Home Sanctuary

Bring in the New Year in a Really Small Way

Hey, Company Girls!

I'm so excited about starting our "Sanctuary is in the Small Things" posts tomorrow!  Your emails and comments have been great...keep them coming!  Just as I expected, you girls have some smart ideas and it's going to be fun sharing them with each other.  Aren't our little sanctuaries going to be wonderful this year?

It will happen, one small thing at a time.

So how am I spending the last day of 2007?  Why, polishing up my Small Things list, of course!

And rounding up some sweet rewards for you!  I will unveil January's prizes tomorrow, and I know you'll want to join in doing the Small Things as often as possible, especially when you see what's in it for you (besides that warm feeling of sanctuary greatness.)

Just a couple of last-minute notes:

1.  Get your basic supplies together. 

Remember, the list is short but important.  You want to be able to whip out a Small Thing without breaking a sweat.  Think like June Cleaver.

2.  Know how to add by tens.

Points will be given each day for accomplishing a Small Thing.  I can't add very well, so I'm making it easy by making them nice, round numbers: 10, 20, 30 points each.  You can get a school-age child to help you keep track if you run into problems.

3.  Subscribe in an email or feed.

I'd hate to have you miss out on an easy Small Thing that would help you rack up points AND make your home fabulous.  Click on one of the icons in the sidebar and follow the steps.  That way we can TRULY be Company Girls every.single.day.  But still come by and visit so you can hear my really cool music.

4.  Bring your friends.

The more, the merrier.  I love seeing the Company Girl button around the blogosphere!  It makes me realize that I'm not alone in my hopes and dreams for what I want my life to be.  We share a vision for our homes and a passion for the people we love.  It is heart-warming to know we have kindred spirits all around the world.  Why not share it even more?

5.  Know that I am praying for you.

I woke up last night with my Company Girl names on my heart.  I was thinking of each blog I've visited and the dear women behind them.  You have families and stories and dreams, just like me.  And I pray that this year will be a year of small steps toward big things for all of us.  I believe it will be.

Have a safe and happy New Year's Eve!

Fun at the Dollar Store

Em and I went to the Dollar Tree yesterday to get stocked up for the Small Things 2008.  I got everything I needed for 2 1/2 baths, plus the kitchen for about $20.  Woo-Hoo!

Instead of caddies, I just bought 3 smallish plastic bins to corral the cleaning supplies.  Since my supplies are now WHERE I USE THEM, I figured I don't need to caddy them anywhere!

As an added bonus, I picked up a double feature DVD with possibly the two worst movies ever made, but I couldn't resist the cheesiness of it all.  Plus, it was only 50 cents!  Surely this will make a thoughtful gift for a special someone:

Em picked up 3 DVD's on cat care (low-budget productions) to give to her friend who just got a new kitten. (3 bucks total)

You never know what you'll find at these Dollar Stores.  I just know I found exactly what I needed to start the year out right. 

"Small Things" Housekeeping Supply List - It's SHORT!

Do you ever notice something like, say, your bathroom sink looking a bit grotty, and then decide that it's too much work to go all the way to the other end of the house to get a sponge and cleaner so then you just leave it alone? 

Or else you start down the hall to get what you need and then get distracted by something and then at the end of the day you go to brush your teeth and look down and remember that you were going to clean it in the morning but now it's too late because you're too tired? 

Naaaah.  That never happens to me, either.

I've found that if I can just reach under the sink to grab the supplies I need, I can deal with it immediately and enjoy the rush that comes from getting something done in a flash. 

So THAT's what a clean sink looks like!  I never knew....

That's why I suggest keeping these supplies where you actually use them: under sinks (child-proofed, of course) or at the very least on each floor of the house or each end of the house.

