Home Sanctuary

Turn In Points and Drawing Entries!

This time of year goes so fast I can barely keep up with it!  It is already time to add up your April points and turn them in for your chance to win!

Let's review the prizes:

The Most Points winner will receive a fabulous sampler from our up-and-coming culinary star, Alicia, of Fat Daddy Sweets.  This girl uses the finest ingredients to create delectable concoctions that are almost too pretty to eat....but impossible to resist.

Golly, these look good!

The Random Drawing winner will receive the book, Pearl Girls, which is a collection of stories of grit and grace.  I can't wait to get my own copy of this book, because I know one of the authors, Lori Kasbeer, of Lori's Reflections.

Today's Small Thing is a two-step thing:

1)  Email your points totals to me (just the number is fine, although I love to read the actual tally sheets).  If you did not worry about collecting points this month, you are still eligible for the random drawing by simply emailing your name to me.  You got nothin to lose!  Anyone who participates will be entered in the drawing.

2) Leave a comment, telling us what your favorite Small Thing was this month!  I love to read everyone's favorites, because somewhere along the way there is bound to be one that has really helped you create sanctuary at home for your families.  And everyone enjoys seeing what others liked the most.

POINTS: 30 for doing the two steps, good toward April's total.

Keep Smiling

I have a confession to make. 

I have FOUR active toothbrushes. 

I have one in my master bathroom (my favorite brush because it feels the best), one in the girls' bathroom (because I often get ready in there, now that they've moved out), one in the "guest" bathroom (for that last-minute brushing before heading out the door), and one travel-sized brush in my purse for emergencies (like removing an errant poppy seed from a restaurant lunch.)

Is that excessive?  I don't know.  All I know is that I love the just-brushed feeling that a stick of gum just can't give you after you've eaten garlic and onions. 

But as much as I love my toothbrushes, I hate to clean the toothbrush holders.  Maybe because I'm a "neat" brusher and don't have foam running down the handle when I brush, while others in this household jam their wet, drooly handles into the receptacles without so much as a thought.  All that crusty toothpaste that collects at the bottom doesn't belong to me so I don't want to be responsible for it.

Is it me, or is that crust just nasty???  Blech!

Today's Small Thing is to clean your toothbrush holders (or wherever you store them).  You might need to let the years of saliva sediment soak in warm water for awhile before you can face scrubbing them.  It will feel great to see those holders looking all shiny and pretty again!

POINTS: 30 for cleaning one holder

BONUS: 10 each for any other holder/drawer/countertop your toothbrushes may rest

More confessions:  when was the last time you replaced your toothbrush?

32 Things, But Who's Counting?

My bedroom actually looked pretty neat yesterday.  Bed was made beautifully, not much on the floor....it felt good. 

But as I was laying there, I began to look around.  First at my dresser....and I noticed a few miscellaneous items on top: a pen, a tube of anti-itch cream (poison ivy), a sock, a scarf, a 1040 Tax Preparation Guide and a phone.  Also a safety pin and a stack of razor blades from the last painting job. 

Eight Things!  I was surprised, because it really didn't LOOK all that bad....until I started counting.

Well, if there were eight things just on my dresser top, I began wondering just how many things were out of place in the rest of my bedroom.  I glanced at my night stand and the rat pile on the floor.   5 Things there.

Husband's night stand and surrounding territory:  7 things

Clothes draped over chairs: 3

Cups: 1

Floor: 2 pairs of shoes, a cook book and box of greeting cards.....

I stopped counting at 32.

For a "Neat" bedroom, that's a lot of things that add up to "Not So Neat."

Today's Small Thing could be a real boon to your points.  Simply count up each thing you put away in your bedroom, and get one point for each item.

Limit 100.

Mercy me!  There's No WAY you could have 100 things out of place in your bedroom!  Or is there??

OK, you can go into other parts of your house....but only after you've done all there is to do in the bedroom.

How many things did you find in your bedroom?  I dare you to share! :)

That Bloated Feeling, It's Blowin in the Wind

I was wandering aimlessly through Blockbuster, hoping to find something suitably entertaining, when my purse began to fart.

That's right.  It farted.

Again and again.  Loud, juicy "phhhhhts" of extruded gas.

