Monday, May 10, 2010

Content

You know what's interesting? The less we have and the less we do the more content we are.


Making room for life by being a good manager of my time/resources is a challenge for me. It is not impossible but it is not natural either. I'm trying to change this one good choice at a time. On the way home from exercising' this morning I found myself asking God what we should do today.


We had a blank slate with no commitments at all. I know what I want to do but asking God what he wanted me to do is how I'm trying to orient my days.


I'll tell you exactly what I've been doing the last 2 hours. I made my bed. Cleared the clutter from the living/bedroom/play areas. I mopped my floor, had a peanut butter/honey sandwich with a cup of coffee, lit some candles and have been sitting in my chair enjoying my Bible.


It's raining and dark outside, my lamps are on, my candles are lit and my home is peaceful. Who knows what the rest of the day holds but so far it has been nice.


My plans changed. Today I was going to get a headlight fixed and go do something else although right now I can't remember what it was. I guest posted at Moop & Saba's today.


So, this week is Kithen week at Flylady's. This is my favorite zone because it's where I began with Flylady 9 years ago. My husband and I were living in a tiny, one bedroom apartment. Every Friday morning we'd spend 2-3 hours working together to clean the apartment from top to bottom.


By Sunday evening the place would be a complete and utter wreck again. It was so frustrating because it wasn't that we didn't clean regularly, it was that there was not a place for everything.


Last week I went to our Women's Ministry Director's house for the evening. I asked Char if her house always stayed so clean? She said it is always this tidy and picked up because I have a place for everything. That right there is the key.


Start today in your kitchen. Set your timer for 15 mintues and grab 2 empty Wal-Mart sacks and choose a cabinet. Mark one sack TRASH and mark one sack YARD SALE or GIVE AWAY. Your job is to toss 27 items into the bags. Start decluttering today. I'll never forget the first time I did a 27 fling boogie. I opened that cabinet and tossed gourmet hot chocolate from a Christmas gift, ugly mugs I didn't LOVE, all the random things that I never REALLY used or that didn't make me happy when I looked at them now.


"There is a time to keep and a time to throw away" Ecc 3:6

5 comments:

Becke' said...

girl, I woke up this morning and thought to myself, I bet anna is going to light some candles on this gloomy day...so I did the same! hugs.

Little Oak Table said...

There is nothing better than a candle lit, lamp lit gloomy day!!

Anonymous said...

you are my hero! I LOVE to de-clutter too. I did this with my kid's "stuff" last week....only instead of 27 things I did two hefty bags worth. They haven't missed a thing I got rid of. Now everything toy has it's own place and must go into that place at the end of the day. It feels soooo good.

How do you get your house so serene with 3 boys????

Do you have any idea how I long for a day like you just described?

This was mine: everyone overslept, the baby was working on a poop all morning and didn't get it out until noon. The toddler decided to scream and pick on everyone and right in front of my assistant yelled at me, "I'm MAD at you Mommy."
My computer was hi-jacked so my assistant can't get any work done (using my hubby's lap top right now), my 6 year old REFUSED to understand her math facts today. The only one in good standing with me is my 4 year old...lucky him!

Love ya sister!
Michelle

Gretchen said...

Look at that sparkly floor!!! I would eat the pb&h sandwich off the floor if it shone that much! Wow!

Amen and amen to the "everything has a place." It just makes life so much easier, less chaotic.

I worked flylady-style on my kitchen this a.m. before reading your blog. We're on the same wave length!

Kim said...

I took on the kitchen declutter challenge, and instead of 27, I got rid of over 50 things!! Thanks for the encouragement to get busy. BTW, I just love reading your blog and keeping up with you and your family that way. You're just beautiful and your kids are precious.