Home Sanctuary

Oops, I did it again....July Points!

Today just plumb SNUCK UP on me!  It's the day to turn in your points for the month of July! 

What? No advance warning?  What kind of blog is this anyhow?

It's just the kind of blog hosted by a busy mom, trying to get her head on straight, organize her family and have a little fun along the way.  And sometimes I get a bit.....distracted. I forget to look at the calendar.  I drop the ball.  But maybe that's why we get along so well....we're all in this together!

If you are a new Company Girl, at the end of each month we all email our point tallies (if you're keeping track) for a chance to win small (but fun) prizes.

Let's review:

The Most Points winner will receive this charming package from wrapables:

These printed wrapping papers are perfect for wrapping every day gifts or for the holiday season. Each gift wrap kit includes 20 sheets of wrapping paper in four designs, 20 gift tags, 2 rolls of ribbon (2 colors, 9 fee each), 2 rolls of string (2 colors, 9 feet each), 30-40 stickers, and instructions for basic bow-tying and wrapping. 

And the Random Drawing winner will receive these two signed books by Dee Brestin:

To be eligible for the Random Drawing, all you had to do was complete 5 Small Things and (if you're a blogger) have the Company Girl button on your blog.

Today's Small Thing has two steps:

1) Email me your point tallies and/or a note saying that you completed at least 5 things this month.  My email link is in the upper left hand corner ([email protected]).  You can just send me the total number, or if you want to send a copy of your actual tally sheet I ALWAYS LOVE to see those!  It's great to see what the Small Things look like at other Company Girls' houses.

2) Leave a comment, sharing what your favorite Small Thing was this month.  It is neat to find out what "tasks" meant the most or were the most fun to do.  There is always a wide variety, but a sweet thread of purpose in each one. It's the purpose that makes all the difference.

POINTS: 30 for completing the two steps, good toward July's total.

Serving from the Heart

My girls blessed me with a huge gift yesterday.  They are home from college this week and they asked me a question that caught me by surprise.  They asked,

"What can we do for you while we're home?"

They wanted to delight me.  They wanted to serve me.  They wanted to see me smile with happiness.

Oh, I smiled alright!  They listed potential projects they knew I've been wanting to get to but lack the time and energy, but I knew immediately what I wanted to do with them.

Spruce up my bedroom.

I've been eyeing a romantic paint color for quite some time, but painting is kind of a big job and well, I'm pretty tired by the time I finish working on other people's projects and just haven't been able to set aside the time.

Those girls whipped into gear.  They pulled out the furniture and prepped the room.  They stared at the paint chips with me (I couldn't QUITE decide on the exact shade) and offered their opinions.  They acted like there was nothing they'd rather be doing than helping me paint my bedroom.

They made me feel loved.

I finally decided on Sherwin Williams "Fashionable Gray" (a lavender gray) and within 4 hours we had knocked it out and put the furniture back in place.  Elle even spray painted my "80's Ugly" headboard a slick black and breathed new life into it.  We listened to a Miss Marple mystery off of itunes as we worked and laughed and talked.  It was an afternoon to remember.

It's not often that someone really asks you from their heart how they can serve you.  It makes you feel wonderful and special to be asked.  And it goes straight to your soul when they act like they have nothing better to do than do something that makes you happy.

Today's Small Thing is to ask someone what you can do for them.  Think carefully who you'd like to ask and make sure you'll be able to follow through on it.  As importantly as the task itself is the attitude that goes with it.  Serving with joy blesses a person like nothing else.  And it binds your hearts together in a very special way.  I am still floating high from my daughters' actions.

My husband always has a long list of tasks to do.  I am going to ask him how I can serve him today.  I may even offer to take a specific task off his list...one that I know I can actually get done today, and that is to clean up the mess the raccoons made of the trash area.  

POINTS:  50, even if you serve in a small way...with an attitude of love and grace

Let us know:  Blog about it, leave a comment or share the results!  

PS I'll post pictures of the before and after bedroom when the spruce-up is complete!

Dusting? Not a big fan.

As the dog days of summer are upon us, I am grateful for the modern luxury of air conditioning.  Today's high temperature will be over 100 degrees, and I'm also grateful for deodorant and showers.  Thank you, Lord.  Texas is a great place to live, but you've got to be prepared for the long summer or you won't make it.

Whether you have A/C or not, there is a good chance that you rely on some type of fan to keep the sultry summer air moving.  We have ceiling fans in almost every room and even one outside in the breezeway, and they make a big difference in our electric bill by allowing us to leave the air conditioning temperature a tad higher.

This spring, I was on a cleaning frenzy with my new vacuum cleaner attachments and realized that my ceiling fans were actually FUZZY with dust.  Huh?   How did THAT happen?  I was horrified that (1) I hadn't noticed before and (2) didn't really care.  I had just let those fan blades beat round and round without so much as a thought.  It was pretty disgusting.

