Dandelions and Daydreams

Aside from nurturing your family, a home should be a place to nurture and entertain others. When you invite someone into your home, you have the opportunity to nurture their spirit and share your life. The best way to develop lasting friendships is to open your heart and share your life.

When you open your home, in hopes of creating a welcoming refuge, your front door and entry create the first impression, and we all know,“You only get one chance to make a good first impression.”

As someone drives up to your house or walks to your front door, will they feel welcome and cared for? Does your front door bless all who enter?

When I was growing up, my mom would send me to clean my room. Whenever I didn’t know where to start, or got bogged down with the little stuff at the end, my mom would suggest that I walk in my bedroom and pretend that I was company seeing it for the first time.

After reading The Spirit of Loveliness (Review Here), I started thinking about first impressions. I walked outside and looked at our apartment with the eyes of a guest.

What an eye opening experience that was! The first thing I noticed was the mountain of winter stuff propped against the house (snow shovels, pots waiting for spring planting, etc.). One by one, these things had collected. The mountain grew so gradually that I never noticed. There was some wood scraps from a building project that didn’t get completely cleaned up after. When I got a little nit-picky, I noticed that the sidewalk and stairs need to be swept.

The thing that struck me the most came when I walked up to the front door. The top half of the front door is a window. We live in a basement apartment, so we need all the light we can get into our little cave space. Our door is south facing, and I have loved that window, but when I walked up looking through the eyes of a guest, I was struck with a feeling of invasion of privacy. Looking in that window, I was peering into a private sanctuary that I hadn’t yet been invited to see.

I had always been somewhat uncomfortable with having the window wide open for everyone to see in, but I had never been able to put my words to my feelings. I coveted the light from the door window, so I just ignored the discomfort as best I could.

I pondered this problem for three days before I figured out a solution that suited my need for light and beauty in the entrance to my home. I searched for window cling paint and created a “leaded glass” window cling for my front window. Now I have light, privacy, and a beautiful decorative window.

Watch for a front-door project post tomorrow.  In the mean time, go look at your front door through the eyes of a guest.  What can you do to welcome your family and friends into your home with open arms?

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photos: Amy March CC-By-SA, ButterflySha CC-By

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The Spirit of Loveliness: Bringing Beauty, Creativity, and Order to Your Life

Home is like snuggling in a soft blanket or being embraced in a welcoming hug. A home is a refuge to all who enter. It is a place to nurture and be nourished. Home is a place to rest, fellowship, and entertain.

As much as I would like to think that creating a home comes effortlessly, my house and my spirit tell a different story. Creating that welcoming refuge does not come naturally, instead it requires some determination to bring beauty and usefulness into harmony with one another.

Creating a home begins with creating order throughout your life. Order is a beautiful tapestry woven with the threads of goal setting, time management, and home organization. Each of these areas work together to make your life easier and put you in control of your stuff rather than having your stuff control you.

Most importantly, when you walk into your home, it is an expression of you (and your family). Soccer, Hunting, scrapbooking, and dolly tea parties can all mingle together in harmony to create a style that is a unique and beautiful reflection of your life and your personality. When your home is a reflection of you then it will become a place to nurture, rest, fellowship, and entertain joyfully.

Check back tomorrow for an article about First Impressions and Hospitality.

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As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

In this simple story of two sisters opening their home to Jesus, you can see 3 steps to being a great host or hostess:

1. Keep your house “company ready.”

Martha readily opened her home to Jesus and his disciples. While there may have been signs that the house was lived in, I bet that busy Martha was a good homemaker. My biggest barrier to opening my home to hospitality is “the house is dirty.” It’s not necessary to have a perfect home, but if you feel embarrassed by the mess, chances are you won’t invite anybody in.

2. Spend time with your company.

Mary sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to the things he had to say. Have you ever been invited over for supper only to find that once you arrived, you are seated and the hostess rushes off to the kitchen to finish cooking her “perfect” seven course meal? It’s awkward to be in someone’s house without a host or hostess. If you can’t entertain in the kitchen, plan your meal so that it is all prepared before the guests arrive leaving you free to enjoy your friends.

3. Don’t let perfectionism be a source of tension.

Don’t strive for the perfect company meal–we’re not perfect, and we never will be this side of heaven. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s stop trying to present ourselves as perfect. Just open your heart and open your home. Invite someone into your life–as it really is, not as you would like for it to be. By accepting imperfection, the process of hosting will be much less stressful. If having company always leads to tension you will be much less likely to open your doors to friends and family.

