31daystoclean Archives - Page 3 of 4

31 Days to Clean: Day(s) #11 and 12

May 11, 2011 by Jules Leave a Comment

31 Days to Clean Having a Martha House the Mary way

Day 11 - Limitations (Life is Hard)

Mary Challenge: Let grace cover the areas you cannot change. Don’t beat yourself up or think you aren’t doing enough. God knows where you’re at; His grace is sufficient.

LOVED this! I am a "Martha" type personality so I need to hear and meditate on this often!

Martha Challenge: Living Room – Wash your walls and dust the ceilings.

Washing my walls seemed silly. I put it off for several days then finally caved. It took less than 20 min to do this room. Thanks goodness for big windows, french doors, wide doorway, and a fireplace on washing wall day but not on window day, ugg. I have a hard time cleaning things if I can't tell a big difference. vacuuming, organizing, washing off a grubby table, etc I see the need in. I'm sure it's a great idea to wash your walls every so often, just not motivating.

This is a panoramic view of my living room (minus the fireplace wall behind me) taken with my handsome hubby's iPhone. I finally found a benefit for all the silly free apps he has ;o) Sorry the colorings a little weird by the windows because of the sunlight.

hehe and the adorable (almost) 3-year-old blurring through the middle of the room.

*Thanks for letting me play with your phone, hunny!

Mary Challenge: Think about some areas in your life where you have been striving to be perfect (or nearly so). Perhaps you are comparing yourself to another mom, or putting unnecessary burdens on yourself because of what someone has said or written. Take these areas before the throne of grace and ask God to replace any lies you are believing with the truth.

Very similar to several other "Mary" thoughts. I am learing to let go of my ideal day, person, way of doing things and learning to search/listen for God's ideal for my life!

Martha Challenge: Living Room – Clean and organize shelves and electronics. Shine wood furniture.

Again, my amazing hubby helped and (more importantly) approved of me PURGING our electronics and movie collection! We have several "lots" listed on eBay now and more for our yard sale pile. I know Sarah Mae encourages you to just rid your house of these items (ie Take them to the Goodwill) but I am attempting to balance necessary purging with our "Dave'n It" (what we call Dave Ramsay's FPU plan). We will (and have been) trying to sell things at a consignment sale, yard sale, or eBay and then donating what is left over in several different ways, friends in need, pregnancy crisis center, goodwill, salvation army, etc.

Sorry didn't get before pictures of our entertainment center where all of this was stored.

Filed Under: Cleaning Tagged With: 31daystoclean, ceiling, clean, julie rothacher, limitations, living room, panoramic view, pictures, sarah mae, walls, wash

31 Days to Clean: Day #10

May 10, 2011 by Jules Leave a Comment

Mary Challenge: Picture your home in all its clean and organized glory, and then burn the image into your brain and heart. Now grab your journal (or notebook, or scrap of paper) and write down your big picture. Ask God to help you physically create the vision for your home life.

I am having a hard time with some of these Mary challenges. They have me doing more physical doing than I expected for it being a "Mary" challenge and then it's also having me do a lot of me discovering what I want. This life I live is no longer mine but Christ's...I feel as though I should be re-evaluating the importance I place on my picture of what I want. Yes, if Christ is in us, He will give us the desires of our heart but I also know that Satan's main way to weezle his way into our lives is with deception. Satan can use something harmless (ie the ideal clean home), twist and manipulate it until we are fixated on it and truly believe that is what God is asking of us.

I went the opposite direction in this challenge and have been trying to sweep the ashes from my burned in "big picture" out of my mind and heart so there is uncluttered abundant space for God's "big picture". I don't just want His help "physically create the vision for [my] home life". Right now, in my life, He is fixing my gaze on a larger world view outside my windows rather than inside.

Don't get me wrong. I fully believe my home is a gift from God to be used for God but I don't want to get caught up in what I want to accomplish here.

Martha Challenge: Living Room – Clean your window treatments and wash the inside of your windows.

Windows...WHY did I say I loved lots of window to let in natural light.

Mags thought it was hilarious to be "sprayed" on the other side of the windows and then apparently I missed a few spots ;o)

Izzie was a scrub'n machine. She'd say, "wa wa wa" the entire time she was wiping the windows. Then she came to show me all the grime she'd cleaned up and when back for more. Love having my girls help with cleaning!