Today's Small Thing is to dust at least one fan in your house, if you have one.  (Now, for you Company Girls in the Southern Hemisphere, this may be a challenge finding a fan this time of year.)  A vacuum attachment works great on ceiling fans, especially if it is long enough to reach from the floor.  You may have to pull out a ladder or chair to do the job, but you'll love the results.

A quick note about the ceiling fans:  since it seems like a hard job, or at least one that requires holding your arms up over your head for a length of time, it's easy to put this one off.  But in less than 5 minutes, you can complete a whole fan and have it look incredible.  I had to stand and admire my handiwork for awhile the last time I did it.

For smaller fans, you may have to pry the protective piece off the front (they often have little clips holding them on) to get to the fan blades inside.  Once those blades are clean, they will be moving cleaner air around the room and that just feels nice.

POINTS: 50 because no one really likes this job

BONUS: 20 for doing more than one fan, because no one really likes this job

70 points max!

Follow me on Twitter

For any of you Twitterers out there, I just want to let you know that you can now follow me on Twitter!   Be assured that I am not interested in posting every detail of my "exciting" life, but I will attempt to answer the question, "what are you doing?" at least every once in awhile.

Here's my profile:

https://twitter.com/companygirl

I'd love to see what you're doing as well!

Rachel Anne

Stem the Tide

This summer I watched the people of the midwest fill sandbags to create walls to keep the rising floodwaters out of their towns and neighborhoods.  It was a last-ditch effort to keep their property from being destroyed by rivers that spilled over their banks and onto land that was never meant to hold water.

I sometimes feel like those sandbaggers when it comes to my home.  There is a flood of STUFF...toys, papers, shoes, towels, plates, cups, books, etc. that simply wants to run amok unless I take some drastic action to stem the tide.  Please, people.  Could we just put our things away?

Here's the thing: I don't need my entire house to be spotless in order to be happy.  But I DO need certain areas to remain picked up and orderly in order for me to feel sane.  My eyes need somewhere to rest where they aren't bombarded with clutter.  I like to sit down every now and then and feel a sense of calm around me, even if other areas of the house are knee deep in poo.

Today's Small Thing is to do a little sandbagging.  We are going to carve out ONE area that will stay neat today, draw a line around it, build a wall and keep out the flood of clutter.  It will take a few minutes to get it looking good, and then some vigilance to guard the dam, but it's going to feel great!  Just one room or area is very doable and very satisfying.

I'm going to choose the kitchen as my one area today.  I'm pretty good at keeping the front room picked up, but the kitchen (especially in summer) is a challenge.  Here's what I'm going to do:  I'll empty the trash so the can is ready for the day's paper plates and crusts of bread that don't get eaten.  I'll unload the dishwasher so that it is ready for the mountains of plates and (mostly) cups.  And I'll clear off the countertop and mail/junk/key/receipt collection area right off the bat.  And I'll announce to my troops that they must pitch in to the effort, because we are a community, after all.

How about you?  Which ONE area will you sandbag today?  Maybe your bedroom should be off-limits to the tide of clutter and laundry.  Or if a whole room is too much for you today, why not consider the kitchen table or counter top as your real estate to protect?  

The point is, we NEED just one space in our homes that looks good and feels good.  The flood of junk may threaten every other area today, but when you make a stand and say "THIS FAR AND NO MORE," it gives you a sense of accomplishment and a feeling of refuge to see it stay nice.  When a breach happens, simply remove the unwanted stuff and keep working on your territory.  No need to get mean or ugly....just get determined.

POINTS: 40 for sandbagging one area of your home and keeping it neat today.

Let us know:  what area are you sandbagging?

EBM 101, prerequisite for CCG Certification

My older kids are getting ready for college again this fall.  They are enjoying a few weeks in between semesters, but I recently ran across one of the schedules they'd printed off.  Ah, the course schedule.

Today's Small Thing is to complete EBM 101.

That's Eyebrow Management 101.  

It's a prerequisite for CCG Certification, or the Cute Company Girl Certification for Home Sanctuary success.

EBM 101 This is a lab course in which students will complete the shaping, mowing, tweezing or hedge-trimming of personal eyebrows.  No previous coursework or field experience required.  Students must have access to appropriate tools and lighting, be able to analyze current status of their eyebrows and may lock the door to prevent uninvited observers from incorrectly critiquing results.

So...what do your eyebrows look like today?

Do they rival Andy Rooney's in their unruly scope?

Do they need a hedge trimmer to rein in their bushy tendencies?

Are they sprouting strays that are starting their own eyebrows?  (Sorry, Brooke.)