All that hospitality really requires is making room in your life for another person. Listen. Welcome. Invite. Don’t try to make things more complicated than they need to be.

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I’m excited about the new year. I confess that new beginnings always get me going. Resolutions, are like having a vision, knowing your goal, seeing the bulls eye. When you make resolutions, you know what you are aiming for, then you just keep trying to hit it until you hit it.

This is my plan for getting my home organized in 2008.

1. Finish Old Projects.
2. Make Monthly Drop offs at Goodwill
3. Invite Company over once a month
4. Start Cleaning Green with healthier cleaning products
5. Wash the Car more than once a year
6. Actually follow the FLYlady system
7. Clean my desk at the end of the day

photo: Wade Rockett CC-By-ND

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You’ve got company coming in a few days and a tornado just blew through your house. You walk into a room with the intention of cleaning and are met with discouragement.

“I’ll never finish” you say to yourself.

You shuffle around lethargically, and pick up a few things here and there.

Five minutes before your company arrives, you are grabbing up piles of stuff and throwing them into your bedroom, closet, or guest room. You shut the door behind you and hope than no one dares to peek.

Later, when the company leaves and you dare to peek into the room. You are faced with a mountain of stuff, but it has grown and multiplied like mold on year old bread.

Instead of dealing with the mess now, you close the door, and pretend it’s not there. Out of sight out of mind…

…until you invite company over again.

Today is the time to rewrite your story. This Christmas, clean your house for company without shoving the mess into the spare bedroom. Here’s the plan of attack.

Write a To-Do List.

Preparing for company begins with a to-do list. This is a “Get the house company ready” to do list, not an “Every house project we should have done in the last 6 months” to do list. If you are planning a crisis cleaning, you do not have time to paint anything, don’t plan any major home renovations.

Macro Clean, don’t Micro Clean

My mom coined the terms Macro-cleaning and Micro-cleaning when I was little. She would send me to clean my room, and I would pull out all the books on the bookshelf and organize them alphabetically, but completely ignore the piles of clothes and toys littered across the floor.

At the end of the day, I had an incredibly neat…bookshelf. Every book was alphabetized and pushed back even with the front of the shelves.

Let’s face it, if your bookshelf isn’t organized, your company probably wont notice. Put your energy into the big jobs, and if you have time, you can alphabetize your bookshelf.

Walk in your front door and pretend like you are company.

I’m going to admit that I am easily distractable. (OOH!…shiney metal object) When I clean for too long, I start to lose focus on the big picture. After a while, I find myself micro-cleaning. When I catch myself alphabetizing the bookshelf, it’s time to walk in the front door and pretend I’m company seeing this room for the first time.

I step outside and knock on my own door before letting myself in. Once inside, I gain a new perspective on what I need to clean still.

If the Beds are made and the dishes are washed, the house is clean.

This is actually my Great Grandma’s cleaning advice, but the point is your house doesn’t have to be perfect to be company ready. Do the best you can in the time you have, and then open your heart and your home to envelope your family and friends in the warmth of love.

photos: General Wesc CC-By, adulau CC-By-SA, rainy city CC-By-ND, wnorrix CC-By

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Computer desks seem to be a magnet for junk. Mine is a perpetual dumping ground for things that don’t have a home anywhere else. This disorganization cuts down on my effectiveness, and today I am making a plan of attack to defeat home office clutter.

The first step to winning a battle is to know your opponent.

What are your office organization weak spots?

When I look around my desk, I see a variety of different types of clutter:

• things that don’t have a “home”
• things that got set down “just for right now.”
• mail that hasn’t been sorted
• bills that need filed
• the never ending tangle of computer cords

My desk drawers are like black holes (things go in never to be seen again).

Now that we have identified the opponent, what would victory look like in the battle against clutter?

I am a piler by nature, although I do get obsessive about my files sometimes. I like to keep my current project at my finger tips.

When I sit down to work, I don’t want to be running all over the house putting away things that were set down on my desk “just for right now,” or finding homes for homeless items. When I sit down at my desk I want to work.

Success for me, in the battle against office clutter, would be to ONLY have my current project on my desktop, that and a cup of coffee.

We have identified the opponent, and created a vision for what final success would look like, now it is time to create a plan of attack.

1. My desk is actually a piece of plywood sitting on top of two filing cabinets. I mentioned that the drawers are like black holes, actually only one drawer is a black hole/junk drawer. The other three drawers have defined purposes (home files, office files, and scrapbooking).

I want to take the fourth drawer and turn it into a “To Do” drawer. I usually have 2 or three projects running at a time, and different things to work on each day. The papers from each of the projects can take over my desk top. I am going to empty my black hole junk drawer and fill it with files for each day of the week. This will be my daily staging area.