Get these at a discount store to put in a caddy per bathroom (or floor level):

"Small Things" Supplies

Glass Cleaner
Surface Cleaner
Abrasive cleaner
Paper Towels
Sponges
Trash bags
Dust cloth/spray
Wisk broom/dust pan
Rubber gloves
Potty  scrub-brush

Optional: Pop-up wipes (love these)

General cleaning supplies to have:

Floor cleaner
Vinegar
Disinfectant spray
Tools: brooms, mop, vacuum
Trash bags

Starting fresh with the tools you need will give you power to spend time on the things you really WANT to do, instead of feeling victimized by all the housework.

Remember, Sanctuary in the Small Things is not just about cleaning, but it's about caring for your home and the people who live in it.   It's part of showing love AND helping your family members belong to the process of homemaking.  I'm all over that.

Now. I'm off to the Dollar General!  I can't wait to get started!!

P.S.  Wish I had a Company Girl to come along with me! 

OK. You go to YOUR Dollar Store and I'll go to MY Dollar Store and then it will FEEL like we went together.  We can compare deals!

Countdown to "Small Things" 2008

Sanctuary is in the small things. 

That's going to be the theme that will be woven throughout my blog this coming year.  As I have prepared my little daily posts, I've decided to add a bit of fun for anyone who might want to play along.

As Jeff Probst of Survivor would say, "Want to know what you're playing for?"

REWARD.  That's what.

Here's how it will work.  I'm going to assign points to each Small Thing...just to make it interesting.  You'll be on an honor system to keep your own tallies. 

At the end of each month, I will give a Small Prize to two people: one for the Most Points, and one for just being a Company Girl. 

The Company Girl award will be chosen randomly among people who have participated in at least 5 Small Things AND sport the CG Button. 

I will keep you posted on how you can throw your name into the ring to let me know your points, and/or if you have participated during the month.  I figure that offering both categories will cover anyone who has a busy month but wants to play along as they are able, AND those who like a little friendly "points competition" to sweeten the pot.  You people know who you are. 

You're the ones already wondering what the prizes will be.  Just hang on, I'm working on that and you're going to like them!

There is one other way to participate, and this is very important!

I want you to email me your best "5 Minute Sanctuary" idea(s), so I can link to you in future posts.  If I use your Small Thing, I will send Company Girls over to you that day so we can all get to know each other better, and share some link love.  What could be better?!  You girls have such creative ideas and awesome blogs that it will be fun to feature you for a day.  I will try and give you advance warning so you can put your best foot forward when we all come over!

So just to refresh your memory, we'll have three general categories for our 5 minute Small Things.

Peace:  What are some ways that you bring peace in your relationships?  How do you create a peaceful atmosphere?  This category includes your spiritual life.

Order:  What are simple things you do to create quick order in your daily life?  It can be cleaning, organizing, sheduling, budgeting etc.

Beauty:  How do you bring beauty into your home in ways that please the senses?  What are things you do to make your home feel good? 

I look forward to your emails...you can just click on my email link at the top left to send me your ideas.  Make sure you include your blog address if you have one.  For my non-blogger Company Girls, I encourage you to participate and just include your email address!

On Friday, I will post a Small Things Supply List.  Having our supplies handy will make each thing that much easier to accomplish!

Rachel Anne

P.S.  Don't forget your Company Girl Bling!

  <a href="http://homesanctuary.typepad.com/rachelanne/2007/12/cmon-be-a-compa.html"><img src="http://homesanctuary.typepad.com/company-girl4.jpg"></a><br />

These Cookies are too pretty to eat, but somehow we manage

Wednesday night was our annual Cookie-Making Party.  Actually, it's a Cookie-Decorating Party.  In the spirit of fun competition, we gather to create the Best in Class in categories we make up as we go along.  My son-in-law, Robert, smoked us all last year with a 3D Christmas tree.  He was a rookie trying to make a name for himself, and we were stunned by his raw, newcomer talent.  We kept that famous cookie in the fridge for close to 9 months, a petrified testament to Cookie Greatness.

I won "Best Use of Shading" with this snowman. 

Em won the "Ethereal Theme Award" with her angelic creations.  Love the hair.

G.T. got the "Academic Cookie Award" with his slope intercept equation.

Elle got the "Best Use of a Classic Theme" with this fireplace scene.

