Monday, December 10, 2007

Making Your Home A Haven - Day 6

Go over to Biblical Womanhood to view this and other challenges.

1. Refresh Your Spirit -

Begin your day with the Lord. Fix yourself a delicious hot drink and spend at least a few minutes praying, reading God's Word, and meditating on Scripture. Ask God to bless your day and love through you. Find your joy, hope and strength in Him.

So, I'm really liking this part of the challenge! It's amazing how much better my day goes when I start with even just a few minutes of prayer and reflection. This time helps keep my perspective throughout the day!!

2. Do Your Morning Routine -

1. Brush Teeth/Take Pill - DONE
2. Swish & Swipe - DONE
3. Make Bed - DONE
4. Unload Dishwasher - DONE
5. Start a Load of Laundry - DONE

This morning I was actually very proud of myself. Normally I get up at 6am and make Bryan his breakfast and then head back to bed leaving all the dirty dishes. Well, this morning I got up, made Bryan breakfast, unloaded the dishwasher, and then washed all the breakfast dishes and the ones left from last night before hitting the hay again!!! Progress not perfection!!

3. Take Time To Plan -

After your morning routine is finished, write out a short to-do for today (five items or less).

1. Unpack from weekend getaway. - DONE
2. Do all laundry/straighten laundry room. - DONE
3. Call about family portraits. - DONE
4. Wrap remaining presents. - DONE
5. Write out remaining Christmas lists.

Here is a breakdown of my laundry today. I did 5 loads (dog linens, whites, towels, lights, darks) and after the last load was dry I wiped down the washer and dryer, emptied the lint holder, shook out the rug and swept the floor. Now my laundry room is straightened and my laundry is washed, dried, and put away!!!

Oh, I also actually got in some exercise too! If you haven't tried it I recommend the 'Dancing With The Stars' workout dvd!! It's AWESOME! It has tons of high intensity cardio that makes you sweat buckets!! Now I just need to go do some toning exercises...

4. What's On The Menu For Dinner? -

Take a moment to plan what you'll be having for dinner and then do as much of the prep work as possible before noon. Fix up a pot of soup, throw something in the crock pot, whip up a casserole, or pull something out of the freezer.

I recommend that you have this dinner prep work as part of your morning routine or scheduled into your morning somewhere. Then you'll save yourself realizing that it's five o'clock and you haven't a clue what to fix!!

Tonight I'll be making spaghetti and meatsauce with Italian sausage and garlic bread. So I went ahead and pulled the ground beef and the sausage out of the freezer to thaw.

5. Project of the day -

Turn some uplifting music on, light some candles, put an apron on, roll up your sleeves and let's get busy!!

Set your timer for five minutes and start at your front door again and quickly walk through the main living areas of your house straightening and picking up and putting away anything that's out of place. When the timer beeps, you're done, so work fast and don't get distracted.

Then, go to your kitchen (you knew we'd get there soon, didn't you?) and wash, dry and put away any dirty dishes there are (or use the dishwasher) and then quickly straighten anything else that's out of place, wipe down your counters and cupboards and replace your dish towel.

Okay, so it took me more than 5 minutes, but I got the main areas of my house cleaned. After Audrey layed down for her nap I went ahead and got to work. The main "picking up" that I had to do was Audrey's toys and books that she had gotten out this morning. Since we were gone for the weekend and I straightened the house the night before we left there wasn't too much to do. I did dust and sweep the living room/office, hallway, dining room, and bathroom.

As far as the kitchen goes, I did a bunch of dishes early this morning so all I had left to do was mine and Audrey's breakfast dishes. Then I wiped down the counters and the appliances and then swept.

2 comments:

Bryan L said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Wow you have busy days! It's amazing everything you do.

Bryan