I looked down at the bloated bag hanging from my shoulder, and knew immediately what had caused its flatulence. 

One aisle over, doubled over in laughter, was my son (age 14 at the time).  In his hand was a small remote with a button for activating a little portable machine which he had recently acquired at the church garage sale.

A remote-controlled Fart Machine.

Which he'd secretly placed in my purse.

"It's going off by itself!  I swear!" he said through his laughter.  "Look!"  He held out his palm and the fart sounds just kept on rolling from my purse without his thumb touching the button.

I couldn't help it....I started laughing with him and we had to hang on to the DVD racks to keep from falling over.  With each new "phhhhhhht" we tried to suppress our giggles, which only made it funnier.  We exited Blockbuster without a shred of dignity.

My purse lost a bit of weight when I took the guilty machine out, but it's still far too overweight for its bone structure.  It just keeps eating things like paper and receipts, and you KNOW what too much fiber will do.   A slimmed-down purse is far more attractive and much less likely to have gas.

Today's Small Thing is to help your purse shed some weight by cleaning it out. Reduce the excess tonnage by removing everything but the bare essentials.  Try using small ziplocks to contain things like cosmetics or other small items.  I'd say it's time to let the receipts from Christmas go.

POINTS: 40 for avoiding Purse Flatulence by nipping bloating in the bud

Company Girl Coffee 4.24, and Fruit Basket Upset

Talk about Fruit Basket Upset!

This week we've been moving almost EVERYTHING in our house around, and we still aren't done.  See, we started with the idea of bringing our office/studio into the house from the converted garage.  Then we moved all the furniture from the Back Room, as we call it, to the Front Room in order to make room for the office.  Which displaced the table and chairs....which led to bringing a smaller table into the kitchen....which led to moving the TV, which led to the lamps ....it's gone on and on.

But I am THRILLED with the results so far!  Suddenly, without spending a dime, we have a "new" living room that is functional and comfortable.  The office will now be easier (and cheaper) to heat and cool.  The house feels completely different and I love it.  Camera phone pics below:

Before:

After:

I want to create new artwork for the walls (buh-bye blue Duck Print), do something with the window treatments, get some new throw pillows....but those things will have to come later.

For being the kind of people who generally keep things that same for a long, long time, this is huge for us.  I'm inspired to keep going, especially when rearranging is FREE!

Now it's YOUR turn to chat!  What is going on in your life?  We'd like to know!  Link up below or leave a chatty comment so we can catch up on the week!

Feeling Fruity

All this talk about fruit baskets made me think back to this post from right after Thanksgiving.  Forgive me for reprising it so soon, but I thought, "If your tummy feels like MY tummy, a little fruit might be just the thing."

(originally from Dec. 3)

It occurred to me yesterday that I can't remember the last piece of fresh fruit I ate.

Hmmm.  Thinking......thinking.

At our Thanksgiving feast?

No, the closest thing was Katherine's Sweet Potato Dessert Casserole.  I can't, in good conscience, count that.

I can remember some vegetables in there, albeit vegetables swimming in cheese sauce, but fruits?

I'm drawing a big blank.

We didn't even have the requisite Ambrosia Fruit Salad: you know, the kind with mini marshmallows and coconut and Cool Whip!  I could have, in perfectly good conscience, counted THAT!

I'm pretty positive that you all lead far more nutritious lives than I do, but I'm going to take a chance here, and suggest that we could all use some fruit today. 

Today's Small Thing is to make a giant attempt at fulfilling our "required"  2-4 servings of fruit. 

If it's been awhile since you reviewed the Food Pyramid, you might be thinking,

FOUR SERVINGS? YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!

That is EXACTLY what I said.

I'm operating on a fruit deficit the size of the American economy.  I know I can never "catch up," but eating something good for me will allow me to feel better about the holiday treats that seem to be everywhere.  And strangely, I find that when I eat good food, I'm less likely to indulge in the fatty stuff.  It's just that I forget to eat the "right" things before I eat the "wrong" things.  So I end up just eating the "wrong" things until they start to seem "right."

I know.  It confuses me, too.

POINTS: 40 for eating AT LEAST two servings of fruit today. 

