Putting the fires out

Sometimes I feel like I have a million fires that I need to put out. And no, they don't all have to do with errands or my house. The fires I'm talking about are the pressures I put on myself to be the best wife, helpmeet, friend, cook, crafter, and puppy momma I can be.

Let me back up....

Several months ago I was looking for direction in regards to having my position as wife and housewife become my ministry. I was looking for ways to know and feel that I was doing His work and pleasing Him. So, I started looking online and lo and behold I see a plethora of Christian homemaking blogs. I needed direction and now I knew where to find it!

And that is where y'all came in. I fell in love with all my new blog reads. I felt validated- there were women out there who valued women being at home! Even if she didn't have a child. And even if she had a degree in childhood education she 'wasn't using.' I couldn't believe my luck. So I started bookmarking them all like crazy. Any blog that had anything remotely to do with housekeeping/homemaking and the like went onto my now overflowing favorites section. And after several months of gaining insight and wisdom from those who went before me, I decided to delve into the world of the homemaker's blog myself. And I loved it!

So here I am, a couple months later. And I'm drowning. I have 30+ homemaking blogs that I read faithfully. And each one of them is packed with valuable information, wonderful tips, delicious recipes, motivation to keep going, wisdom, and spiritual lessons. I'm inundated with so much positive information, tips, hints and goals that I feel like I'm going under. One blog tells me how to plan my grocery trip so as to save the most money. Another blog gives me a tutorial for a super cute craft. And another writes a very wise and uplifting article about doing His will by staying home.

And I feel that I need to read and do them all. In the mind of this perfectionist (which you all know I suffer from), I need to do them all in order to be the (gulp!) perfect housewife. I don't think I need to tell you how many times that ugly word goes through my head daily.

"Jen, the bed has to be perfectly smooth on top. No wrinkles!"

"Who sat on my couch?! I had just fluffed my pillows perfectly!"

"If I don't get my icing to match the color of the team's uniforms perfect, then my cookies might as well be ruined!"

On top of the online reading, I have quite a few books and book studies that need to be looked at and read. I'm not even finished with The Excellent Wife and I'm already so eager to start on Created to Be His Helpmeet book and journal! But then the first chapter of Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World captivated me so much that I want to start reading it, too. But I can't read both and give them the equal attention they would deserve. So I wait rather impatiently....trying my hardest not to rush through the last two chapters of my current study. What good would that do?

And now I feel the call to take on yet another challenge in the hopes of giving my morning time with Him direction. I want to read the whole Bible in a year. I've signed up for this challenge at City on a Hill. This is something I've wanted to do for a while now, but it just seems like another thing I need to keep up with. And to me, they are all so important. But is the call coming from God? Or is it coming from the perfectionist within that wants to be the best at everything, including a dutiful Catholic wife and helpmeet.

How do I discern which is which?

Mrs. Amy Butler and Your Thoughts

Some of you may or may not know that I love sewing. Love it. Really. But, just because I adore it, does not mean I'm any good at it. I took a sewing class at our community rec center a couple summers ago but right before we got to patterns, my teacher went into the hospital and class was cancelled. So, I never learned patterns. To say that having a try at using a pattern would be terrifying would be an understatement.

But I overcame it and had my first attempt at sewing a pattern when I wanted to make my Halloween costume this past year. SH and I were going as Lucy Van Pelt and Schroeder from the Peanuts Gang. I've always loved Lucy and I had the hair, the shoes and the socks. All I needed was the dress. But there was not one to be found so I thought why not make my own. Big mistake. My poor dress was crooked on the front, had half of the lining missing somehow and just plain did not fit. But I had no other choice- I tried. I had to wear the dress. So I embarrassingly submit to you my horrid Lucy dress. Thankfully it was only one night, and the poor girl got retired to the trash the morning after. But this event only deepened my fear of reading patterns.

That is, until I saw this...

Oh, Mrs. Amy Butler, you do know how to sweep a girl off her feet with your fabrics. I have been wanting this sweet bag ever since I saw it, but it comes with one caveat- you have to make it. Or you can buy it on Etsy already sewn by a much more talented seamstress than I, but what would be the fun in that?! So, I'm gonna take the plunge and do it! Expect some exasperated comments and many questions in the near future. Oh, and pray for me. Please. Although I'm sure you already did when you saw me in that sad little blue dress.