Rob tried to top his 3D tree this year, but got overly ambitious and it backfired on him. 

Tough break.

Tom had a migraine and was unable to participate in the festivities, but he occasionally called out encouragement as the competition tightened.  Secretly, we were glad he couldn't pull out one of his "Best Contemporary Designs," as he has in the past.  It leveled the playing field just a bit to compete without him.

Here's the recipe we use, same as always.  The buttery cookie base is just perfect for the sweet almond-y frosting.  You will be in Cookie Heaven.

Have a great Christmas, and I will be back on the 26th!

What Your Latte Says About You

I found this over at Jill-Simply My Thoughts. Jill has proudly displayed her "I'm a Company Girl" button right at the top of her page!

I couldn't resist taking this little quiz. I laughed right out loud at my analysis: If I'm THAT easy to analyze from my coffee tastes, what must my sandwich preferences say about me? (Pepperjack cheese means I get along well with others but I'm a little spicey?) I'll save that one for professionals to speculate.

***What Your Latte Says About You***

You are easygoing and pretty simple to please. You don't put up a fuss... ever.

You can be quite silly at times, but you know when to buckle down and be serious.

You have a good deal of energy, but you pace yourself. You never burn out too fast.

You're addicted to caffeine. There's no denying it.

You are responsible, mature, and truly an adult. You're occasionally playful, but you find it hard to be carefree.

You are expressive and friendly, but you are never pushy.

What Does Your Latte Say About You?

Go find out at:
http://www.blogthings.com/whatdoesyourlattesayaboutyouquiz/

Is it "Boatload" or "Buttload?" Either way, button troubles abound.

Update:

Melissa at Breath of Life told me I needed to "close" the original code below, so it should work now. And Heather at Graced by Christ sent me THIS code (so cool) that you can cut and paste.

<a href="http://homesanctuary.typepad.com/rachelanne/2007/12/cmon-be-a-compa.html"><img src="http://homesanctuary.typepad.com/company-girl4.jpg"></a><br />

********************************************

Are you having trouble pasting the Company Girl button into your sidebar? Apparently some of you have been having a "Boatload" of button trouble.  Let's see if this code will work:

<a href="http://homesanctuary.typepad.com/rachelanne/2007/12/cmon-be-a-compa.html"><img src="http://homesanctuary.typepad.com/company-girl4.jpg"></a><br/>

Try copy/pasting it into your post or sidebar.

If that doesn't work, here is a photobucket code that I sent over to Marsha by email and she was able to access it and make it "clickable". Check it out on her sidebar! It looks great on her black background...so classy, just like us.

http://s190.photobucket.com/albums/z209/rachelanneridge/?action=view¤t=company-girl4.jpg

I have spent some time at Scribbit, trying to figure out Michelle's helpful advice.  Her online tutorial helped me get the button onto my own sidebar, but I've had trouble typing the code into a post so you can copy and paste it.  On a sidenote, Michelle does some really great craft/art projects and I'm totally impressed. If I hadn't spent so much time learning how to make a button, I might have had enough time to make one of her cool things.

BloggingBasics101 is another source for help.  I appreciate these ladies for sharing their wealth of knowledge....I feel so indebted and yet I still can't quite figure it out!  Feelings of gratitude and failure, all wrapped in one.

I'll get over it if I wake up and find out that either of the above links actually worked! Please let me know so I can still have time to get my Christmas shopping done!

Sanctuary is in the Small Things, 2008

Creating Sanctuary at home for yourself and for the people you love most is a lifelong journey. Along the way there are many wonderful days of joy and complete satisfaction, and then there are Those Days in which you can be overwhelmed with the chaos of daily life in this fast-paced world. I know because I’ve been there many times. Lord, help me, I'm there right now!

But over the years, one of the things that has helped me to have hope for experiencing true Home Sanctuary is to just make some kind of progress each day. Even the smallest of victories can buoy my spirits enough to keep me going.