BONUS POINTS: 20 for getting at least one family member to eat two servings also. Let's make that an additional 20 if that someone is the man in your life....if yours is like mine, you'll have to explain what fruit IS again.

80 pts max.  

You know, eating fruity will make you less "tooty" and will help your "doody."

I'm just sayin'.

Lemme Rest My Eyes....Please

My family knows me so well.  They know that when I say, "I need to rest my eyes for a few minutes," it is code for "I need a nap."

Just a small one.

And they are nice enough to oblige me with a little peace and quiet while I recharge my batteries every now and then.

Yesterday, when Star asked in her comment, "Where do I even start (to get everything done)?" I knew the feeling exactly.  Oh, how many times I have been there...as recently as Tuesday, as a matter of fact.

But I also knew at least PART of the answer right away, because I've needed it so often.

My answer is simply: rest your eyes.

Well, not LITERALLY, as in "take a nap."  Although it's awfully tempting when you don't know where to start.

But figuratively, as in start by carving out a spot in the mess to let your eyes rest upon one area that's clean.  Cleared of debris.  Straightened.

When there is a disaster everywhere (and let's be honest, disasters happen to everyone), the first thing you need to do is have one little bit of order...to get you started on the rest of it.  Our eyes need someplace to "rest" without being consumed by clutter and disorganization.

The second thing to do is to decide NOT to do it all....in one day.  Hey, it's sooper if you can, but I've gotta tell you that my morning caffeine runs out LONG before every job is done.

Review your simple Housekeeping Schedule.  Remember back in January when we worked on that?  Well, this is the time to see what's on tap for Thursday.   Washing the towels and sheets?  Great.  That's all the housekeeping you need to do today.  Tomorrow, you will do tomorrow's job, and so on.  Within a week, you'll be so on top of things that you will leap with delight! 

A schedule takes the burden out of today's tasks because you'll realize that you DON'T have to do the whole week's work in one day.  Even if you are totally behind.

Today's Small Thing is a two-stepper:

(1) Clear some space somewhere in order to "rest" your eyes.  And,

(2) Review, or consider slapping together, a general housekeeping schedule so you can lighten today's load.

POINTS: 30 for each step (60 possible - woot!)

Five Inch Turtle on a Three Inch Branch, and Other Impossible Things

Yeah, that's right.  I've seen it!  A FIVE INCH turtle on a THREE INCH branch!  The turtles in our pond sun themselves on anything that pokes up out of the water.  And there they lounge, on old logs and rocks...and even on a small stick.

I can't figure it out, but it happens.  With those short little legs....? And then they leap off with a splash as soon as you pass by.  Odd.

And here is another impossible thing:  our huge dog, desperate to get in the house while we were away, squeezed his enormously beefy body through a small pane in the back door.  If he hadn't been inside when we got home, evidenced by the broken window, we never would have believed it.

(Hairy Culprit outside scene of crime.)

Or this one: how a squirrel managed to elude my Jack Bauer husband for over a year, living in our attic and flaunting his presence every chance he got.  He finally got his due, but only after a year of stakeouts and tense tactical warfare.

Impossible things happen every day, and I need to be reminded of that....often. 

Sometimes my days seem impossible to overcome.  Yes, there are the busy ones that are packed too full to manage, but there are also days that stretch on endlessly before me, killing me with their boring sameness.  Oy, if I have to pick up another sock, wash another dish, separate another squabble, or listen to the same story again....why, I might just give up and lie here on the couch all day and watch TV.  It feels impossible to get motivated to make my life better than it is.

Today's Small Thing is to pick just one tiny thing that feels impossible, and take it on as a mission.

Mission: Impossible, if you will.

Do you have a goal that you never make any progress on?  Take a baby step toward it today.

Do you despise going through junk mail?  Give yourself 5 minutes to sort and toss.

Is your diet seeming like an impossible feat?  Today is another day.

Are you feeling like a failure as a mom?  Pick yourself up and give it another go today!  Don't wallow in yesterday's mistakes.

Laundry piles, bills, work, phone calls and projects.  Your mission, should you decide to take it, is to tackle one of those "impossible" things and see if you can accomplish it!  Be creative, feel free to involve your team, and ask yourself:  how would Tom Cruise do this??

POINTS: 50 Big, POSSIBLE points!

What's YOUR Mission Impossible today??