On a decidedly different note...

While at the bookstore this past weekend searching for Being a Mary in a Martha World, I came upon a book that caught my eye. Ten Lies the Church Tells Women is a book written by J. Lee Grady is that goes into detail on ten "lies" churches tell women to keep us second class citizens. (I put the word lies in quotation marks because this is, of course, subject to one's opinions.) Some of the "lies" include, "women shouldn't work outside the home," "women must obediently submit to their husbands in all situations, and "a man needs to cover a women in her ministry activities."

The more I read, the more puzzled I became. The author claims that researchers have misinterpreted the standards of the Proverbs 31 woman in order to keep them in oppression. There are many reviews by Christian women hailing this book as "getting to the truth," and a "myth breaker." The part I don't understand is that it is not written by a crazy feminist woman, but a married man.

Has anyone read this book? I really just don't understand it all and frankly, I don't buy it. What is your take on this?

Sorry about my scatterbrained post today.

Happy sewing!

Tour My Casa!

Hey folks! Since I wanted to participate in the Holiday Tour of Homes this past month but was only able to give just a few pictures, I decided I'd take y'all on a tour of my house now- even though she's not dressed up in her Christmas fancies. ;)

This first room is my living room downstairs. If you can't tell from my pictures, I love darker warm colors. I'm definitely not big on the brights but I do have one bright room upstairs. I'm lucky in that both me and SH both have the same taste in decor, for the most part. We both love dark woods, wrought iron and natural elements like the stone you see on our fireplace.

We've lived here for about three and a half years now. We built the home right after our March 2005 wedding and moved in around September. It took me a very long time to decorate and come up with my scheme. I definitely still have much that I'd like to do, but of course it will take time. I'm always buying new things for my decor. I love updating, but I'm not very big on change. I know many of you like to try to move things around your house here and there to give it a fresh new look, but even thinking about that just makes my palms sweaty. One small move of a frame requires some major thinking for me and is bound to be a 20 minute dilemma. Yes, I'm that anal.

One place that SH and I love to shop is World Market. If you're familiar with the store, then I'm sure you'll recognize some pieces here and there. They have lovely dark wood furnishings and at very reasonable prices. I'm also in love with Kirklands. You can't beat their prices and much to SH's dismay, I'm always walking out of that store with at least one thing!

the view from the living room into the kitchen

Now, we'll make our way to my dining room. When we were looking for houses to build, I knew that whatever we got, it had to have a dining room that wasn't attached to another formal. I've seen many beautiful homes with dining and formal living areas attached but for some reason, I just couldn't have it any other way.

The one thing this room is still missing is a substantial piece for the back wall. It's taken us 3 years and we still have not decided what to put up there! It's a very wide wall, so we need either one huge long item, or two big pieces. Any decorators out there have any ideas? :)

And that wraps up this edition, folks! I've been feeling a bit under the weather, so posts may be a bit more sporadic and I'm trying to get around to everyone's blogs to see what's going on in other parts of the country, but I'm not on the computer that much lately. I'm hoping to kick whatever crud I have soon and get back on the ball. Laundry's piling up and I didn't even cook dinner tonight. Yikes!

Oh, but on a happy note, we did watch Fireproof tonight. I was SO excited that it came out today that I immediately headed to Blockbuster in the morning to snag it. And the clerk didn't even scream when I walked in with old sweatpants, my college sweatshirt, warm toasty Uggs, and my hair half up and half down. I didn't have make up on and don't even remember if I brushed my teeth. I was a mess! But I've been looking forward so much to this movie that I just had to get it. And it was well worth the wait. Very very good! Some of the acting was a bit cheesy but it was an amazing message! And doesn't Kirk Cameron look like he still should be a teen on Growing Pains? I swear, he hasn't aged a bit! It was a very romantic movie, with some comedy and action thrown in and we loved it! I can't wait to get started reading our Love Dare book. We picked it up this weekend at Barnes and Noble, but wanted to see the movie before we started it. Can't wait!

Happy Wednesday, y'all!