I started looking at the tasks on my to-do list, and the things I want to do beyond that list to really make this place feel like a sanctuary, a refuge for my family. I realized that many (if not most) of them are very small things. It’s just that when they are added up together, the list can look so daunting I have a complete melt-down and can’t do ANY of it!

But what if I could do just one small thing each day to keep me moving in the right direction? If each thing took an average of 5 little minutes (loose change really), it would add up to 1,825 minutes in the course of a year! That’s about 30.5 hours of tasks, except they would in such small increments I’d hardly even remember doing them!

And what a difference just a tiny bit of effort makes! Sometimes I get so focused on the BIG things that I forget just how meaningful those small things can be.

On January 1, I’m going to start posting one “Small Thing” each weekday that I’m going try to do in my own home to create a little more sanctuary for my "peep's." I'll still post my other thoughts as I normally do, but these will just be daily snippets that I'd like to add.

I'm inviting you to join me in the small things because I think it will be much more fun with a Company Girl along.

Some of you may be way beyond my thinking here, but others of you know what it’s like to just need a lifeline to keep from drowning in a sea of despair.

Maybe you'd just like to have easy things to put on your list and then cross off.

Or perhaps you are wondering where to start to do things differently, to make a better life for your family.

Let's start with just one small thing at a time, period.

Most of the things will fall into the “Order” category, because it seems like that’s where I need it the most. Sometimes something as simple as clearing my countertops is enough to keep the wheels on for another day.

But there will also be small things to do foster “Peace” inside these walls. Peace in my relationships is really the foundation for everything else, and how often I need a gentle reminder to pay attention to what God is doing, and to pay attention my loved ones! Can Peace happen in 5 little minutes? Maybe not every time, but it can’t hurt to try.

Lastly, I will include simple things that we can all do to bring "Beauty" into our homes. Darn it, I want to live in a place that’s pretty and feels good! And even the rough and tough men around here like to see a fresh tablecloth on the table every now and then, even if they don’t admit it. Beauty is what appeals to all the senses to make home a special place.

This isn't going to be a complete Fly Lady cleaning routine. Besides the fact that the Fly Lady wears me out, I want to focus on the little things that matter beyond cleaning. And ya'll know I'm not Martha Stewart, with an unlimited staff and budget to work with. I'm on a shoestring here, my friends. It's gonna be quick, easy and inexpensive.

I am posting this now so that if you want to participate every day (or every now and then) next year, you can have a couple of weeks to think about it.

So, my dear Company Girls and Occasional Readers, I hope you’ll join me in doing just one "Small Thing" each day in 2008. I will post a list of supplies I think we'll need so it will be easy to stick to the 5 minutes (or so) rule. And don't worry: it's not going to be actual WORK. Some of it will be more fun than anything, you'll see!

As we approach the new year, I am praying for your homes and your families. I’m praying for your efforts and your hearts..... that each small thing you do will be a joy because it’s done out of gratitude and love.

Plus, what could be better than doing those small things with your friends?

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

Here's a window I painted last week for a local business. They were participating in a contest for downtown businesses...Best Christmas Window Display or somesuch thing. Anyway, they called me at the last minute and asked if I could do a nostalgic theme to set off their display inside the window.

This is what I came up with:

Lettering took the most time, but was not difficult. I created a pattern on large banner paper and taped it into place on the inside of the window. Then I just painted in the letters, (following the pattern) on the outside of the window. The hardest part was waiting for the paint to dry in between the 3-4 coats. Tedious.

A close-up:

Painting "Garland" was really easy! I used three shades of green (Folk Art paints) and squooshed a chip brush randomly so that the bristles splayed out as I went. If you start with the darkest green first and then work your way to the lightest green, you can get some fun depth. Pinecones would have been a cute addition, but by that time, it was getting dark and cold!

The red "berries" are so easy, it's really child's play. Dip your fingertip into red paint, and then into some white and then tap into place. Vary the red and white amounts to make it interesting. (BTW, This is any easy way to paint grapes, using purples and burgundies...)