Shake it Up, Baby

Long before our son, Grayson, fell in love with outdoor adventure books like "Hatchet" and "My Side of the Mountain," he showed a keen interest in tales of wilderness survival.  He must have been about three when his favorite movie was  "Alaska." , a movie about two kids searching for their father.

Now, before you say, "Hey isn't that movie rated PG and why would you let a three year old watch a PG movie?"  Let me hasten to say that we mainly just let him watch the scenery parts, and I really needed to take a shower on a semi-regular basis and well....sigh.  It was the one thing he would sit and watch for any length of time, and no, it's not one of my prouder moments.

Wouldn't you know.  My little angel picked up the only bad word in the entire movie.  One day he was frustrated with his older sister, Lauren, and repeated the one line perfectly.

Except that he sounded like Elmer Fudd because he couldn't say his "L's" or "R's."

"WOH-WEN!  WHAT  DA  HE-W  AH  YOU  DOIN'?"

(Lauren, what the he-- are you doing?)

Whoa, now.  That's some pretty salty language, Diaper Boy.  For a family that wasn't allowed to say "Shut up," or "Dang," let's just say that all the commotion in the house came to a screeching halt and we all whipped around to look at him.  He stared blankly back at us, not knowing he'd just stumbled across a word that could earn him a visit with a bar of soap and Mister Paddle.

Of course, I dealt with his epithet swiftly with a serious talking-to, although it was pretty hard not to smile through the chastisement.  Man, that kid was cute!  He just crumpled when I told him we didn't say words like that, and he's never let out a blue streak since.

Grayson's salty expletive has garnered him a spot in the family hall of shame, and every now and then that story surfaces as one of our favorites. 

But it can only be repeated in an Elmer Fudd voice.

And now that I've completely shattered your illusion of our holy family, I'll move on to today's Small Thing, which has to do with salt.

I've got several salt and pepper shakers in my kitchen.  I keep them in the cupboard near the stove, which in my tiny kitchen, is also by where I serve up the food.  There are at least two shakers that are empty.  But do I put the empty ones at the back?  Oh no.  For some reason, I leave them at the front so we can grab them and try to shake salt out of them, realize they are empty, and then have to go through them to find the ones that are full.  So dumb.

Today's Small Thing is ridiculously easy.  All you have to do is work on your salt and pepper shakers!  Are they empty?  Fill them up!  Are they gummed up from humidity?  Unclog the holes so they work properly.  Are they sticky and yucky looking?  Give them a nice wiping or perhaps wash them out completely.

You know, it's the little niceties that make life sweet.  I like reaching for a sparkling salt shaker and elegantly sprinkling my food with flavor.  It makes me feel a bit like Martha Stewart for such fine attention to detail.

POINTS: 30 for one set of salt and pepper shakers

BONUS POINTS: 10 for each additional set of shakers

New Recipe Round Up

Before we get to Today's Small Thing, let me announce the winner of the Starbucks gift card:

Tracey (Pink Monkey) at Aloha Monkey!  Congratulations, Tracey...email me with your address and enjoy a cup or two of coffee on me!

Did you get to read all the great money saving tips in the comments and coffee links from Friday?  I hope you'll take a few minutes to get all the way through the links...they were all inspiring!  Melissa even had to pop back in for a second round of coffee to get her awesome tips in!

Now, all that frugal inspiration made me realize I could take a few more steps to save some dough for my family.  One of the best things I'm considering is getting rid of my phone land line...using more grocery coupons, and making my own bread.  Notice how most things in this world come back to food?  Yeah, I noticed that, too.

Speaking of food, since Monday is often the day that many of us get our recipes together for the week, I thought I'd challenge all of us to try a new recipe.

Don't panic! You don't have to try and come up with something TODAY!

But sometime this week, before next Monday, our Small Thing will be to create some kind of culinary delight that you have never tried before.  I don't know about you, but if earning some points will get me out of my skillet rut, I'm all over that.  A great place to start looking for something fabulous to cook is at Menu Plan Monday.

POINTS: 40 for trying a new recipe

ADDITIONAL 20:  for posting your recipe on your blog or in the comments.  If you blog about it, be sure and let us know so we can see what recipe you rounded up!  You can do it any time this week.