2. The main reason I don’t file my bills and papers right away is because my file drawers (for both home and office) are over crowded. The second step in my attack is to purge my files. Time to get out the paper shredder.

3. The final step in my attack is to find a small box that will be my put away box. When I sit down to work, I don’t want to take time to run around the house putting things away. If I have a small box, I can throw homeless items in the box and put them away at the end of the day (or at least when the box gets full).

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It’s the day before Thanksgiving, you’ve just gotten home from work, and suddenly it hits you…

You’ve put them off this long, but tomorrow they all have to be finished…

The Last Minute Details!!!

First of all, I have to ask, with all the things you still have to do, what are you doing here reading blogs?

Before you go, read these tips for getting handling the last minute details.

1. Get dressed to work
2. Spend 5 minutes and make a list, now number your list by priority
3. Tackle your list in order of priority, don’t skip anything on your list.
4. Once an hour take a short break. Drink some tea, prop your feet up, maybe do something fun on your to-do list.
5. Do as much as you can on your to do list, but when your time is up, stop working and enjoy your family.

The holidays don’t have to look perfect, but fill your house with love and grow memories. Love and memories will last long after the turkey and the pumpkin pies are gone.

Have a beautiful holiday.

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Argh! The holidays are coming and I don’t even want to think about trying to keep my house clean for the parade of people that will be passing through, and I delight at the idea of opening my home to the people I love the most.

Now is the time to start cleaning for those holiday get-togethers. Your house can stay company clean if you follow these seven steps.

1. Wash the dishes every night. Do it right away as soon as you finish supper. No matter what you think you want to do after you eat, if you don’t take care of the dishes right away, they won’t get done.
2. Make the bed every morning. My great-grandma used to say that if the dishes are washed and the beds are made, the house is clean. I know it seems foolish to make your bed when you have clothes thrown all over the bedroom floor, but trust on this one.
3. Spend 15 minutes before bed picking up around your house. Just 15 minutes, that’s all. Take that time to clear off flat surfaces, sweep the floor, wipe down the counters.
4. Don’t set things down “just for a minute” put them away. We all have those areas in our house that are always a mess. Usually the worst one is the flat surface nearest the front door. The end of your kitchen counters, the coffee table. Stop putting things down “just for now.” You don’t want to have to deal with stuff twice. Deal with it once and put it away. If it doesn’t have a home, find one or throw it away.
5. Wash, dry, fold, and put away a load of laundry every time you have a full load. I admit that I won’t do this one because I don’t have my own washer and dryer in my house. If you are fortunate enough to have your own washer and dryer do laundry every time you have a full load, don’t just wait until you are out of clean underwear. Likewise, if you do not have your own washer and dryer, set a weekly laundry day and stick to it!
6. Get rid of clutter. This is key to keeping your house clean long after the holidays have passed. When you find something out of place ask yourself, “Do I love this? Do I use this? Will I feel bad if I get rid of it?” If you answer no to all three of those questions, pass it on. Goodwill, Freecycle, and the local dump are all great places to get rid of your excess junk. Please don’t give garbage to Goodwill. They have to pay to get rid of it.
7. Finally, relax and remember the people who are coming over are interested in you not your stuff.

This article has been featured in Personal Development and Happiness Carnival.
photo used by permission stephcarter cc-by-nd

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I never knew I could get deliriously excited over a bathroom door, but that is exactly how I feel right now. The new little apartment that we are living in had a curtain for the door to the bathroom. Now first you have to understand that this is a really small apartment. The way to the bathroom is through the bedroom and there literally isn’t enough space for a door to open into the bathroom. When we first moved in, the door was a gauzy shower curtain hung in the door frame. While I don’t mind having a see through bathroom door…much, it could get a bit uncomfortable for overnight company (or company in general) to a) walk through the bedroom and b) use the bathroom with just a see-thru curtain for a door.

We set out with the intention of finding a non-see-thru curtain to hang in place of the current one. I took the measurements, and Brenton and I headed for Home Depot. On a whim, we looked through the bi-fold door section. I know now why there isn’t a door in the door frame–the frame is too short. Standard door height is 80 inches, this door is 75 inches tall. Much to my delight, we found a vinyl multi-fold door. It’s like the kind of door used in restaurants to close off a meeting/party room. Brenton trimmed the extra 5 inches off the bottom of the door and voila! We have a bathroom door.

I stood in the door for 5 minutes opening and closing it. Ah…privacy.

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