost always has to be near us. Many times he actually tries to ‘help’ me with my projects by plopping himself down right on top of what I’m working on. In his defense, though, I am a floor sitter. When crafting, I’m on the floor. If I actually worked on a table like normal people do, maybe he wouldn’t be in the way so much :). But, if I did that, then I wouldn’t have funny pictures like these!

Take a look at my not-so-helpful (but very cute!) helper…

DSC02293

DSC02294

DSC02301