Homemaker's Haven Monday & Making a Happy Home Monday

Since these two are quite similar and I want to participate in them all, I figured I'd just combine them. :)

If you remember from last week's HHM & MYHHM, I assigned myself 4 different goals. And as much as I hate to admit it, I didn't finish all of them. I think I'm expecting too much of myself by trying to do too much. This week, I'm going to lighten my load a bit. Not living up to my own expectations is very discouraging (I'll be talking more on this later in the week.) So, instead of trying to do that, I want to encourage and lift myself up. I'll be taking it a bit easy this week.

laundry room before

This past week I was able to do the chore I wanted most- deep clean my laundry room. My room isn't very big, but it was getting very, very junky. It seems that most houses have a place that they put things that they have no idea what to do with. When company comes over and I need to ditch something, my laundry room is where it goes. I'm able to close the door on it and forget about. That is until I have laundry to do!

So I began to get to work....

How embarassing are these pictures?! Yikes!

But thankfully after an hour or two and help with a little dancing music from Maroon 5 and Mr. George Strait, I was able to get a sparkling, dust free, beautiful laundry room back! Look at all the junk I purged from this tiny room! Our gym shoes, Southern Hubby's dusty golf shoes (which consequently convinced him that he doesn't golf nearly enough!), Southern Puppy's travel bag, blankets, golf balls, my favorite tote bag for traveling, whew! I'm re-tired just look at this! Thankfully it's finished and I'm in love with it! And for once, actually don't mind doing the wash anymore! Well, at least for now! ;)

laundry room after

This upcoming week, I really want to focus on the most important thing I need to do in order to have a blessed home- spend my mornings in prayer with God. Most of the days last week, I was able to get up early and do Bible study and prayer but there were a couple of days that I did not. And those were the days that I felt the most lethargic and not very pumped to bless my house. So, I know that daily time with Him is one of the most important factors of actually getting things done around here with a cheerful spirit. So, that will go first on my list for the week.

The Southern Housewife's Challenges for January 26th-30th:

1. Focus daily on spending my mornings with the Lord. I want to continue my readings on The Excellent Wife, listen to the daily podcasts on Homemaker's By Choice, and write my prayers down in my journal.

2. Third times the charm... I'd like to finish the second curtain panel for my master bathroom.

Okay- that's it. That is all I'm going to be accountable for this week. Yesterday I went to the bookstore and purchased Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World. Just once chapter in, it has already opened my eyes tremendously and I have been so inspired. If you struggle with perfection and trying to do it all like I do, please get this book. I can already see how it will change my attitude on homemaking and individual prayer.

Oh, and one last thing- I made my yummy rolls again on Friday. They were very delicious but this batch turned out a big doughy. I cooked them for a bit longer than the recipe called for and even put my oven up 5 degrees. Baking divas, what am I doing wrong? The only difference between this batch and my last one was that I used half bread flour and half all purpose flour instead of all bread flour. I heard doing this would make my rolls a bit more fluffy. Instead, it made them more chewy and doughy! Does anyone have any tips for what I can do to keep my bread from doing this? Any help is appreciated!

Happy Homemaking!