Update: I decided to do this tour as an installment series. I'll be posting house tour pictures each Wednesday. Next week, the office and kitchen!

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!

About this Southern Housewife

Hey ya'll! My name is Jennifer and I'm a 29 year old stay at home wife. I'm happily married to the Southern Husband, and mama to the cutest dogs in the entire world!

In no particular order, I love my husband, my fiesty Yorkie and laid back Maltese, my faith, being Southern, being preppy, Kate Spade, Lilly Pulitzer, Vineyard Vines, J.Crew, sewing, traveling, my family, monograms, pearls, toile, DMB, my diamond studs, George Strait, pink and green, trying to play golf with the hubby, Martha Stewart, constantly checking my Blackberry, photography, participating in animal rescue, lunching with the girls, roosters in my kitchen, brown and blue, nests, shopping, the Texas Longhorns, volunteering for the SPCA, reading, my Canon DSLR, and my local Starbucks. (A girl's gotta have her caffeine!)

Follow along with me as I travel the southern Texas roads as I discover homemaking, continue my walk with faith, and search for that perfect size 7 shoe!

Happy trails new friend!
xo,
The Southern Housewife

Helpmeet SOS Needed

I am in need of some motivation and prayers as of late. I started this year off with such dedication and motivation in becoming the wife the Lord wants me to be.

I joyfully scrubbed my house, served my husband, was diligently reading my Bible studies on the Excellent Wife, and daily listened to a wonderful radio program, Homemakers By Choice. Donna is a wonderful and Godly woman and I have learned so much from her and gained so much inspiration. If you don't listen to this program, download the podcasts to your iPod and listen to them while you are doing your chores. It is an amazing program!

But lately, my motivation and diligence has definitely waned. I need to be going full blast. I'm young, healthy, have no children and have no excuse to be on the couch for half of the day! By the grace of God, my house has stayed in order. I do pickup around the house and do a load of laundry daily, but I miss that peppiness and 'go get 'em!" attitude that I had this past couple months. I have cooked dinner and lunches for my husband, but, like I've said previously, I want to do it with a song in my heart. It seems like if my house isn't already perfectly ready to go, then I just want to give up. I seem to make mountains out of molehills, huh?

I know every housewife goes through this once in a while, but how do you get out of it? Reading your wonderful blogs has definitely helped! But I need something to get out of this slump. I have a lot of plans tomorrow and one of them includes making those rolls I did earlier this week. I'm really looking forward to that. But I ask that you please, please say a prayer for me, that God enters my heart again and gives me a stronger desire to serve Him through my husband. Pray that he once again blesses me with the heart of a servant and to lift anything or anyone that may be weighing me down. Pray that I stop letting petty distractions keep me from doing His work. More than anything I want to be the wife He wants me to be, but I seem to be slacking.

It is very hard when the idea of perfection is tall, blonde, slim Stepford housewives. When people think of housewives they go to one of two extremes- frumpy Fran, or beautiful Stepford. How do you live up to those kind of perfect standards? Am I the only one that feels like if I don't have a fresh pie made daily, or am able to whip up a gourmet meal on a whim for unexpected dinner guests then I'm a failure in the housewife department? I probably need to go and re-read my post on perfection.

"Perfect is for him, not for me."

-Dawn at Home

Thanks for sticking through this post. I promise to come back a lot peppier next time around. :)I'm praying for my routines and servant's heart to come back. I know that there is something He wants me to learn in all of this, but I just can't figure out what right now. Friends, please pray that I do.

xoxo

PS- I forgot to add that on February 2nd, the Martha Stewart website will be starting a Valentine's Workshop. As we all know, she is my domestic hero and I just adore her. (Remind me to tell y'all of the time I got to meet her!) Last October I participated in the Halloween workshop and had an absolute blast! We don't normally celebrate too much for Valentine's Day because I think we should celebrate our significant others every day, not just February 14th. And a couple of years ago, we decided to make our official Valentine's Day every February 15th. That way we avoid the outrageous mark-ups on flowers and candy as well dealing with the craziness of making reservations at a nice restaurant.