Do you have a unibrow?

You know you need eyebrow management today and you'll thank me for this later.  

Eyebrows can get unruly and start developing strays faster than you can imagine, especially if you are busy with more important things than locking yourself in the bathroom and going to town with the tweezers.  If you are not sure about how to go about shaping your eyebrows for maximum cuteness, here are a couple of sites that can get you started.  Or, you can try youtube:

I'm not a "girly-girl" that is overly obsessed with fashion or self-pampering.  But taking a few minutes to spruce up the scraggly eyebrows is a simple way to feel pretty, and I always feel that my expressions of surprise, suspicion, and amazement are enhanced by having eyebrows that arch nicely.  You never know when you're going to need an arched brow and it's good to be prepared with ones that look fabulous.  

That's just the way Company Girls do things.   

POINTS: 40 for participating in Eyebrow Management 101

There's Your Desk Top, and Then There's Your Desktop

I tend to be a stacker.

That's "Stacker," not "Slacker."  Just to be clear.

I stack files and books and papers.  I stack laundry and mail and boxes.  Stacks are my signature style and I like how they work for me, but I don't really like how they look.  They tend to look messy, even when they're neat.

My desk top reflects my need to stack.  I currently only have two small stacks going, but there's really no need for either one of them because I could easily put them away.

Now, my DESKTOP is another story.  You know, the screen with all the little icons and pictures on your computer.  I am unable to stack anything on the screen, therefore it is filled with individual folders and things named "picture1jpg" etc.  I try to keep it under control, but it doesn't take long to accumulate dozens of icons and folders and things on my screen.

Today's Small Thing is to clear the techno-clutter on your computer screen by straightening up your desktop.  You might have to drag some of those items to the trash can or answer "yes" to "Are you sure you want to delete this item?" a dozen times, but the end result will be a nice clean screen.  File other things into folders and you are going to start feeling verrry organized. You might even be able to enjoy your wallpaper again!

POINTS: 30 for desktop cleanup.

BONUS: 10 for wiping/cleaning the actual screen with a gentle electronics cleaner or soft cloth

Summer Treat

Well, I am out of town (back in west Texas to finish installing graphics)  and thought I had set this to post early this morning.  Obviously, that didn't happen.  I am bootlegging some internet on my lunch break and am disappointed that my best laid plans did not go as hoped.  So, hopefully better late than never, here is today's post:

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

Nothing says "summer" like a cool treat.  Sno-Cones, Dairy Queen, slushes, root beer floats, iced tea, watermelon....these are all things that bring back memories from my own summers as a kid.  Ice cream was still considered a treat back then, especially with fresh berries or peaches.

Today's Small Thing is to let yourself have a summer treat.  It doesn't have to be a sweet, calorie-laden frappuccino (although that DOES sound mighty good!), it could be some frozen grapes or a glass of kool-aid if you'd like.

In my opinion, Summer Treats are best when shared with a child.  If you happen to have a child handy, today would be a great day to stop down for a special delight of some kind.  Seeing their face light up at the mention of a Sno-Cone is worth the drippy mess.  If you don't have a little one around, a friend or spouse is the next best thing.

Go ahead!  Enjoy yourself!  You'll have to decide what treat to have, but the points are on me.

POINTS: 30 for treating yourself to summer goodness

Happy Anniversary, Elle and Rob!

This is one of my favorite sentimental posts, written last year when these two celebrated their first anniversary.  I hope they have a wonderful day.

Painting Murals Really Takes Me Places

My life is so glamorous.  If I had only known when I painted that first bird house that my career path would take me to a thousand bathrooms I might have hesitated.

 

Have I mentioned that guest bathrooms are one of the most highly decorated rooms in houses today? And rightfully so.  They are generally smaller (therefore cost less) than other areas, and it's the one place you know most guests will visit.  They SHOULD look nice.

I'm always appreciative of a clean bathroom when I've come to paint it.  I've had a few that made me gag as I've had to reach back around the potty to complete the job.  It's like hugging a toilet and it's not that pleasant.

Fortunately, the fuzzy tank covers of years past are no longer much in vogue.  If you think about it, why would we want to trap every bathroom germ on the toilet couture?  Sure, it might look cuddly, but it's not the brightest decorating idea around.  I'm down to just one lid cover and the small rugs at the base. Other than that, my potties go au naturale, and they seem to enjoy their freedom.

Today's Small Thing is something that I am loathe to do.  That is to wash the bathroom rugs and tank/lid covers.  I dislike this job, but it is a necessary evil in the fight against bathroom germs.  I KNOW mine need it, and I'd be willing to bet that a good number of you are right with me on this one.

POINTS: 40 for laundering the bathroom fuzzy things.