In Just Five Minutes!
Are you overwhelmed today by all the projects you feel you must accomplish? Do you find yourself on a treadmill of one thing after another, until you feel you’ll never get off?
How can you have time for the important things you want to do, like prayer time, Bible study, reading to your kids, or making a special batch of cookies for your family?
Well, you can do it all, but it will take some planning.
First, be ruthless-get rid of extra paper! Almost 90 percent of the paper in your home (or office) is never referred to again. Get rid of it!
And then apply this simple rule, which I call the “five-minute pickup” rule. Pick up and dust each room for five minutes – time yourself self with a kitchen timer!
Discipline yourself to stop when the bell goes off. Sometimes all it takes to eliminate mess, clutter, and confusion are a few hooks here, a basket or two there, and a bit of reshuffling of items on a shelf.
Give it a try and make your life a lot simpler!
Simple Pleasures
I avoid looking forward or backward, and try to keep looking upward.
-CHARLOTTE BRONTE
Don’t Be Intimidated!
I’ve heard it a million times, expressed with admiration and usually a little envy, “Oh, she’s so creative.” Usually it describes an “artsy” kind of person-someone who paints or writes or makes pottery.
But some of us have even been a bit jealous of the friend who simply knows how to put a room together or combine fabrics in a way that is especially attractive. It’s so easy to lose our confidence – if we ever had it to begin with.
Today, refuse to be intimidated by your own insecurities. Be bold!
You really don’t have to be an artist to infuse your home-and life-with the spirit of creativity. Creativity is a God-given ability to take something ordinary and make it into something special! It’s an openness to doing old things in new ways!
And you are just as creative as the next person!
Most of us just keep it hidden. The creative spirit is part of our heritage as children of the One who created all things. And nurturing our creativity is part of our responsibility as stewards of God’s good gifts.
Simple Pleasures
Find some roses today. Buy one for yourself and one for someone you love. A fragrance spray can enliven any room in your house. Draw a picture and mail it to a child with your words of encouragement.
The Gift of Trust
Real trust is a gift you give to someone you love!
For many years, I’ve had tea parties with my granddaughter, Christine. I trusted her to drink very carefully out of my delicate china teacups. I knew she could easily break them, but I took that risk to show her how special she was to me. And she got the message!
This wonderful ritual I share with my granddaughter has given me a little insight into how God fills my cup with trust.
More and more, as I grow older, I’ve become aware of God’s love and trust working in my life. He allows the pain and the fear I often experience, because He trusts me to respond in a way that will allow me to grow through them rather than be discouraged by them.
And as I surrender my heart to trust Him, I hear Him say, “Go ahead, You can trust Me.” And I’ve found that I truly can!
Simple Pleasures
Begin collecting lovely toiletries-powders, unguents, creams. Start an evening ritual of herbal tea and a candle. Nourish a sense of calm. Pretty new pillowcases add a special touch to old, familiar sheets.
Now That’s Creative!
Creativity keeps life interesting and fun. It also demonstrates that we are enthusiastic about the people and projects in our lives.
Creativity is one of the qualities of our Creator – God. Start by believing that you are creative – and then look for ways to express that creativity today.
Use your imagination to display your fine collection of cups and saucers, bells, dolls, Hummels, or salt-and-pepper shakers.
If this collection brings you pleasure, it will also be a blessing to friends and family around you.
A friend of mine displayed her collection of teddy bears in a clean but nonfunctional fireplace. Now that’s creative!
Another woman I know collects photographs of the people she loves. She put track lighting down a long, dark hallway and displayed over 30 photographs of family and friends in an assortment of pretty frames. Now that’s creative!
Take a moment to change a room setting, rearrange a bookshelf, or place a vase of flowers somewhere new or unique. It doesn’t need to be fancy to be creative!
Simple Pleasures
From fairest creatures we desire increase, That thereby beauty’s rose might never die.
-WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
“I insist that it is every woman’s duty to know, or to acquire some practical knowledge of housekeeping, so that she may be ready for any emergency. Her fitness for it will be a perpetual source of satisfaction to her, for there is nothing more self-satisfying than to feel that one is capable; it gives confidence, strength, and self-reliance.”- Annie S. Swan, Courtship and Marriage And the Gentle Art of Home-Making, 1893 http://amzn.to/2slSTay (afflink)
First Communion Aprons!
Make that little girl’s most important day very special with these lovely First Communion Aprons!
Available here.
Hands Free Mama is the digital society’s answer to finding balance in a media-saturated, perfection-obsessed world. It doesn’t mean giving up all technology forever. It doesn’t mean forgoing our jobs and responsibilities. What it does mean is seizing the little moments that life offers us to engage in real and meaningful interaction. It means looking our loved ones in the eye and giving them the gift of our undivided attention, living a present, authentic, and intentional life despite a world full of distractions.
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These ideas are so pretty! The only one that seems to me that could be difficult is the scents and perfumes…. Too many scents make it very hard to breathe. My favorite is a very gentle vanilla with a light touch of honey or peppermint. 😊