Regardless, I decided that even though we don't really buy into the "showing love by taking her out to fancy restaurants" sort of thing, I can still do a couple of extra sweet things for my sweetheart, right? He deserves some pampering every now and then, too. I can't wait to see what she has in store for us!! Y

Adding a blog button

Just follow these simple steps buttons to your blog:

1. Log in to your blogger account.

2) From the Dashboard click on the Template tab.

3. When you arrive at the 'ADD AND ARRANGE PAGE ELEMETS' screen, click on the 'Add a Page Element' option in the sidebar. Then, choose 'HTML/JavaScript' and click ADD TO BLOG.

4. A new empty box should pop open. Make sure you have allowed pop-ups.

5. Choose a name or title for this 'box' - e.g. Daily Reads. (It is not required though.) You then need to enter the link tags or image source code. Ususally blog authors will put the code right under a button. All you need to do is copy and paste it into the empty html box. Click on SAVE CHANGES, otherwise it won't add it.

6. Lastly, after you save the changes, you can click and drag page elements on the ADD AND ARRANGE PAGE ELEMENTS screen to put the button in the location you'd like.

Hope this helps. Good luck, y'all! :)

This Southern Housewife Loves...

Her Southern Husband!

Not only is the most handsome man this side of the Mason-Dixon line, but he listens to his wife. He brings her her vitamins each night, he tucks her in bed, he rubs her back, he calls her Bee, he leaves her love notes in unexpected places, and he's so tall, Southern Housewife has to get on her tippy toes to kiss him!

Do you remember my very first Southern Housewife Loves... post? In it, I blogged about that adorable planner that I have used for years but stopped when I got my Blackberry. Well, my precious Honey Bee read my post and today in the mail, guess what arrived on my front doorstep? Yep! He ordered the planner for me!! Is he a sweetie poo, or what? I thank the good Lord for him each and every day and I'm so happy he's mine. Y

And speaking of what I love, I must tell you about these fabulous pens. Yes, I am a dork and am obsessed with pens. They're called Liquid Expresso and they are made by Papermate. These are the most perfect writing instruments I have ever used. Ever. I was first introduced to them in college by my sweet friend, Amy. We both love handwriting- an odd thing to love, isn't it? Anyway, she let me write with hers, and once I did I was hooked! They are so smooth and they even come in my favorite color- pink! I only used the medium point, in case you were wondering. Sadly, it is getting harder and harder to find these gems. Walmart and Target both used to have them, but no more. I've looked at Staples, Office Max and the like with no luck. They used to go by the name Liquid Flair, and this is all I can find them under. I actually made a quick visit to Papermate and saw that they had an updated Liquid Expresso, but can't seem to find those anywhere! :(

If the idea of the unlimited possibilities a perfectly blank white piece of paper holds, then you need to snatch these up! They are worth every penny!

And one sweet reader asked where I got my Bible cover from. I purchased it from Vera Bradley early last year. It is from the Mod Floral Pink Collection but unfortunately I don't see it for sale anymore. I looked on Ebay, however, and they do have several in different fabric options up for sale. Good luck!

Happy Writing, y'all!

Move over, Martha

Pre-housewives days, before I actually loved being a domestic diva, I was a horrible cook. My sister, S, was the little cook in our family. She was always so motherly and domestic, I just knew she was going to be a mommy and wife someday. I was the artist of the family. I was crafty and drew and made all kinds of things. I was not the girl you went to when you wanted lunch made. College was no different. I had the dining hall. And if that was closed, I could always turn to my trusty Macaroni Easy Packs, or tuna sandwiches- no cooking required.

So, it came as no surprise that when I got married to Southern Husband, we were both immediately bombarded with wife/cooking jokes.

"You married a girl who can't make cereal!" or "That girl can't even cook toast right!"

It honestly never bothered me. Until I began to take my job as wife and homemaker seriously. Then the jabs began to bug me. So I began collecting cookbooks. I tried my hand at actually making stuff from scratch- not just out of a box. I definitely had a few flubs, but I learned from them and kept on trudging. I'm getting better. My family gives me great feed back on my Three Cheese and Beef Pasta Shells, and I even get requests for it! My cooking confidence is growing by leaps and bounds and I'm happy to be able to provide Southern Hubby with delicious meals.

Since it's ever so cold here in Texas, this is how I let my dough rise. I boiled some water, put my cookie cooling rack over the pan and set my dough on there.

