Decor Balls

Giving these decor balls a go again... Turning out kinda cute?

Some made with raffia and jute twine, others with fabric that is left over from pillows I made and from the window drapery panels. I'm wrapping whatever I feel like around some balls that I got from the dollar store, which are slightly less expensive than the styrofoam ones at the craft store.

...and an old shirt of Corey's, I apparently like making it "ours". :)

Jewelry Board

I thought this project over at Whippy Cake was so pretty!

I'm underway with brainstorming and mentally designing how mine might look, mostly with supplies I already have on hand. Gonna make a few sketches of different options for myself today.

I think this will be my board ~ I've been saving it for almost 3 years now for some unknown project, it was in the basement when we moved in.

This is the wall by my closet where I think I shall place my board.

Pretty little tea cup I found at the thrift store, to hold small stud earrings.

Dollar store glass that can hold bracelets

And here's my drawer where all these pretty things are hid most of the time. Won't it be so much better to have them all displayed? To add color to the room while also being very functional! I'll update later with the finished product.

Laundry Done

I am feeling so on top of things, I'm not sure what's made the difference these past two weeks but I hope it doesn't stop. Main floor has been looking AWESOME this whole week (glad I made the kids take their forts down). Even vacuumed the stairs, on my way to the upper floor now.

I folded absolutely ALL of the laundry and even threw out half of the unmatched socks that were waiting for their partners. I'm keeping 10 stray socks, that's it. No more of this whole basket full of socks. So it was a pretty good feeling, I've been working hard and have found much satisfaction in being a homemaker and it's easy as I sing my little "Do It For Jesus" song. I've even been wearing a little apron (GREAT for picking up all the stray legos everywhere!) I think I'm going to make myself a few more aprons of different styles to add some color to my black/gray exercise clothes that I wear everyday. :) And just for fun, I LOVE THIS LITTLE FACE!!!!!

Stick Decoration Thing

I had an idea a few months ago... the kids and I were talking about how slow and long the cold winter months of January and February and March seem to be. There's no real big holiday to get excited over and look forward to... just not enough going on. And on top of that  and with the cold weather, just makes it seem even longer and slower. So, we've decided that each month we're gonna have a party for ourselves, and January is our New Year Winter Party. I got some decorating inspiration from the Pointe Party that Mel had last month.

They just had a big stick thing in a pot on one of the tables that looked pretty with paint, lights, and ornaments, you can barely see a little of it in the picture above in the top left corner. Anyway, I decided we'd tried to do the same thing for our party ~ I found this stick just out in our neighborhood which looked like a nice long shape...

...which I screwed to a board from a bed that I have had in my stash of potential crafty things down in the basement...

Then painted it, put on some ornaments ~

Then add a bit more with lights and garland, and wa-la! We had some decor for our party!

Housework for Jesus Song

As I folded laundry this past weekend, I was crying a little with feelings of being overwhelmed and "I'm just so in over my head when it comes to trying to run this home", and so I started to sing to myself "I'm folding the clothes for Jesus" and thus this song was born. This is to help me REMEMBER that when I work and clean in my home, I'm doing it for God... The tune is a Primary Song called "I'm trying to be like Jesus" and the Mommy Lyrics go as follows: (verse 1 is about chores, verse two about cooking):

I'm cleaning the house for Jesus (or "folding the clothes," "sweeping the floor," etc)
I'm following in His way
I'm trying to serve as He did
In all that I do each day
At times I am tempted to wait for some help
But instead I'll keep working and will give of myself, Singing
Serve one another as Jesus serves you
Try to be helpful in all that you do
These small things will fill my heart and home with love
And lay up a treasure above.

I'm cooking a meal for Jesus
I'm doing this all for Him
I know that he feels so happy 
When I'm taking care of them
I'll try to remember all He's done for me
Then it won't be hard to give my time selflessly, Thinking
Serve one another as Jesus serves you
Try to be helpful in all that you do
These small things will fill my heart and home with love
And lay up a treasure above.

I think this will help me remember Him and that when I serve the least of these, I've done it unto Him. Matthew 25:40

Just 5 Minutes

"Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein." 

- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

So I'm still loving the Change Your Life Challenge book. I've been doing my homework. Step 9 beginning on Page 73 talks about when you're feeling overwhelmed by the chaos to just time yourself for 5 minutes and do something to help lessen the mess. From page 79:

"Using a timer is ideal. After you finish reading these instructions wait for the next minute to be displayed on your clock or set your timer to five minutes. Then immediately begin your chosen action. If you want immediate, quick results, you will not find a quicker tool that can be applied to any area of life.
"Please do not just read these words adn vow to "Do-it-later." We know how that path unfolds and it isn't one that will take you where you want ot go. In five minutes, STOP! Then come back

I'm loving that idea of just taking a baby step, just 5 minutes, to work. And you know what, after that 5 minutes, you're already feeling better and have a bit of energy and so the 5 minutes often turns into more. Sweet. Gonna go take 5 minutes to work on laundry. :)

The Change Your Life Challenge Begins

I've been busy this past week striving to establish life changing habits. In my quest to master my little dominion, I went searching for some cheap self help tips via the local thrift store's book section. I've got dinner and keeping a family financial record figured out, but I'm still greatly lacking in getting this household clean and running like a fine tuned machine. So I was at the DI just picking up any book that looked like it might have a gem of insight to impart, and I found two that hit the spot - this title sounded like just the kinda book I was looking for:  The Change Your Life Challenge by Brook Noel. I liked filling out my snapshot and getting my personalized prescription of where I needed to begin to manage things right now in my life. She recommends filling out the snapshot once a month once we start to get a handle on things, as for now I think I'll be busy with this snapshot for a few months. I also am loving the Catch All Notebook (aka CAN), because I am very guilty of writing reminders and notes to self on any old scrap anywhere and then not being able to find it. So it's been fun. You can get the book used on Amazon for like 1cent plus $3.99 shipping, so $4 bucks for a book isn't bad, right? Let's do it, or you can just check in here and I'll try to keep you posted on how the application of it's tips are going in our neck of the woods.