I heard that this window won one of the awards, perhaps "Best Last-Minute Decorating" and it was fun to do! It put me in the holiday spirit!

...And then there was that unfortunate fake ID incident

Last week I wrote about Regrets. Several of you commented with such thoughtful, insightful words that I think I may have to do a follow-up. And then there was a comment from Kitty, one of my favorite story-tellers, making reference to an "unfortunate fake ID incident."

Well, you don't just get off leaving a cryptic reference like that and then go whistling back to your own little blog! Oh no, Missy! That was like waving chum in front of a hungry shark: I just HAD to know the rest of the story. So she emailed the whole sad tale to me, and I (sympathetically, of course) laughed through the entire thing. What are friends for? With her permission, I'm sharing her regrettable (but highly entertaining) adventure here:

Here goes. I've never been much of a drinker, but I am one year younger than all my friends. So when I was almost 20 they all started spending the weekends at this really fun bar and I felt left out. I got hold of my older cousin's ID. I have a ton of girl cousins and IDs were passed around a lot over the years. Which is why I wouldn't blog about this, as my mother reads my blog and I don't want to get anyone in trouble.

Keep in mind that I am now 30 and people sometimes think I'm a teenager. I was so worried about this when I was pregnant and my fingers were too swollen to wear my wedding ring. I could just imagine people thinking, "Oh, look at that poor, gigantic, unwed teenage mother." Also, when solicitors call they occasionally ask for my mom or dad. So I looked and sounded about 11 when I was 19-going-on-20. Trying to pass for 24.

Goodness, I'm making a short story long.

So the ID photo didn''t look all that much like me. It looked like... you know, my cousin or something? With big late eighties hair. It was now 1997 or so. I don't think it had expired, but my cousin lived in a small town and she hung on to that big bang look longer than necessary. I applied heavy eyeliner and teased my hair trying to match the photo. My friend drilled me about "my" date of birth, astrological sign, high school graduation year, etc. I reminded my friends about a dozen and a half times, "don't forget to call me CARA!"

When I got to the bar the bouncer let in everyone in my group. Even my friend's younger sister with a fake id. When my turn came he took one look at me and burst out laughing and told me to go home. He didn't even want to see my ID! I was soooo offended. After all, I was only one year younger than the rest of the group. It wasn't THAT ridiculous that I could be 21, rather than practically 20. That's when my red hair kicked in and got the best of me. Instead of making the obvious choice - heading home with my tail tucked between my legs... I made a scene. I absolutely insisted (bold-faced lied) that I WAS not just 21, but twenty-FOUR. Indignantly. Very huffy-like. I literally held up the line until that bouncer agreed to look at my TOTALLY VALID driver's license, which was very CLEARLY me! Harumph!

So then the bouncer told me that either he would confiscate my ID and I could go home or he would summon the police to verify my age. Did I back down? NO!! Surely if I still stood by my ID he would realize that it must be the truth and back down. What I failed to realize was that there was a policewoman on patrol walking up and down the block full of bars. I was envisioning a phone call, which would give me a few minutes to make my exit, if necessary. About two seconds after I told him to go ahead and call the authorities (kinda snotty-like, too), he waved her down.

So then I had the pleasure of being totally humiliated in front of the entire line of bar patrons and those passing by. I was given a citation and later had to go down to the police station and was officially arrested (fingerprints and everything!) for said unfortunate incident. I recently found out about the concept of expungement, so fortunately that silly evening no longer part of my permanent record.

So that is my VERY long (sorry!) story, which I realize does not paint me in a very flattering light. It is obviously the most stupid thing I've ever done. I do tend to lose my temper (okay, mind) when my feelings/pride are hurt, which still gets me into trouble to this day.

I rarely share this story, for obvious reasons. But I tend to remember it when I hear about teenagers and young people doing stupid things. Kinda keeps me humble.

I love Kitty's last lines, don't you? Thanks for sharing! Take a minute and go get to know her more over here, (look for her hilarious bra story) and maybe leave her a comment to let her know her regret is safe with the Company Girls.....