If you're looking for this to be a "toast burner come fabulous professional caterer" story, then I'm sorry to disappoint. I'm still not a natural cook. I have to work at it. And follow the recipe to the letter. Once while watching Martha, I saw her making some cookies. The guest asked her about the amount to put in, and she replied, "Oh, just a tablespoon or two..." and immediately began to pour out the amount without a measuring spoon. So she may have been off a smidgen, but that is something I don't have the eye for. I don't know what a cup looks like. I don't know how many "pinches" make a teaspoon. Take away my measuring tools and you have taken away my ability to cook.

So you could have knocked me over with a feather when my first attempt at baking bread/rolls from scratch yielded something that was actually delicious! So delicious, in fact, that Southern Hubby and I ate a dozen of my rolls between us, y'all!! Anyone been to Texas Roadhouse (they're not just in Texas, dears) and had a good helping of their sweet rolls? Okay, so these don't taste exactly like them, but they are pretty darn close. Next time I may add a bit more sugar and divide the flour between all-purpose and bread flour.

I think I may have to skip this week's Think Thin Thursday. Cause those rolls aren't making me think thin at all! They're making me think how much I want to make some more and eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! Here's the recipe, although unless you have a bread machine, you will have to modify it some. Check the reviews for tips on what to do. Or you can always just give me a holler.

Happy baking!

44

Just wanted to stop by really quick to post about a neat challenge I read about.

In honor of the new 44th President of the United States, Mr. Barack Obama, Melissa asked people to display a photograph and write 44 words that were inspired by today's history changing events. The few participating blogs that I did read just blew me away.

Here's mine:

Where I watched history unfold,

With tears in my eyes,

Following along in prayer.

My hands clasped and head bowed,

I prayed for him and our country.

He is the change we need;

the light within darkness.

Oh, happy day.

The Southern Housewife's Household Binder

I got many, many, (many!) emails and requests for a couple more peeks into my Home Binder.

Now, first let me say that I love this thing! Like really love. I spent hours upon hours working on it and getting just right. And my actual daily schedule took me two versions, each tried out for at least a month, to get it to where it is most efficient for me. BUT, this is what works best for me. It may not work for you. It may not make any sense and you'll scratch your head and try to figure out what I'm trying to do, get really frustrated, and walk away from your computer thinking I'm even crazier than you first thought. I really do hope it works for you, though. Or at least give you some ideas to jump start your own Home Binder.

So, let's just start off with a couple of pictures of the sections I have within my binder...

In the very front, you'll see my pencil holder (am I a geek, or what?!) I have a ruler, pens, a highlighter, stamps, small scissors, and those colorful post it tab thingies that help me to find what page I'm on each day and when a new week starts. I highly recommend having something like this in the front of your binder. It will save you a few minutes looking for stuff, because you have what you need right there.

For each of my three sections, Housework, Cooking, and Crafts, I have a plastic separator that I can insert a cute image to show what section it is. My first one is Housework. I just adore that cute girl- don't you?I think she's adorable with that dark, short hair, poofy yellow dress and sweet smile. :)

Behind this plastic separator you will find several week's worth of print outs of my daily schedule. You are more than welcome to use this as the 'bones' of your daily schedule. I love the room it gives me for any notes I may need to write about in my dinner, and errands sections. I find that I use that space quite often. No matter what I have typed down, life happens and I find myself switching days with chores that I wasn't able to get to. PS- Sorry about the scan; I tried to get it to an Adobe file with no luck. :(

After my daily schedule, I have a cute folder that I put my 'housekeeping' papers in: the zones printouts from the Flylady, any cleaning tips from Martha, etc. I know there is a better way to organize things, but for now I just stick these notes in this folder. I know where to go when I'm looking for a certain something.

Here is my cooking section in my Household Binder. In this folder, I have my week's meal list, recipes I'll need for that day, recipe ideas, and miscellaneous recipes or coupons that need to be filed. In the back of this folder I have several sheets of notebook paper. This is where I keep a running list of things that I find I need from the grocery store. When I'm ready to make my shopping list, this is the first place I go.

