Home Sanctuary

On the Road

Tom and I are back on the road today, headed to Colorado Springs to finish up our project at Andrew Wommack Ministries. I'm not quite sure what my posting "schedule" will look like so I hope you'll bear with me for the next couple of weeks.

While we've been away from the TV studio, they've been making progress on construction.

We have a lot left to do: create a floor finish, complete wood staining, install more backdrops, finish art work, and faux finish set items. Hopefully everything will be done and looking good for the first taping on September 7!

I will check in when I can, and you can always get updates from me on twitter (@RachelAnneRidge) and instagram (@rachelridge).

In the meantime, remember that Small Things matter....and God sees your heart and your work each day. He is mindful of the things that fill your life and cares about the details that concern you. He has given you a courageous heart to face the dishes, the tantrums and the cheerios stuck to the floor...and will fill you with purpose and dreams in the midst of the dailyness of it all. He loves you!

He is with you.

Pillow Fight

It's a battle, y'all.

Keeping the couch pillows in place so they can do their decorative jobs is a regular war. And most of the time I'm losing it.

Do yourselves a favor and next time you're shopping for a sofa, don't get one with lots of pillows on it like mine. Because when you say "yes" to a pillow-y couch, you're saying "yes" to years of constant annoyance and decades of straightening. Eventually, your annoyance may give way to resignation and acceptance. "I will always have a messy couch, why bother?"

Like this:

 

Instead of this "pre-company" look:

 

Today's Small Thing is to fight on and get those decorative pillows to line up in style. Maybe they've lived so long on the floor they don't remember the pride of being in a regimented parade of color across your sofa. Remind them that they are part of a long tradition of pomp and circumstance and they should sit up tall and display their colors with finesse. No more lounging around...it's time to represent proud pillows everywhere by doing their cushy jobs with pride.

Straighten up the pillows in your living areas....and enjoy winning the battle today. YESSS! Small Things make a difference.

What is YOUR decorative pillow situation? Dare we even mention the ones on the bed?? Tell me your war story!

Song of the Day: Tears on my Pillow, Little Anthony

Back to School Prayer...and a Winner

Good Monday Morning, Company Girls! The winner of Friday's giveaway for the Archipelago products is Katie, who liked the Morning Mint things. Thanks so much to all who entered and helped spread the word about this great company.....and Katie, please drop me an email and I'll give you all the info for collecting your prize. Congrats!

Well, this morning, kids in my town are headed back to school again. Many homeschoolers have already begun their year, and other children are counting down the days until their schoolbell rings. I thought it would be a great opportunity to say a prayer for our kids - to give thanks for this generation and ask for a blessing on them. Feel free to use your own words...or simply pray along with me here. It's our Small Thing today.

Dear Lord,

We thank you for the children in our lives - our own and those of people around us. They are near and dear to your heart and we ask a special blessing on them as they head back to school. Please protect them from danger, keep your angels around them and keep them safe from any harm as they travel to and from school...and as they are inside the classroom. Put good teachers and leaders in place that have their best interests in mind, and who genuinely care about them and will inspire them to learn and grow to their potential. Surround them with friends who will be good influences and make good choices. Give our kids strength to stand up for truth and be lights in their classrooms - to live for you each day and put you first in their hearts. There are so many distractions for kids today, and we are asking you to laser in on their hearts and give them focus so that they can become the kind of people you want them to be. We ask that this year will be a turning point...that they will come to know you in a deeper way through the experiences that lie ahead. We thank you for your love and care for each of these little ones, and we give them to you today. We trust that you will watch over each detail as they don their backpacks and pick up pencils.....may this be The Year that we look back on and see your hand at work in their lives.

In Jesus' name, Amen

For all you mamas out there, you are in my prayers as well today! First days of school are always filled with mixed emotions - and I'm praying for peace in your hearts as you send them off or begin your school day at home. It's going to be a great year.

What is on your heart for your kids? Do you have a special prayer request for them? I'd love for us to join together to help you pray. Feel free to share.

Song of the Day: The Prayer, Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion

Company Girl Coffee 8.24

I decided to put our Coffee Time in a separate post, since I'm doing the Archipelago giveaway today. I'm a little bit rushed this morning because we are going to make an unexpected trip to Texas A&M to watch Grayson play in a hockey scrimmage today. He has been in training camp all week and is still undecided about whether or not to officially try out for this year's team....and this might be our only chance to see him play with the A&M jersey on, depending on what the future holds. So, off we go!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend, many of you preparing for school and doing last minute shopping. You are in my prayers! Feel free to join in for a virtual cup of online coffee - a way to link up and visit other Company Girls!

 

Archipelago Botanicals Review and Giveaway

I want to celebrate Friday with a great giveaway that will make you feel pampered! I was recently given the opportunity to receive some Archipelago Botanical products in exchange for a review and giveaway, and although I usually pass up these kinds of offers, when I took a look at the yummy things I promptly said "sign me up." Me want some.

Archipelago is a company that creates fine bath and body products and home fragrance products. Made entirely in the US, they use pure ingredients and infuse everything with delicious scents. Everything is packaged beautifully and smells just wonderful. I will tell you that I was delighted with the things I selected:

 

Lavender Hand Wash: leaves a fresh scent on my hands every time I use it.

Looks classy in my guest bathroom, and I like that.

Lavender Linen Spray: This has been lovely to spray on my bedding this summer. I've felt like I was staying in a Four Star Hotel....in my own room.

Boticario de Havana Soap: I've told you before I love a good bar soap...and this one is my favorite. Textured and super-softening.

When I received my package in the mail, Archipelago also included several samples of the hand creams. I loved them all and tried to make them last as loooooong as possible. They are thick and creamy, with really great fragrances that last for hours. My personal favorite fragrance was the Pomegranate, which is feminine but not too sweet....but really, all of them were great.

For a chance to win $50.00 worth of Archipelago products, (shipped free), simply do two things:

1. Check out the Bath and Body Products and the Home Fragrance Collections (make sure you are viewing Archipelago products on the PC Fallon web site) and leave a comment letting us know which item or fragrance you'd love to have. This is not an easy task....so much to choose from!

2. Give the parent website, PC Fallon, a "like" on facebook.

I'll choose a winner on Monday......in the meantime, happy drooling. :) I have truly enjoyed my delicious Archipelago items and I know you will too. $50.00 is a great giveaway and I'm excited to share it with you! Thank you, Archipelago!

And if you need a Small Thing to do today, I hope you'll stay in the spirit of things and find a way to pamper yourself. Spread on some extra lotion, treat your feet to a scrub, spritz some perfume on....just be nice to yourself today. YOU DESERVE IT!!

 

Got a Few Hang Ups?

I almost didn't choose Today's Small Thing because it is something that many people will find silly.

And, in fact, YOU may look at the computer screen blankly and wonder what on earth I'm talking about because this little task is something you never have a problem with.

I salute you.

For the rest of us, let's just say we have some hang ups.

See, when I walk into my (tiny) closet, there are usually one or two items that have decided to slide off their hangers and relax on the floor.  They obviously don't have the strength to shoulder the waiting in there, so with a nonchalant shrug, they leave their spot on the rod for better times on the carpet.

There are also the clothing items that drape themselves over chairs, ends of beds and dusty exercise equipment because they are too tired to march themselves into the closet and retire to the hangers like good soldiers.  It's pathetic.

And I have to get after the coats and sweaters, who, after a long summer of waiting around, are finding it difficult to keep hanging on to their hooks.  No matter how many times I scold them, they lack the willpower to stay put.  I know it's because there are too many of them and they're feeling crowded, but it's as if they've given up and think winter will never come again.  There are always one or two despondent items in a crumpled heap of despair on the floor. 

I won't even tell you about the clean-but-unsorted laundry that only WISHES it could be hung neatly in the closet.  Day after day it sits, its wrinkles becoming set as the basket is dug through for the undies and socks that lay like buried treasures within its depths.  The button-down shirts are particularly angry, but they've always got a bit of an attitude. So uptight!

So, for those of you Company Girls with no hang-ups to deal with, today will be an easy day.  For the rest of us, we should do some personal therapy by handling our "issues" one at a time.

Today's Small Thing is to hang up the lazy, unmotivated or simply wistful clothing items that are laying around the house.  Some of them need to be put in their place with a good talking-to, and others will thank you for the chance to hang with the big boys.

If you don't have any hang-ups to deal with, enjoy a day of freedom....and know how much we admire you!

Where do your clothes like to hang out when not in the closet on hangers? Mine love the chair in my bedroom.

Song of the Day: Hang You Up, Yellowcard

Back to Us

Our youngest child, Grayson, left for college on Sunday.

 

As you can imagine, it was an emotional day. We had decided to keep things lighthearted and to try not to start talking about old times as we ate a leisurely brunch and then packed up his car....and that did help - up until the last hug.

Man. How do you put eighteen years of love and pride and happiness and sadness and excitement and heartbreak and fun and memories into a goodbye? There's just no way to describe it.

Watching his car drive slowly down our dusty driveway is something I'll never forget. We heard him stop, just beyond the trees and out of our sight, to pay his respects to the pond before he pressed on the gas and headed for Texas A&M. Our ears strained to hear his wheels disappear down our country lane.

We sat for the longest time on our creaky wooden lawn chairs afterward, staring up at the sky through the leaves and gazing at the driveway...and that's when the tears really came. "I can't believe it's over," we said more than once. And we talked about our favorite memories with the kids and how much we loved being parents. What a gift we've been given.

The past couple of days have been a roller coaster of emotions. We will see Gray again on Sunday for the Freshman Convocation, and that has given us something fun to look forward to. And as the heartbreak has eased, we've started to feel excited, even euphoric at times, that we made it. We made it. Our kids are amazing adults and all the hard work and daily stress of parenting is done.

Now it's just back to us.

We've been staring at each other like a couple of newlyweds, in awe of the power of love that has brought us through raising our family and creating our history. We never got fancy trips to Disney World and our camping trips were few and far between, but we had our kids and we had each other and it was enough. And now it's the two of us - the same couple that was crazy in love all those years ago, and we feel exactly the same about each other as we did back then.

Except now we know the rest of the story. All the lines have been colored in and we can see the picture clearly. We know that despite some tough times that stretched our marriage and our faith, we kept going, and it turned out... beautiful. Not perfect, but beautiful... because it's our own story. It turned out beyond what we could have hoped for, when we were those two kids who brought home that first baby from the hospital and wondered what the future would hold.

It's been an amazing ride. We are so very grateful.

Crusty

I was looking through some of the Small Things we've done in the past and couldn't resist resurrecting this one - probably because I was hungry at the time and this pie looked awfully yummy.

 

I have everything "pie" on my mind lately.  I've been dreaming of flaky pie crusts, warm and tender fillings, lattice toppings and ala mode presentations!  I've even been reminded of a guest post I did a few years ago over at OrgJunkie:  Home Keeping is like Making Pie. It's still a good one.

In the meantime, I think it's the crust that has me salivating.  I've never been very confident in my crust-making abilities and tend to use the store-bought variety whenever possible.  But crusts can really make or break a pie, and that's got me thinking of our Small Thing Theme for today....crust in general.

Let's call this: Crust.  The good, the bad and the ugly.

Good Crust:

Toasted bread

Croutons

Pie Crust

The bottom layer of a 7-Layer Bar

The earth's crust, keeping us from being burnt to a crisp by molten lava

 

Bad Crust:

Dirty socks

Toothpaste around the sink

Milk crust in refrigerator shelf

Dried food on the floor

Noses that need blowing

 

Ugly Crust:

Mineral deposits in coffee makers

Nasty toilets

The rubbery bottom of jello that didn't gel right

Pink eye

Foot callouses

Chunks in the cat litter box

 

Today's Small Thing is to do something, ANYTHING, with crusts.

You can choose a "good, bad or ugly" crust activity from the list, or come up with one of your own!  It can be silly, down and dirty, or even edible....just have fun with anything crusty today!  Turn up the volume on the song of the day, "Sugar Pie Honey Bunch" to get you in the mood.

What crusty activity will you do today??  Please share!

 

Company Girl Coffee and Flash

Many of you have been asking about Flash, my sweet and silly donkey. How has he been faring this summer and what's he been up to?

 

The answer is: he's doing great, and he hasn't been up to a whole lot - with the exception of his July escape into the yard. Yesterday, he received some extra love and attention from my sister's kids who stopped by to visit, and he relished every moment.

One thing I really appreciate about Flash is the fact that he just lives in the moment. He always seems happy, no matter what's going on. Long summer day? No problem, he passes the time by traversing the pasture on his meandering trails. Hot weather? That's OK, Flash hangs out in the shady woods where it's nice and cool. Flies bothering him? He takes a roll in the dust to ward them off. Flash enjoys treats given to him when they come his way, but he never stands there and begs for more. He loves being petted and will turn this way and that so you'll be sure and get the right spot, but he doesn't make a pest of himself trying to get more attention than you're willing to give. And if no one will pet him, he'll scratch himself on a tree branch, it'll do fine. Hey, if there's no grass, he eats leaves. Flash loves to bray for no reason....except that he's a donkey and that's what donkeys do.

Flash is happy with his lot in life....probably because he can't get on Facebook and Twitter to see how other donkeys have it. He has nothing to compare his life to, and so he enjoys the pleasures that come his way and endures the boredom with grace because he doesn't know any different. He takes each day as it comes.

Today's Small Thing is to take a cue from Flash and simply live in the moment.

Enjoy a small pleasure without wishing it could last longer or happen more often. Pass an afternoon without worrying about the future...just take in the sunshine, the puffy clouds and endless grass. Let today be a day which offers moments of grace, pockets of gratitude and opportunities for joy. Don't let outside problems or (comparisons to others) rob you of the chance to savor the multitude of little blessings that are all around you. Bray... or sing for no reason.

Ecc. 3: 12,13 I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live.  That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. 

How will you live in the moment today??

 

It's time to get back to our weekly Company Girl Coffee time! It's been a few weeks since I last posted a link-up, so I hope you'll take the opportunity to stop in and visit the fabulous bloggers who join in. It is open to anyone who'd like to join in - please feel free to add your blog to the list! We'd love to get to know you.

Song of the Day: It's Always You, Tommy Dorsey with Frank Sinatra

The Messy Perfectionist- Are You One?

I had a mini-meltdown of sorts yesterday. I tried to get caught up on the house and some lingering work stuff but I found myself kind of going in circles, not accomplishing anything. It's that Messy Perfectionist in me that wants to do things perfectly... or not at all.

Now, you might think that "Messy Perfectionist" would be an oxymoron. Like "death benefits," "government organization," or "divided loyalty."

But I'm here to tell you that being a messy perfectionist is real. And it's tough, man. We've talked about this before here at Home Sanctuary.

You see, perfectionists like to do things the Right Way.  We know how things should be done. We know that we should scrub the grout with a toothbrush and bleach whenever we clean the shower.  We know that the insides of garbage cans should be disinfected.  We know the blinds need to be dusted slat by slat. We see the filth and the grime and the clutter....and feel powerless to do anything about it because it would take 10 lifetimes to take care of things the Right Way. So we get bogged down in inertia instead, and spend a lot of time thinking "I should be better than this. Why can't I get it together??""

Maybe that's why I need Minimum Maintenance so much! Many of you have mentioned that it's hard to stop at 5 minutes per room...and I feel your pain.  It IS hard.

But liberating.

Perfectionism is often the thing that keeps us from living the kind of life we want to live because we are chained to standards we cannot maintain.  I am convinced that letting go of perfectionism is the first step to getting organized.

I know it's a strange way to go about it, but hear me out.

Would it be better to have all the toys thrown into one jumbley (imperfect) basket rather than all over the floor because you haven't found the perfect bins for each toy category?

Would jackets on hooks in the hallway (a bit messy) be an acceptable alternative to jackets over every chair because they SHOULD be hung in a closet (but never are)?

How about taking 5 minutes each day to pick up the living room, versus one deep clean that you know it needs....but never happens?

I could go on and on, but I think you probably see my point.  Perfectionism can be a painful burden, cause marital distress and really bum your kids out because they cannot do things right enough for you. Today, we're going to challenge our perfectionist tendencies...and see what happens.

Today's Small Thing is to do a good enough job.  That's right. Just start something and take it to a "not perfect" level. Examples?

• Wash your dishes but don't put them away.
• Wipe your sink but don't scrub it down.
• Straighten the shoes by the door but don't haul them to the bedrooms.
• Set your table with paper plates.
• Stack the mail neatly but don't sort it.
• Write one page in your journal but don't try and catch up on the last decade.
• Put one photo into an album, rather than baby's whole first year.
• Slap some paint on that dresser that's been sitting there forever and don't worry about creating a museum piece out of it.
• Hang some pictures.
• Hot glue the broken trinket, use duct tape to hem your pants, do the exercise video you aren't good at.

Give yourself permission to do something less-than perfectly.  But do something. Be free of perfectionism today!

Celebrate doing a "good enough" job!

Do you struggle with perfectionism? What will you do "almost well" today? Tell us about your imperfect task!!

Song of the Day: Don't Look at Me, Stacie Orrico