Making My Home A Haven: Inviting & Giving

Friday's theme was Inviting & Giving.

We had a lot of things already planned for the weekend so I wasn't able to invite guests to my home. I determined early in the week to bake some treats to send with my husband to work to share with his coworkers.

I baked a batch of cinnamon rolls on Thursday afternoon so they would be ready. I used all white flour instead of wheat like I often do. Using all white flour produces a much lighter cinnamon roll. Whole wheat is fine, but a cinnamon roll isn't really meant to be healthy anyways!

Friday is my day off from babysitting. I often plan way too much to accomplish on this day! I had a lot that I wanted to do so I wrote it all down in a long list. I knew that I wouldn't be able to accomplish everything but seeing it written in front of me gave me incentive to work as hard as I could.

This list will make you tired to read. You'll be glad to know that I wasn't able to do it all!

-empty dishwasher/reload
-one load laundry
-update checkbook
-quick run through house to vacuum, sweep, straighten up, dust/wipe
-water plants
-finish closet
-sew tote bags for Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes
-work on last minute details for tomorrow(Andy was setting up at a vendor fair.)
-make dinner (BBQ chicken, green beans, a box of rice mix)
-make yogurt
-make chicken pot pie for Monday
-print shoe box labels for Sunday
-gather all supplies to fill shoe boxes on Sunday
-make lunch to take with us tomorrow

I immediately finished several quick jobs on the list so I could cross off several things in a short amount of time! This helped to motivate me.

Next, I cleaned up the house and emptied the dishwasher. I knew I definitely wanted to finish cleaning out my closet, so I tackled that next. After spending a few minutes on it her and there throughout the week, it really did not take very long to complete. It is not a big closet at all, but I had a lot of trash stuffed in there!

While I was working on the closet, I finished switching out my out-of -season clothes. I'd done some earlier in the fall but it was still so warm that I was using both cold and warm weather clothing. I purged everything that I wasn't wearing anymore or was worn out or didn't fit right. My goal is to have a minimal but functional wardrobe where I wear everything in my closet. I will probably find that I kept a few too many of some items, but that's ok. I'm very pleased with what I have in my closet and drawers now and most everything can be mixed and matched. There is a place for everything now, too!

In the before pictures you will see some piles on the floor and trunk. I took care of all of that too. Our bedroom is quite tiny so any piles look very messy!

Before:



After:


Isn't this nice and empty now? Even the diapers are clean! Now to hem the curtains....

After I was done with the closet, I ate some lunch then got out my sewing machine. I sewed two more tote bags that I wanted to pack into the Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes. I had hoped to sew one for each box that our group was doing(8 in all). But I was only able to get 3 sewn so I left it at that.

Here are all three little bags that I sewed this week:


After this was done, it was time for Andy to come home. I put the sewing machine and supplies away.

I put the chicken in the oven along with extra for the pot pies that i knew by this time that I wouldn't finish today and then started doing last minute details for the show. We wanted everything to be ready to go the next morning!

I finished cooking dinner and we sat down to eat. As soon as we were done eating, we packed up the table and a few supplies and headed out to partially set up for the show.

When we got home, I packed our lunch for tomorrow and headed for bed! It was a busy busy day and I was exhausted!

Thanks to Monica for hosting Making Your Home A Haven this week! I enjoyed participating and getting a few extra things done. I decided that I need to get back into the habit of making a short to-do list for each day. This keeps me more focused! Also, I'm trying to implement my quiet time with God early in the day again. When I don't schedule it, it gets pushed to bedtime when i am tired and am more apt to rush through. Reading God's Word first thing gives me a boost to start the day and even if I don't get anything else done, I feel so accomplished knowing that I've spent time with Him!