For some reason, I never got a picture of my crafts sections. It's just as well. It's the exact same thing as the first two, only the folder is packed with decor ideas I've ripped out of magazines, fabric samples, tutorials, and the like.

In back of that is a list of all my family member's addresses, birthdays, and phone/cell numbers. I can't take the credit for this one though. My momma made it. But now you can see where I get my Type 1 personality. :)

And there you have it, folks. My binder is pretty simple, but it works for me.

PS- HAPPY INAUGURATION DAY!

I am so proud of Mr. (soon to be President!) Obama. I cannot wait to watch history take place today in front of my very eyes! Oh, if I could only be in D.C and have a ring side seat...

I pray that he does what is right and is the hope and positive change that our country so desperately needs right now. We only have to look at joy and celebration taking place in other countries around the world to see that many, many people are in support of Obama. I pray that he re-establishes us as a great nation and that he works diligently to change the economy for the better. I pray that he does what is right for education, child welfare, the elderly, insurance issues, and environmental issues. I pray for his wife and children- that they learn to be strong in the face of such adversity and the media leaves them alone while they are still young and fragile. I pray for his health, as I cannot imagine the pressures of this job and how much it will age him. And I pray for us as a nation- that we may be unified, despite differences. I feel such a division in this country right now..."You are either with us, or against us." And it shouldn't be so. Especially at a time like this, we need to be unified for the good of our country. I pray we look past those differences and see the bigger picture. Amen.

It was obvious we needed a change for the better, and I feel that Mr. Obama is the change we need. I hope everyone gets a chance to see history unfold today. You know where I'll be come 10am! ;)

The Homemaker's Haven Mondays

Yay for another beautiful morning!! Look at what God gave us today...amazing, even through my suburban jungle. Thanks for joining me again this week. I'm so enjoying these challenges that Stephanie gives us and my precious home is liking them as well. ;)

If you were with me last week, you'll remember that I wanted to get one of my kitchen cupboards organized. Since we moved into our house right after we got married, we had all kinds of goodies to open from our registries! It was like Christmas for our house! Anyway, I apparently registered for a ton of serving dishes and what not. And they were all over our cupboards, in any nook or cranny we could squeeze them into. Look at one of my poor roosters up there- he lost his balance and looked like he knocked his little head. :(

So, I rolled up my sleeves and got right to work. And now this once cluttered cupboard houses my china as well as my Christmas dishes and Thanksgiving china.

Before:

After:

Isn't she beautiful?! And Mr. Rooster's head was patched up and I set him back high on his perch! Now he's able to do some cock-a-doodle-dooing and get me out of bed. :)

My other home challenge was to hem up some curtains for my master bathroom. They used to be in my dining room and I figured why waste money buying some for my bathroom when I had these and they matched. :) Sadly, I was only able to get to one panel, so I'll show you the before now and get back with you this week on the after.

Before:

My other challenge to myself was to dust all the blinds on my bottom floors. Sadly, I didn't get to those. :( I'm a bit disappointed but I know I have another week to do it! And sorry for the yellow in the pictures. I just caught it at the wrong time of day. I'll try to get some better ones next time around.

On for my weekly challenges....

My challenges for the week of January 19-23, 2009 are:

1. Work on dusting the blinds again this week. Does anyone have a good way that they clean theirs? I'm thinking just attach something on my vacuum line and go over them? I don't know. My last Dyson had a perfect attachment for the job but we took it back because it stopped sucking (yes, even though the British guy says they don't) and we just got another one but this Dyson didn't come with the same tools. Boo. :(

2. I want to organize and clean my laundry room. I'm quite mad at myself because it's gotten so bad since the holidays. It's a big ol' mess! I want it pretty again. (Or as pretty as a laundry room can get!)

3. Finish the other panel for my master bathroom.

4. Though this isn't a chore, I want to continue to do good about getting up early for those rare quiet moments I get to spend with Him. I'm thankful for them daily but they seem to get either cut down short or not happen at all when I wake up late and start racing around my house like a mad girl! I need to be more disciplined about going to bed early.

Well, that's it! Can't wait to see what the rest of you gals have going on for the weeks! And I want to see pictures, too! And thanks to Stephanie for hosting! GL ladies!

Are you ready, girls?