Filed Under: Cleaning Tagged With: 31daystoclean, clean, dirty, journal, julie rothacher, little helper, living room, orgainze, playroom, sarah mae, wash, windows

31 Days to Clean: Day #9

May 9, 2011 by Jules Leave a Comment

31 Days to Clean Having a Martha House the Mary way

Day 9 – Confronting Laziness

Mary Challenge: Every time you find yourself saying, “I will do that later,” I want you to stop and pray, asking God to give you a spirit of diligence. then, with an obedient heart, go to work. If (and when) you fail, allow His grace to lift you up and begin again. I know you can do it!

I so popped a squat to read over this chapter again to "take a break" from the chores I was supposed to be accomplishing while my girlies were playing well together and read over these challenges and had to shut the computer immediately, ask God for that spirit of diligence, and get to work with an obedient heart! Crack'n me up. Just when I thought I didn't deal with laziness.

Martha Challenge: Kitchen - Sweep, vacuum, and mop floors. Add some fresh flowers to brighten your day.

Mopping, I HATE mopping!!! I decided that if I was gonna go to all the trouble to get out those evil tools to do the kitchen I might as well do all the "hardwoods" down stairs. Ugg! I did and it ended up not being too bad. I was even able to evolve my girls with minimal stress and injury...pics to come:

BIG helper, and very ingenuous as well ;o)

You already know where this is going don't you?

YEP! There it is! and...it's nap time! Poor girl wiped out 3 times. But that was some good scrubbing she was doing!

This one was dancing and singing. Great little helpers!

More dancing! (FYI: I'd already mopped the floors well and just let her push around the wet mop this time)

Oooo, almost forgot our "fresh flowers". We opted for a little "science" project that would last a little longer and cost $1.o0!

(ignore the rough-looking mamma in the background...Mopping-remember!)

We already have GROWTH! (~3 days later it showed up)

Totally recommend this cheap lesson for preschoolers! (~1 week's growth pictured):

Filed Under: Cleaning Tagged With: 31daystoclean, comfronting, fresh flowers, julie rothacher, kitchen, laziness, little helper, mop, sarah mae, sweep, vaccumme

31 Days to Clean: Day #8

May 8, 2011 by Jules Leave a Comment

31 Days to Clean Having a Martha House the Mary way

Day 8 – Overcoming the Curse

Mary Challenge: Think back to a time when God refined your character through difficult circumstances. Write it down and thank Him for His faithfulness.

Martha Challenge: Kitchen – Clean out and organize your drawers.

These were messier than I would have liked to admit...I almost had a Couple "junk" drawers. This helped me re-evaluate, again, which things I actually use, how often I really use them, as well as where the most practical placement of items would be since I had just been using them where they landed last year when we moved in. Some worked for us but some needed moved up away from little hands and some drawers are now accessible and just for my (almost) 3-year-old to keep her supplies/craft items in so she can be more independent. Dividing the towels and washclothes is going to make for another chore my preschooler can help with added putting away the (colored) silverware- great sorting skills.

Before and After's of Silverware and Linen Drawers

Before and After's of Knives and Utensil Drawers

Before and After's of Supplies, Bibs, and Baking Utensil Drawers

Filed Under: Cleaning Tagged With: 31daystoclean, clean, drawers, julie rothacher, organize, overcoming, sarah mae, the curse, wash

31 Days to Clean: Day #7

May 7, 2011 by Jules Leave a Comment

31 Days to Clean Having a Martha House the Mary way

Day 7- The Curse (What We're Up Against)

Mary Challenge: Read Romans 8:20-21. What is the hope in the Curse?

My hope is that because I'm a bond-servant of Christ I have been released from my burden to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of being a child of God.

Martha Challenge: Kitchen – clean out and organize your pantry.

Like I've said before: We LOVE hosting all kinds of things in our home! We make up excuses people over. We have been blessed with an amazing accommodating kitchen all necessary and unnecessary items for just such occasions. Our pantry is no exception. We could store food for an army in there! I am kind of what some may call OCD and love keeping things organized so this task wasn't dreaded but it was kind of time-consuming given the size of the God-given pantry. My girls were so excited to "help". They moved items from one shelf to the next so I could wash each shelf and then help group things (great lesson on sorting/matching). Although, I may be creating OCD babies. My (almost) 3-year-old had a hard time when I decided to relocate things from the previous areas she'd become acustom...oops!

Here are the befores: