Home Sanctuary

Turn in July Points!

Wow, July 31 is here already! That means it's time to tally up our points from the month for a chance to win a great prize!

This month's Most Points winner will receive a one year membership to ListPlanIt! Let's review:

ListPlanIt is the One-Stop place to find every list imaginable to put your life in order. You will fall in love with the simplicity and organization these customizable lists and planners will bring to your life - just the kind of thing we are working toward around here.

There are literally hundreds of lists that you can download directly from ListPlanIt. And when you become a member, you can log into your lists from anywhere, including your phone so you can have instant access to your lists. I LOVE this! 

 

This means you'll have unlimited access to all the lists in .pdf form, which work great for printing off and putting into Organizational Binders, and of course, all the online lists. Hop over to ListPlanIt.com to check out all the planners that are available and then imagine how much these can help you every single day. I told you I'm revamping my Household Binder with the lists that I'm downloading, so that everything I need will be at my fingertips in hard copy form.

 

If you didn't participate in collecting points this month, don't worry, gotcha covered. Simply enter for the random drawing!

The Random Drawing Winner will receive my newest canvas print, Trust in the Lord. This print just makes me feel good!

Prov. 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord print available for sale at rachelanneridge.com

Today's Small Thing is to enter to win!

 

This is an easy two-step task:

1. Send me an email (rachelanne (@) homesanctuary.com) with either your Point Total, or your Random Drawing entry. I love seeing photos of your completed Tally Sheets if you want to include them, but it's not required. 

2. Leave a comment, letting us know which was your favorite Small Thing this month! This encourages new Company Girls to go ahead and jump in for next month, and plus it's just FUN to see which tasks you enjoyed!

POINTS: 40 for doing the two-step Small Thing, good towards July's total. You will have until midnight Thursday August 1 to get your emails to me and comments posted. I'll announce the winners on Friday. 

  Download TallyJuly

Welcome Mat

I missed posting yesterday because the weekend (and Monday) was absolutely full and I couldn't force myself to sit down at the computer in the middle of it all.

On Sunday evening, our kids threw Tom and I a 30th Anniversary party. It was incredibly special and wonderful! I cannot even express how much it meant to us to have family and a few close friends celebrate with us and savor the blessing of our marriage and family.

I love this photo of Tom and I and our grandbaby, Ivy. It really captures the joy I was feeling that night!

I'll share more pictures on Friday, after I get them downloaded. Our kids did an amazing job putting it together, and capped it off with a slideshow that brought us to tears. Oh, my. It was too much emotion and love....I'm still on a high.

 

Before I get too sappy, I'd better move on to a Small Thing! 

 

 

With all the comings and goings this weekend, I was vaguely aware that my front door area was looking pretty neglected. After my family left I glanced around and just had to say "oh well." It needs some TLC.

My outdoor welcome mat got thrown away some time ago, wrecked by dog hair and people traffic. I'm down to one throw rug just inside the door, and I can't live without it for picking up dirt that would otherwise be tracked into the house. But I miss having something outside the front door that says "Welcome" to my guests before they even come in.

 

Today's Small Thing is to take a look at your front door area and view it as a guest sees it. 

 

Is your porch a home to spiderwebs and a pile of leaves that blew in?  Is is littered with newspapers, muddy tennis shoes and skateboards?  Is the door itself dusty and rain splattered? A few minutes to sweep and gather the miscellaneous stuff will give your home an instant facelift!

I love to see pots of flowers by the front door and mine have all bit the dust in this heat. Time to visit my Home Depot for more....or just stick some fake ones in the pots and call 'er done. I've been known to do that. Hey.

So shake out the rug, tidy your stoop and throw your arms open to your world.  Say "Welcome" without ever needing a rug to do it for you.

Create a hospitable entry in a few minutes flat!

Production Line Lessons + Company Girl Coffee

This week I've been in Production Mode to crank out canvas prints to sell at the Desperate for Jesus Conference in Dallas. We were asked to produce artwork for Chrystal Evans Hurst, who is speaking on the theme from her new book Kingdom Woman, and I'm pleased to say that she will have seven designs available on Saturday! I'll be sharing a merch table with her and will have a bunch of my own pieces there as well.

How cute is THIS?

 Stacks of inspirational prints.

 

It has been a production to get 100 pieces designed, printed, cut, framed and packaged. I cannot discuss the framing fiasco that occurred at this time because it still hurts too much.

 

One thing I've learned over the years is that a production line is its own art form. What seems clumsy and awkward in the beginning, like wrangling canvas around frames, becomes easier and easier with each piece you do. Actions become swift and confident, the repetition becomes thoughtless as your hands do what you once thought impossible. My first canvas took about 20 minutes to final assemble, and at the end I could do them in eight minutes apiece. I couldn't believe how quickly I got good at it.

Parenthood is much the same way. Those awkward first diaper changes somehow become a magician's trick that can be done in moving vehicles while doing the motions to "The Wheels on the Bus" to entertain the other children. You learn you can balance a kid on one hip while vacuuming, and you can hold a conversation with a four year old while simultaneously making a grocery list. You learn how to untangle hair and untangle arguments. You can tell a fake cry from a real one in an instant. You grow eyes in the back of your head.

It's practice and repetition that are the hallmarks of motherhood. Folding socks and picking up, washing dishes and kissing knees. Saying prayers, smoothing foreheads, tickling tummies. Sometimes, in the repetition, we find that we are doing what we once considered impossible -- without so much as a thought. Our hands move while our minds are a million miles away.

 

Today's Small Thing is to stop the production line and be engaged in the moment. Pause to give thanks for the things that fill your life.

 

You are doing tasks today that you've done thousands of times before. And this day is a perfect day to infuse each movement with a prayer of gratefulness for the never-ending laundry pile, or the dishes that multiply like rabbits. Or the stack of papers at work, the traffic and the noise. They are signs of life - a blessed life - and it's easy to forget that in the production-line actions of a woman's life. We've become so accustomed to efficiency and simplifying and moving quickly - all important skills - but they can rob us of the beauty of the messes we're trying so hard to clean up.

Give thanks. Be engaged. Stop and listen. Just BE.

 

 

It's Friday, and that means it's time to link up for Company Girl Coffee! It's easy and fun - no need to shower and primp for visitors....just throw open your blog door and invite people in! Link up below, then stop in at the blog listed just above yours! Have a great weekend.

I am so grateful for each of you.

Pull Up a Chair

Tuesday's Table Wipe-Down inspired me to check out the chairs around my table while I was at it. Wish I hadn't.

Cobwebs, people.

There were cobwebs on the legs.

I'm not proud of that, but even my deep shame did not motivate me to clean them off right then and there. No, I thought I'd wait for some points to do it. haha

I was reminded that I posted this a few years ago, when we channeled our shame into energy for kitchen chairs:

 

Country Living

 

"No matter where I serve my guests, It seems they like my kitchen best."

My Grandma had a plaque with this saying on a wall in her kitchen. She had an old-fashioned, "eat in" kitchen, complete with wood-burning stove that was used for warmth and which always had a kettle on it. It always smelled like coffee and homemade doughnuts in there - what a wonderful place for making memories. It was definitely the gathering spot, sitting at a table set that looked like this:

 

In fact, her whole kitchen kinda looked like this, except without the modern decor. I would love to have this very kitchen, complete with that red stove. Check out the curtains with the red trim...oh, that's cute!

My own kitchen is so small, we always say it could fit into an RV. It's one of the least attractive points of interest in this barn house, but still - people all cram in there whenever we have guests. It's so embarrassing. But what can I do? The kitchen is always the best place to be, no matter how small. And it's where the coffee is.

 

Today's Small Thing is to pay a little attention to those kitchen chairs that work so hard every day.

 

They tend to get sticky from all the sticky fingers, get splattered with food spills, and have droplets of juice on them. The feet of mine collect the dog hair that my lab sheds. Yuck. So take a damp rag and wipe them down - make them sparkle! This task shouldn't take too long, unless you need a pick axe to get the stuck cheerios off.

POINTS: 40 for wiping off your kitchen chairs. (or barstools etc.)

 

Do you have a "kitchen memory" of your grandmother's house? What did it look like? What was her signature dish? 

Sole Mate

I looked around in disgust at the careless way the people in this household left their shoes everywhere. No matter how many times I've told them to please. put. them. away, it seems like my demands fall on deaf ears. It's like I'm their slave and they are happy to let me pick up after them. In resignation, I began scooping up the pairs to remove them to their respective closets, but suddenly stopped, mid-scoop.

Three of the five pairs of shoes in the living room were.....mine.

Another pair of my flip flops was by the back door.

Sheesh!

I guess there is something to the saying, "more is caught than taught," and in this case, my family has caught my penchant for leaving shoes around - despite what I've taught them!

 

Today's Small Thing is to gather up the shoes that may be loafing around the house and put them where they belong. 

 

If you don't have any loitering sets of soles - give yourself a pat on the back and celebrate being so neat. This is an easy one and makes you feel great seeing shoe-free entries, steps and living rooms all at one time!

20 points for each pair you put away - woot!

 

Today, gathering the sole mates and putting them in their places will bring a little taste of sanctuary into your world. How many shoes can you put away? Who is the biggest shoe culprit in your house?

Let's Table It

I had some computer issues yesterday so I didn't get a chance to get Monday's post up. I'm swamped with a couple of art projects so let's just start the week of Small Things today instead, and just forget about yesterday and move on.

When I get busy, and also when things are slow around here, I become an aimless housekeeper. I wander from task to task, easily bored and distracted halfway through it when I see a bird flutter outside the window, or when my phone lights up with a Facebook notification. Ooh! Sally "Liked" my photo of last night's Chicken Primavera!" The laundry calls my attention just long enough for me to fold three towels, and then I see lint on the carpet, which leads me to the trash can which really needs to be emptied. Goodness, are we out of garbage bags? I'd better make a list for the store...just as soon as I can find a pen in this junk drawer which needs straightening.

Where was I? Well, time to table all this aimless wandering about and get down to some real business.

This is when I need my Housekeeping Schedule to gently remind me that vacuuming is on Wednesday's docket, trash is on Thursday, and groceries are on Friday. Why, I have less to do today than I thought! I'll just focus on those towels and feel good about a job well done.

While you're digging out your own Housekeeping Schedule (c'mon, I know you!) let's do a Small Thing that will catapult us to victory.

 

My dream kitchen/dining room table - Macy's

 

 

Today's Small Thing is so easy I'm embarrassed to even make it a "small thing." Let's call it a teeny thing, then.  Simply clear off your kitchen table and give it a nice wipe-down. 

 

Move the papers and butter dish somewhere else, and enjoy a fresh, clean table. Voila!  Done.

Doesn't that feel great?? Now, if you'd like some extra points, let's really ratchet up the Sanctuary groove by putting something new on it as a centerpiece.  Think outside the box: a child's creation, a white pitcher, candles, framed photos, valentine hearts, shells, oh and flowers could make it nice.  Just pick something you love and highlight it on your table.

 

My table, with a burlap runner and a few things from around the house for a centerpiece.

POINTS: 40 for clearing/cleaning off your table

BONUS POINTS: 30 for freshening up with a centerpiece

 

What's on your table that needs clearing? Do you have something to set in the center? Tablecloth or no tablecloth? Tell us about your kitchen table.

Kingdom Woman + Company Girl Coffee

Kingdom Woman, a new book by my dear friend, Chrystal Evans Hurst and her father, Dr. Tony Evans, came out this week.

I've been tweeting and Facebooking about it, because I love the message in it. Chrystal is as real as they come, and her heart for the woman who feels like anything BUT a victorious virtuous woman just shines through. She and I have sat on my couch and talked for hours about the journeys we're on as women (and moms) and I always come away refreshed and inspired to trust that God sees us where we are at. I love when leaders don't try to act like they are perfect and have it all together, but instead share from a place of vulnerability and truth. That's what Chrystal has done here along with her dad, and I'm excited to tell you about it. You'll fall in love with her, just like I have.

 

I hope you'll go get a copy today! When you order by July 20, you'll receive some great freebies.

 

 

Thinking about what it means to be a "Kingdom Woman" brings me to Today's Small Thing.

 

"When a kingdom woman's alarm sounds each morning, the Devil tries to hit her snooze button. He'll do whatever he can to try to stop her from taking on a new day with the mind of God. But a kingdom woman won't stop doing all she can for God's kingdom until she makes the Devil regret ever messing with her."

That's the first paragraph from the book. Good, huh?

Today's Small Thing is to do something positive for God's kingdom.

Now before you protest that it might be too hard or inconvenient to travel to the missionfield today, let's think about it. When you stop and consider it, almost everything we do in a day is for His kingdom whether we realize it or not. When we serve others, give of our time, share our talents, lend a listening ear, love our families, spend time in quiet meditation or simply drive a carpool....all of it can be used for His glory.

It's really a matter of the heart and mind. It's worship, my friends.

Worship flows through you as an outward expression of the inward work of grace. In other words, when your heart is in a place of gratitude and is focused on eternal things, everything else falls into proper alignment. You can see your "mundane" tasks as a way to give back to Him, because there is joy in serving when you know you are under His leadership and care.

Today, take some time to be intentional about God's kingdom. Look at where He has placed you: in your workplace, your home, your neighborhood, your grocery store, your family. And then ask how you can be a vessel for His glory in your sphere of influence. The kingdom of God is found in everyday people and everyday events - don't miss what God can do because you're only looking for "big" things to happen. Take on a kingdom mindset and your world will change.

Let us know: what will you do for God's kingdom today? Let's encourage each other to have an eternal focus, even in the littlest of things!

Now, let's have some Friday Coffee! Link up below for a fun round of visiting and getting to know other bloggers. After you link up, take the time to stop in at the blog directly above yours and say hello!

 

Related articles

Kingdom Woman or SuperWoman? by Chrystal Evans Hurst

WATCH: Pastor Tony Evans Teams With Daughter, Chrystal Evans Hurst, to Release "Kingdom Woman" Book

Leaf Me Alone

Not long ago, something finally dawned on my husband.

"Hey, we don't have a single plant in this house!" he said, looking around.

Which was fine until he added, "What's wrong with us?"

Honey, I thought, where should I start?

There are so many things wrong with us, I could fill a book. But for today, let's just stick the plant issue.

What's wrong with us is that *we* tend to anihilate every living organism that happens to be set in a pot of dirt. In short,

I forget to water indoor plants.

I forget that they need ample sunlight.

I don't "pinch leaves back," or whatever that means.

I don't re-pot when roots get bound.

I don't fertilize regularly...or ever.

Frankly, I'm an indoor plant failure.

Which is why I rely on dried grasses and the well-placed fake flower to add some life to my decor. (yes, I know it's ironic)

 

Today's Small Thing is to baby your indoor plants. (or "arrangements," as I like to call my pretties.)

 

Give them a good drink of water, a bit of that fertilizer stuff, and a little dusting. You can try pinching them back or fluffing them up or turning the pots to get the most appealing result possible...or you can do what I do and just give up on them altogether. ;0

If you are an "arrangement" person, give your things a dusting (maybe outside) and fluff them up so they don't look so sad and forgotten. They will thank you for it.

 

This is quick and easy...and thrilling to get so many points for it!

Check out the Small Things FAQ to find out what all the points are about.

 

What kind of indoor plant would you recommend for a plant failure like me? What is your favorite house plant? Is there any hope for me? Share your tips and inspirations! Maybe I'll get the courage to try again.

A Blogging Conference Just for You - Declare

The Declare Blogging Conference is coming up on August 9-10, and I want to invite you to join me there. Yes! We could hang out in REAL LIFE! If you are thinking of starting a blog, or have one but need some inspiration and help, or want to learn about making money with your blog, this is the event for you! Also, if you just love coffee, chocolate and yakkin' (and a weekend in a hotel), this is YOUR event as well.

 

As you know, I've been a committed blogger here at Home Sanctuary since 2006 - the olden days of the interweb! There was no such thing as "social media," except for a thing college kids used called Facebook. And MySpace.

So much has changed since then. And I've kept up with most of it, but I have a lot of room for improvement. I still love blogging and meeting with my "Company Girls" here everyday, and that's why I am so eager to go to this conference. I want to learn and connect with others who know more than me. And maybe even share with others a little of what I've learned along the way.

The Declare Conference is here in Dallas, my own backyard. There will be great speakers (keynotes Mary DeMuth and Jeff Goins) and breakout sessions. I'm excited that there are four tracks for Saturday's breakouts - something for everyone:

 

Inspiration track–for the blogger who needs to be reminded of her purpose

Growth track-for the blogger who needs help with tasks of blogging & wants to grow in knowledge

 Challenge track–for the blogger who wants to expand the scope of her ministry &  explore new territories

Business track-for the blogger who wants to learn how to support her ministry financially 

 

I recently met the fabulous women who are organizing Declare, when they took me up on my offer to assist with the decor and set up. Wow, I am so impressed with their hearts to help women "find their voices" and share their stories. Since this is a faith-based event, this is more than just another blogging conference - there will be the added facet of developing your ministry and finding God's purpose for your writing. This is huge for me, because I've seen firsthand how God has used my little blog in big ways. I never could have dreamed how far He could reach with a blog about doing small things in love. It makes me want to do more.

Will you join me at Declare? I'd love to see you there! Please let me know if you are thinking about it so I can twist your arm until you sign up! It is going to be a great weekend and I hope you'll be part of it!

No Small Thing Today - enjoy your day!

Make that Appointment

Today's Small Thing is just a phone call or email away. It can't get much easier than this, my friends.

Remember that appointment you've been putting off making? You know, the dentist check up? Or the well check for your 13 year old? Or the mammogram you know you need? How about that car tune-up? Or the arborist for your diseased trees.

 

Today's Small Thing is to make that appointment.

 

Maybe you need to make an appointment with a nutritionist. Or a dermatologist. Or a counselor. Maybe you've been avoiding your PAP smear, your proctology exam or your stress test.

Maybe you just need a pedicure, a haircut or a facial. A massage? Yes, PLEASE.

How about an appointment with your spouse, or your child, or lunch with a friend?

Perhaps your pet needs grooming, your horse needs shoeing, or your cat needs spaying. Maybe it's past time to let your old pet go and you've just been too sad to have him put to sleep. Today might be the day to make the call.

Making yourself go to the phone and dial the number seems so hard sometimes. "Tomorrow will be a better day to think about it. Yes, I'll do it tomorrow," you tell yourself.

But you said that yesterday...and now today is yesterday's tomorrow.

So you should just go ahead and do it today. For points.

And because you know you need to.

Points

 

What appointment will you make? I'd love to know. If you really and truly don't have ANY appointments to make, why not just make one with yourself - to read a book, have devotions, or exercise that bod. Put it on the calendar and make it happen.