Get those aprons on, and join me for for Making your Home a Haven Mondays! Oh, how I love this series! Doing it on Monday just makes me feel engergized for the week. This is what got me started on wanting to blog my homemaking adventures in the first place.

So, are you ready to join me and Stephanie tomorrow? Did you go over and revamp your morning routine? If you did not, take a few minutes today to do it so you can be prepared for tomorrow.

Tomorrow I hope to post the pictures of the challenges that I gave myself last week. I will admit, that even though I have myself only three, I struggled with them.

If you need a little help on what you should be doing, read the following. Stephanie explains what she'd like for you to do in order to participate.

1. Refresh Your Spirit (5 minutes)
Take five minutes, brew a cup of tea or coffee or pour yourself a tall glass of iced tea or ice water with fresh-squeezed lemon, and sit down and be still before the Lord. Pray, read something from God's Word, and take a moment to thank the Lord for His goodness and blessing in your life.

Having a home that is a haven starts with an inner peace in our own hearts, a quiet resting in the Lord. You can have a beautifully decorated home with everything neat and orderly, but if you are frazzled and frustrated, your home will not be a peaceful place. After all, the saying is so true, "If momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy."

So before you do anything else today, take time to refresh your spirit in the Lord.

2. Take Time to Plan (5 minutes)
Today's planning project is centered on a morning routine. This is a habit I usually follow pretty faithfully, but the last few weeks I've fallen off the bandwagon. I'm determined to get back on track, though, as this is such a tremendous help to the rest of my day!Write down five things you want to do in the same order every morning. Keep it simple and only stick to five things. If five things seem overwhelming, start with three. Starting somewhere is better than not starting at all!

We'll be keeping each other accountable for our morning routines over the next few weeks. Put your list in a very conspicuous place and consult it first thing each morning.

I'd love to have you post your list on your blog to share with us.

3. Do Something! (5 -15 minutes)
Each day I'm going to be giving you a simple organizational task to complete in your home. And today we're going to start at the very beginning - a very good place to start!

Put on an apron, light a candle, and turn on some uplifting music. Then go to your front door and pretend you are a first-time visitor to your home. Walk in and take a look around. What is your immediate impression of your home? Is it calm and clean or cluttered and chaotic? Take five to fifteen minutes to clean, de-clutter, and beautify your entry area. Do a quick pick up if there are items out of place, mop or vacuum the floor, shake the rug, spot clean the walls, and rearrange things.

Take before and after pictures if you'd like and post them to share with us.

* this is from Biblical Womanhood

We have a wedding to attend tonight, so I may not get my last challenge finished in time. But at least I did some things. Good luck and I will see y'all tomorrow!

My morning routine

This past week I've been trying to get out of bed at 5:45am to get out to the gym. My idea of the perfect schedule would have me back at home by 7ish, work on Bible study and spending time with the Lord until 7:30ish, and into the shower by 7:45am. Southern Hubby gets up at 7:45am so I would be out and drying off while he starts his day. I'd put on some clothes and head to the kitchen to start coffee and start a load of laundry. I'd gather SH's things, pour him some coffee, grab a yogurt and apple for him (we are not big breakfast eaters around here), kiss him goodbye and send him off.

But now it's looking more like, roll over to shut my alarm off at 6am, hit the snooze till 6:30 or 7am, get up, check blogs, email, maybe get in the shower before SH, maybe not, and start getting him ready for work. I'm racing to make him coffee and get his lunch ready before he slips out the door. I hate starting the day feeling late and rushed but I can't seem to get myself up. This past week I have even been neglecting my bible studies and I feel just terrible about it.

Of course He provided a little path to show me the way again. While visiting a favorite blog, Biblical Womanhood, I came upon her post on getting her morning routine back on track. How amazing and I'm so grateful that I have the inspiration to do what I need to do. It looked very similar to mine, so I'm hoping to revamp it a little and start bright and early on Monday.

Yay for my favorite coffee cup! I drink out of this every morning!

The Southern Housewives Morning Routine:

1. Get up at 6am. Wash up and get my workout clothes on down to shoes.
2. Take out Southern Puppy to potty and feed him
3. Work on my Bible studies, and prayer with the Lord
4. Get in the kitchen, start breakfast and/or coffee, clean anything that needs cleaning or start a load in the dishwasher
5. Start a load of laundry
6. Spend time getting Southern Hubby off to work
7. Head off to the gym

At the end of the week, I should post progress on how things are going and if I need to change something that isn't quite working for me. I know the easiest thing to get this going is to shut my computer off and do not turn it on until I return home from the gym. Checking blogs can wait until I serve God, my house, my body, and my family first.

If you need a little boost or a change in your morning routine, I urge you to go check out Biblical Womanhood. It's a wonderful blog full of wonderful information. Sign her Linky so you can see what others are doing- you may come across something that would work wonderfully for you!

On another note, I would appreciate some prayers for our little family as well as another family today. We experienced something a bit hard yesterday and we'd love some extra prayers sent our way. Good thoughts would be greatlty appreciated. Thank you so much, friends.

TGIF! :)

Think Thin Thursdays- Week 2

Hello all my skinny sweeties! :) Today is another day of Think Thin Thursdays!

Before I post my weight (scary!) let's review my goals from last week:

1. I wanted to hit the gym three times....ok, so I went only two times. Getting up at 5:45am when it's super cold outside and you've got two handsome men in your bed to snuggle with is hard, y'all! Really hard! BUT! I am going to the gym today after I send sweet hubby off to work, so maybe that will count? ;)

2. I wanted to write down everything I ate in my WW journal (although I'm not currently on the plan). Well- another big fat failure. I did the first couple of days and then life got in the way. (I hate that excuse.)

Wow. I thought I'd be ok writing this, but I'm suddenly starting to feel very mad at myself. I definitely let myself down this week. On the plus side, I did do very well with my water intake. I think the only coke I had this week was a cup of diet Sprite yesterday. I did make a few bad meal choices (think Chili's huge chocolate chip brownie thing topped with a huge scoop of ice cream) but I also did ok with not always having to finish my plate. Somewhere in life, I became a member of the "Clean Plate Club" and for a while, I joined the "Get Another Helping of Lasagne" club. So, I'm learning to recognize the feeling of actually being full. Not "stuffed", mind you- but satiated. And that feeling does not feel like I'm going burst out of my jeans. It doesn't hurt. It doesn't make me uncomfortable. It's just right. I'm still getting used to the feeling of "just right" though because I'm used to feeling super full. I need to remind myself that feeling is ok to have. I doesn't mean I'm starving. It just means maybe I won't have a muffin top that night.

Okay, on to the results.....

I went ahead and actually posted my weight. Might as well get the full benefit of the accountability, right?

When I stepped on the scale today, I about lost it. It's very hard to see (my camera skills aren't very sharp this early, huh?) but it is actually hovering right under 165lbs. Now last week, I was at 164lbs. So I put down my camera and got ready to bawl. But when I put my camera down, I noticed that my weight went down with it! Silly me never took my hefty camera's weight into account! So, I got off the scale, re-adjusted it, and then got back on minus my fat camera. It read 163lbs. Now I'm confused if last week's weight was all off. I took the picture myself, camera on. I think what I'll do is wait for Southern Hubby to get up and take one for me. I'll post it in a couple hours.

UPDATE: Southern Hubby took my picture and even though it looks like more, it actually said 162 lbs!!! He took it at an angle so it looks way off- ugh. But I even made him get super close to the scale to look at the exact line it was on and it was indeed, 162! :)

New goals for the week:

1. Try getting to the gym at least 3 times this week. I can do it! I know I can!

2. Eat out less. Use the food I have at home. It will save me calories and money.

Bridgette's task for this week is to write about one website that helps you on your weight loss journey. When I was really into WW, I would always visit Dottie's Weight Loss Zone. She had a wealth of information on there about recipes, new ideas to try, and even free print outs. She even has an article about how to get in your 8 glasses of water. I saw a lot of other TTT members that were struggling with this. I hadn't been in a while, so I'll have to go through it again as it looks like she's updated it. ;) Another one that I liked going to was Hungry Girl. It's a pretty cute website full of good stuff! Check it out! :)

Alright ladies, I'm off to check in on my other TTT sisters! :) Have an awesome day!